Review: Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Yes, it is another review of Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. But, it is what I've been reading. I have to admit that this book sat on my to be read bookshelf (yes it has grown to a whole bookshelf) for quite a while before I finally got around to it. I'm glad I finally read this one. It was much better than I had expected.

When I first started reading this, though, I could not help but notice the glaring similarities to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight. Sookie can read minds, Edward can read minds. Neither can read the mind of their love interest. Sam is a shape shifter, Jacob is a shape shifter. Sookie loves Bill but has feelings for Sam. Bella loves Edward but has feelings for Jacob.

At first I thought this book was ripping off the story elements from Twilight, but then I went to Library Thing and learned that Dead Until Dark was published four years before Twilight. This book is not ripping off anything. It seems to me Stephenie Meyer took her inspiration from Charlaine Harris.

I enjoyed Dead Until Dark more than Twilight. The characters are more rich and the situations are more mature. I realize that there are two different target audiences for the books. My tastes must not include a lot of teenage melodrama.

The adventures of Sookie Stackhouse have been adapted to the screen with HBO's series True Blood. I haven't watched the series, but I hear that it is very good. I will be finishing the Sookie Stackhouse series of books sometime soon. It's hard for me to not devour a series that I like this much.