Brilliant!!!!
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I cannot recommend this series of books highly enough. I discovered the Sookie books by chance (after getting fed up with the Stephanie Plum series & searching the internet for something more interesting to read. Charlaine is a fantastic story teller and the books will suck you right in. I have told all my friends about these books and they have all enjoyed them as well.Once you finish one you will be dying for the next..
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Imaginative dark vampire adventure....
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After watching the first few episodes of True Blood on HBO, I was enthralled with what seemed to be a darker, more humorous updated version of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and discovered the series was based on a set of novels by Charlaine Harris.
I ordered the first four and read them within a week. Whilst they were markedly different from HBO's version, I quickly became involved with the characters and the world in and around Bon Temps.
The novel revolves around a mind reading waitress, her vampire boyfriend and the emergence of Vampire society. The setting of Louisiana is original and the characters of Sookie and the vampires around her are fascinating. We don't leap immediately into the supernatural world, but learn along with Sookie, that not everything is as it seems, and whilst exciting - there is a much darker undertone.
Charlaine writes fromm Sookie's perspective - you can almost hear the southern drawl as the chapters progress, and Sookie's spirited and sometimes hilarious narrative keeps you riveted. The typical and traditional gothic stereotypes of vampires are deftly sidestepped, and Charlaine doesn't reinvent the concept of vampires as much as reinvigorates them.
The only shortcoming of this book is that it ends too soon, but on the plus side, the continuing books in the series are consistent and builds on previous storylines, subplots and characters. I can't believe I've not picked up these books before now, and am lookinng forward to reading the rest of the series.
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Brilliant!! Vampire fiction at it's best
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First book I have read from Charlaine, and I will be reading more!
I thought it was funny and well written, the charactors likeable.
Buy it you won't be disappointed
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Disappointed!
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A classic example of what happens when a mediocre writer happens to have a very good idea. The central conceit - vampires "out" themselves and live among us - is a great one, but not taken anywhere really interesting. For example, what actually happens when somebody is made a vampire? What thought processes would lead them to shun other vampires and live among humans? What are the philosophical and theological implications - are the vampires trying to recover lost humanity, or redeem themselves? And the book conspicuously backs away from some really interesting possibilities in exploring the parallels between the newly-outed vampires and the post-slavery southern states.
I think someone on here uttered the dreaded words "Bridget Jones" in conjunction with this book, and to be fair, that should have warned me that this is really just chick-lit with a gothic gloss. It's lightweight, insubstantial, frustrating, and the characters are poorly drawn. Sookie's not a very sympathetic heroine - her constant reference to her mind-reading abilities as a "disability" is pretty offensive - yep, you can hear other people in your head, but are you confined to a wheelchair, or a hospital bed? Nope.
Bill's a total enigma - the reader has no idea why she finds him attractive (other than he's "shiny", in which case he might need a mattifier) - he's totally devoid of any kind of charm other than the ability to uproot trees, which I guess would make him handy round the garden.
Like I said- nice idea, poorly executed.
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Funny, Sexy and Completely Heartfelt!
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This book was bought to me by mistake and after 1 year of it collecting dust in my bedroom i decided to give it a read before donating it to my local library. I have to say that i have red this book 4 times now and bought another set for my library so that others can enjoy it as much as i did. I related to the death in sookies family so much i cried a little.
I loved the funny moments between eric and bill!
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