I dove right into Dead to the World (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 4)
This is the book that endeared me to Eric even more. Now, I’m rooting for Eric + Sookie rather than Eric + Bill. The amnesia bit is tired a cliched, but it does lend to some steamy scenes. The ending big fight (without giving too much away) seemed a little far-fetched with the way how no one other than the ones involved noticed it happening, but I guess it requires a lot of suspension of belief.
Living Dead in Dallas builds more on the handful of main characters than the previous book. I found myself liking Eric more and more as the book went on. While the first book sets up the town and fictional world Sookie inhabits, the second book makes readers more familiar with Eric, Pam, Sam, and Bill.
The plot, or more specifically, the mystery in the second book engaged me more than the first one, but that may be because I knew about the first one before I read it. I liked that there were actually two story arcs which were both resolved by the time the book ended. While cliffhangers are good to keep readers wanting more, closure is more satisfying.
I started watching Showtime’s True Blood last year and really liked the first season, so I was curious to read the books the show is based on. A few people had recommended it to me. The first book, Dead Until Dark
It was regretful that I already knew most of the story before beginning the book because it’d be more suspenseful if I came to it with no knowledge at all. Despite that, I still enjoyed Dead Until Dark because it’s different enough from the show that it didn’t feel like I was just reading a synopsis. A few of the main characters have different personalities from their TV version and while the main plot of the book is reflected in the show, a few things go differently.
The books are like Pringles; once you start reading, it’s hard to stop. I downloaded the first book as an ebook because I wasn’t sure if I’d like the rest enough to buy the boxed set. I couldn’t stop reading. I read in the car. I read while walking to the car. I read while I was supposed to be playing video games. If I had found a way to read while running, I would have done that too. I finished the first book on Wednesday and immediately got the second and dove in.
Dead Until Dark isn’t high-brow literature by any means, but it’s a fun romp into the urban fantasy genre with a good mystery thrown in. It’s every bit as graphic as the show is in the violence department, and maybe a notch steamier in the hot vampire sex department. It’s a good read for anyone who’s a fan of the show or just urban fantasy in general.