Mini Book Review: Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

Title: Living Dead in Dallas

Author: Charlaine Harris

Series: Sookie Stackhouse #2

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Rating: 3/5 stars

The Overview: Waitress Sookie Stackhouse is having a streak of bad luck. First her co-worker is killed, and no one seems to care. Then she comes face to-face with a beastly creature that gives her a painful and poisonous lashing. Enter the vampires, who graciously suck the poison from her veins (like they didn’t enjoy it). The point is: they saved her life. So when one of the bloodsuckers asks for a favor, she obliges – and soon Sookie’s in Dallas, using her telepathic skills to search for a missing vampire. She’s supposed to interview certain humans involved, but she makes one condition: the vampires must promise to behave and let the humans go unharmed. But that’s easier said than done, and all it takes is one delicious blonde and one small mistake for things to turn deadly…. -Goodreads

The Review:

I enjoyed this book quite a bit even though I don’t like reading about religious zealotry, which it had in abundance. From a series construction standpoint, this did a great job expanding what we know about vampires so far and the wide range of acceptance and prejudices humanity holds for them. Sookie, our main character, seems to be straddling the line between the two worlds, and drama ensues.

I don’t have much else to add. It continued the strong narrative I came to appreciate in the first book and advanced the plot sufficiently. Sookie, while not the sharpest tool in the shed is a really charming MC, mostly because she feels so real and earnest. I can totally see how the vibrancy of what I’ve read so far translated so well to tv. Also, Harris is shaping up to be one of the most adept writers I’ve come across in ages when it comes to perspective immersion – truly impressive!

Recommendations: if you’re craving an urban fantasy with good mystery elements, an endearing main character, and the most sexual content I’ve read in anything (not shelved in romance) to date, then give this one a go!

by Niki Hawkes

Mar 31 2022

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Book Review: Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Title: Dead Until Dark

Author: Charlaine Harris

Series: Sookie Stackhouse #1

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

The Overview: Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. Until the vampire of her dreams walks into her life-and one of her coworkers checks out….

Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn’t such a bright idea. -Goodreads

The Review:

Well, butter my butt and call me a southern biscuit – I enjoyed the hell out of Dead Until Dark.

This was my second read-through of this book (I’d never continued beyond it last time), and it’s funny how time and reading experience can change how you feel about the same exact story. The first time I read it (3 stars) I was only just dipping my toes into urban fantasy. I’d no idea what marked a good one from a bad one and was kind of experimenting with them all. This time around, I’ve read (and loved) a fair few, and the quality of the writing and the richness of the story here stood out to me in a way it hadn’t before. I loved it.

What struck me is the complete immersion into Sookie’s viewpoint of the world. She’s such an atypical character – not the brightest, nor the most experienced, but loving and completely earnest in everything she does. I find her absolutely charming. Her character was strengthened even more by the exceptional audio narration of Johanna Parker – I highly recommend going the audiobook route with this one.

I remember discussing this book with my best friend early on, and she mentioned it had a lot of sex in it. I was surprised because I only remembered one sex scene in the whole thing. What I was actually remembering was an entire like 50 page chunk of the book! So yeah, these are a lot steamier than your usual urban fantasy series. However since the plot and overall focus of the book remained on the murder mystery and Sookie dealing with a bunch of external supernatural conflicts, the addition of all the sexual content did not make it feel like a paranormal romance. That’s a distinction I always find very important when evaluating these types of stories.

Overall, I’m thrilled I now have another excellent UF to keep me occupied for a while (as I am UTD on all things Briggs, Harrison, Butcher, and Andrews). I can totally see how the excellent storytelling here was picked up for a tv series. The books are so strong and vibrant that they really didn’t have to change much in the adaptation. At least not initially.

Recommendations: if you love UF but haven’t yet tried this series – give it a go! The mystery was a lot grittier than you’ll find in most and the characters are a hoot. One of the most delightful things I’ve read in a while.

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Mar 4 2013

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Coming Soon: Dead Ever After

May 7, 2013

Title: Dead Ever After

Author: Charlaine Harris

Series: Sookie Stackhouse #13

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Release Date: May 7, 2013

A new Sookie book!!!! This series is great – perfect for vampire lovers looking for a more cheeky (and mature) escape from reality. They are surprisingly rather different than the HBO series True Bloods, but if you liked one, you’ll probably like the other. My advice: read this one slowly because it is going to be the last book of the series!