Customer Reviews
Brilliant!!!! - By: L. MORRIS, 04 Nov 2008 
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 & the books will suck you right in. I have told all my friends about these books & they have all enjoyed them as well.Once you finish one you will be dying for the next..
Imaginative dark vampire adventure.... - By: Mooji, 17 Oct 2008 
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 & discovered the series was based on a set of novels by Charlaine Harris.
I ordered the first four & read them within a week. Whilst they were markedly different from HBO's version, I quickly became involved with the characters & the worldin & around Bon Temps.
The novel revolves around a mind reading waitress, her vampire boyfriend & the emergence of Vampire society. The setting of Louisiana is original & the characters of Sookie & 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, & 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, & Sookie's spirited & sometimes hilarious narrative keeps you riveted. The typical & traditional gothic stereotypes of vampires are deftly sidestepped, & 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 booksin the series are consistent & builds on previous storylines, subplots & characters. I can't believe I've not picked up these books before now, & am lookinng forward to reading the rest of the series.
Brilliant!! Vampire fiction at it's best - By: M. Block, 11 Jul 2008 First book I have read from Charlaine, & I will be reading more!
I thought it was funny & well written, the charactors likeable.
Buy it you won't be disappointed
Disappointed! - By: K. Large, 07 Jul 2008 
A classic example of what happens when a mediocre writer happens to have a very good idea. The central conceit - vampires "out" themselves & 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 & live among humans? What are the philosophical & theological implications - are the vampires trying to recover lost humanity, or redeem themselves? And the book conspicuously backs away from some really interesting possibilitiesin exploring the parallels between the newly-outed vampires & the post-slavery southern states.
I think someone on here uttered the dreaded words "Bridget Jones"in conjunction with this book, & to be fair, that should have warned me that this is really just chick-lit with a gothic gloss. It's lightweight, insubstantial, frustrating, & 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 peoplein 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.
Funny, Sexy and Completely Heartfelt! - By: V. Mccone, 27 May 2008 This book was bought to me by mistake & after 1 year of it collecting dustin 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 & bought another set for my library so that others can enjoy it as much as i did. I related to the deathin sookies family so much i cried a little.
I loved the funny moments between eric & bill!
