Dead Before Dark vs. True Blood: No Comparison
I read Dead Until Dark, the first in The Southern Vampire Mysteries featuring telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse, a couple weeks ago on the plane to Europe. Then I forgot about it. Dead Until Dark in a nutshell: forgettable.
But first, a disclaimer: I love True Blood, and whoever read the book and thought it would make a good TV show was dead right (ha, ha) and has far more vision than I do. The show isn’t perfect (and I haven’t started season 3 yet) but my relationship with it is definitely love/love, not love/hate, as with Twilight. So as excited as I was to read the book that started it all, Dead Until Dark was a huuuuge letdown. I suppose I should have taken a clue from the price ($7 at Target) and the cover art (yuck).
In 90% of cases I’ll say the book is better. And, I suppose this isn’t a completely fair comparison, as I’m putting two entire TV seasons against only the first book in the series. But the world was nowhere near as complex, the characters nowhere near as developed or entertaining, as in True Blood. There was far less of a political subtext and – even though I didn’t like her at first – where was Tara? That’s one addition True Blood definitely got right.
And it just wasn’t the same without that disturbing intro or Bill’s deep, intense “Sook-eh”‘s.
And at one point, Sookie – a 25-yr-old, sexy, gifted women – wears a scrunchie. It’s not even called a scrunchie, it’s called a squinchy or something equally as stupid (I don’t have the book in front of me). I’m no fashionista, but no girl with any sense of pride wears one of those after middle-school graduation.
(thanks to Real Talk for this fantastic photo, and like-minded thoughts)
And even though I know what happens in True Blood, I don’t remember what happens at the end of Dead Until Dark. So…
Am I going to read the next books? No. Should you? Unless you’re obsessed with all things YA/vampire, no. And I’m not going to spend any more time telling you why this book isn’t worth your time – though if you’ve read it or any others in the series, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
I did, however, just finish a lovely book with a bad name, which I’ll get to later this week 🙂
Lyndale Press 
Haha I love this comparison post and I agree on some of your points. But I’ve only just finished Dead Until Dark and have yet to review it so don’t want to give too much away. Stop by my blog next week for the review lol. I have been told though that this series gets a lot better after the first couple of books.
I have yet to read the books OR see True Blood so I’m thinking I’m in a good space to read the books. Except I’m not a huge YA buff (don’t get me started on my absurd and undeserved affection for Twilight) and so I’m not compelled to grab it off my TBR shelf yet. Speaking of prices – I bought it for $2 at Borders (clearance bin). 😀
Hooray for $2 books! And yes, you are in a good position – I think you’ll like the books better if you read them first. But, if you do read them and don’t like them, still give True Blood a shot.
And you are always welcome to share your Twilight love, or hate, here 🙂
I had read the first 4 books before I ever saw the first episode of True Blood, and I definitely like the books better. The first book is the worst of the series, and they do get better for sure. I thought the first 2 seasons of True Blood were great, even though it seemed to deviate from the books more and more and the TV show is definitely darker and sexier (in true HBO fashion) than the books. However, Season 3 is getting so far from the books in some ways and getting so dark that I’m starting to get turned off. I like the light-heartedness of the books and that has definitely been lost in the show. Oh well, just my two cents.
Well, I definitely prefer dark & sexy over light and fluffy, so I guess I’m prone to prefer the show. Though it’s good to hear that the books do get better. I haven’t started Season 3 yet, hope I like it! Thanks for visiting & commenting!
I agree with some of your points and a am a HUGE fan of both the books and the TV series. I thought Dead Until Dark was fine, for me it was the last book (Book 11) All Dead in the Family that was the let down for me! I thought the build up from Book 10 really implied that Book 11 would be AMAZING but then I felt like it was kind of ‘ugh’ for me. I am hoping the next book (due out May 2011) will be better. And for Season 4 of True Blood, I am personally looking forward to seeing Eric run naked through the streets of Bon Temps! 🙂
oo… sounds like I need to catch up on my True Blood! I’m only through season 2 🙂