Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

I've know about this series for years, but despite my fascination with vampires could not bring myself to read them because they just seemed like a sci-fi pop-fiction, chick lit type series. After reading the first novel in the series I'm pretty sure my initial assessment was correct, but I loved it anyway.

Last week I watched the entire first season of True Blood and became enthralled with the series. Since it will be several months until the second season starts I decided to satsify my impatience and curiousity by reading the the novel the series was based on.

First of all I must say that I was impressed that an entire season of a TV show was based around one novel, and the series actually did a pretty good job of following the main outline of the novel. Naturally some things were changed, moved around in chronology, etc. But I was surprised how much of the novel actually made it into the series. I think the main difference between the books and the series may be that the books are a little more "innocent" in some ways than the series is. In other words, the books don't have quite as much graphic violence, sex or swearing.

I am fascinated by the character of Bill Compton in this book. In most of the vampires stories I've read, or watched on TV, the vampires hate what they are and/or are hesitant to enter into relationships with humans (ie Angel, Mick St. John, Edward Cullen). However Bill Compton is not at all ashamed of who he is and he is the one that seems to pursue the relationship with Sookie. It's an interesting persective on a relationship between a vampire and a human.

I am also a bigger fan of the written Sookie over Anna Paquin's Sookie. Maybe it's just because in the novels you can see the motives behind Sookie's actions and you're reading her thoughts. On screen she occasionally comes off as stiff or unemotional at times.

This book wasn't amazingly well-written or anything like that, but it was a quick read and fairly entertaining. If you're a fan of the series, you may enjoy reading these novels. But don't read too far ahead to the second novel if you want to remain unspoiled for season 2. The very first chapter gives away the identity of the victim at the end of season 1 (it was exactly who I thought it was).