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kutsuwamushiI'm working through my "easy reading" list, and am on Dead Until Dark, the first book in Sookie Stackhouse series. The premise is pretty basic: Sookie Stackhouse, small-town waitress with the special ability to hear others' thoughts, gets tangled up with vampires and other creatures in Yet Another Supernatural Romance.
In subject matter and general intent, it's very similar to the Anita Blake novels, but Sookie isn't quite as annoying as Anita (yet). She's uninteresting and shallow, but at least she doesn't make a lot of noise about how haaaaaard it is to be badass oh life is soooo haaaaaaaaaaard why are all these hot men wanting to sleeeeep with me god it suuuuucks ewwww gay people-
Anyway.
The first book matches up pretty closely to the first season of the HBO series, but there were some changes. My thoughts below the cut. Because you don't need to know.
Overall, I actually thought that it worked better as a TV show. The show turned a short novel into 13 episodes, but somehow managed to still seem more streamlined and coherent. The actors were also able to turn the emotionally flat prose of the book into something more engaging.
(Seriously, those were some of the more "meh" sex scenes I've read in forever. And I'm not talking about the fact that it's not explicit -- it's just very, hrm, "so what?")
I like show-Sookie better than book-Sookie by far. Bill the vampire is lame in both, but the book version is less sanitized; we know, for example, that he still drinks human blood. Eric has much worse fashion taste in the book, and I'm glad that they changed that, because I think I would have been cringing too hard to enjoy Alexander Skarsgård otherwise.
The most disappointing difference is that Tara doesn't exist. She was one of my favorites. :( Lafeyette also only makes very, very brief appearances.
I know that the books go on forever, and Sookie keeps racking up suitors--like Anita Blake, again, but I hope that I don't get irritated by that too soon. All in all, it was entertaining and much less objectionable than the Dresden Files book.
In subject matter and general intent, it's very similar to the Anita Blake novels, but Sookie isn't quite as annoying as Anita (yet). She's uninteresting and shallow, but at least she doesn't make a lot of noise about how haaaaaard it is to be badass oh life is soooo haaaaaaaaaaard why are all these hot men wanting to sleeeeep with me god it suuuuucks ewwww gay people-
Anyway.
The first book matches up pretty closely to the first season of the HBO series, but there were some changes. My thoughts below the cut. Because you don't need to know.
Overall, I actually thought that it worked better as a TV show. The show turned a short novel into 13 episodes, but somehow managed to still seem more streamlined and coherent. The actors were also able to turn the emotionally flat prose of the book into something more engaging.
(Seriously, those were some of the more "meh" sex scenes I've read in forever. And I'm not talking about the fact that it's not explicit -- it's just very, hrm, "so what?")
I like show-Sookie better than book-Sookie by far. Bill the vampire is lame in both, but the book version is less sanitized; we know, for example, that he still drinks human blood. Eric has much worse fashion taste in the book, and I'm glad that they changed that, because I think I would have been cringing too hard to enjoy Alexander Skarsgård otherwise.
The most disappointing difference is that Tara doesn't exist. She was one of my favorites. :( Lafeyette also only makes very, very brief appearances.
I know that the books go on forever, and Sookie keeps racking up suitors--like Anita Blake, again, but I hope that I don't get irritated by that too soon. All in all, it was entertaining and much less objectionable than the Dresden Files book.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-26 05:06 pm (UTC)Are they okay popcorn? I've been craving some crappy pulpy popcorny crap for summer reading.
Also, your Oregon Trail icon is so totally win omg.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-26 06:04 pm (UTC)The writing isn't so great. The author relies way too heavily on dialogue, so scenes that aren't dialogue-heavy don't have any emotional oomph.
Also, if you're the type of person who has to find the main character engaging in order to like a series, I'd give this one a pass. Sookie is... well, she is the type of person who only knows the word "libido" because it was in a word-a-day calendar. She's pleasantly surprising at times, but most of the time, is just boring.
I don't know. I can see how you might like it, and I can see how you might hate it. She is sort of a less-angsty Anita Blake who is not so obviously a stand-in for the author, with marginally better fashion sense, and no stupid aphrodisiac super-power.