Sookie Stackhouse

I recently picked up an omnibus with the first three books of the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris because I had heard the trailers for the HBO series, True Blood.

I started with Dead Until Dark.  It was interesting, but didn't grab me enough to want to continue.  However, since I had the omnibus, I read the next, Living Dead in Dallas.  And then I was hooked.  I picked up the rest of the series through the latest, Dead in the Family.

What do I like about the series?  Well, for one, I like the way the story line builds from one edition to the next and the way the people change from their circumstances.  In Dead to the World, Sookie and a suitor's girlfriend have an unfortunate encounter.  This echoes through 2 more books.  The rescue of Bill from his maker in Club Dead has repercussions in the last book.  

Sookie goes from being ashamed of her telepathy to almost seeing it as the gift the vampires and Weres think it is.  There is the progression from her discovery of vampires to shapeshifters to Weres, weres, witches, demons and fairies.  And the realization that she herself isn't entirely human.  People live, people die, even people we don't want to die.

Through it all, Sookie maintains her belief in tolerance, in trying to do the best you can to help others.  The intolerance and fear of those that are different are realistic.   Sookie's fears and doubts are realistically portrayed.  She tries to help others who have the gift avoid the problems she has faced.  

Bad things, sometimes very bad things, happen to and around Sookie.  She is a catalyst, often seeing the situation in ways those more intimately involved can't.  In this way, she reminds me of Sheriff Carter on Eureka, without the super intellect, but with the common sense to see a problem to its resolution.

I've enjoyed these books very much and anxiously await the next installment.