I Wanna Do Bad Things With You...

I love the HBO series True Blood. I love it down to its very bones. I love the characters, the world, the story, the theme song, and of course, the monster. Needless to say, it was only a matter of time before I read the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. It's almost nothing like the HBO series, and that's not a bad thing. Since it's a boxed set and I don't want to go through each and every book, I'll give my thoughts on the series so far.

Gotta love box sets!

The Sookie Stackhouse novels were popular books before it became a popular TV series (and with good reason), but for those who don't know anything about either, the story begins with a young cocktail waitress named Sookie who has the ability to read minds. A couple years earlier, vampires went on live television and announced their existence to the world. Needless to say, Sookie is very excited when she meet her first vampire, a dark, mysterious man named Bill. But meeting Bill soon drags Sookie into a world of conspiracy, lies, sexy supernaturals, and murder. Who knew living in Bon Temps could be so exciting, and so dangerous?

Every single book so far has been different, unique, and most importantly: fun! No matter how dark, depressing, or dangerous the situation becomes, Harris's writing style and energy keep the reader invested. This is helped along by Sookie being a terrifically written character. She has a lot of the typical heroine traits, i.e.: selflessness, bravery, kindness, tolerance, etc, but she also acts like a human being. She feels anger, jealousy, hurt, and sometimes she has nasty things to say to people who are equally nasty to her. Harris writes Sookie in such a way that you can imagine sitting down and having a conversation with her. And man oh man, would she have some stories to tell.

As a lot of you know, I'm a huge vampire fan. I love seeing how different authors take on the famous monsters, and Harris has created some very interesting mythology for vampires– they need to be buried for a couple days after they're turned, they share blood-bonds, they need to be invited in to someone's house, and so on. Another thing I really enjoy about the vampires is that a lot of them have a classical, almost aristocratic way of speaking when they get agitated. Harris adapted them to her alternate reality flawlessly, and I just can't get enough of the vampire society.

The same can be said about the other supernatural creatures and their societies. I find the Were world particularly interesting and hope to read more about it in later books. Plus, I really like Alcide (most of the time) and want to see more of him.

I'm about halfway through All Together Dead, and it's about to take a really interesting turn. I really enjoy Sookie's relationships with Bill and Eric, who are about as opposite as two vampires with the hots for one girl can get, and am looking forward to seeing what will happen next with them.

For people who enjoy the supernatural, I feel like this series needs to be a staple in your collection. It has everything you could ever want, especially if you're already a fan of Kim Harrison's The Hollows series. I'm having a great time with the books, and my only regret is that I didn't start them sooner.

Amy