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Sookie Stackhouse Boxed Set (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood) | 
| Author: Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Ace
Category: Book
List Price: $55.93
Buy New: $31.88
You Save: $24.05 (43%)
Rating:  114 reviews
Sales Rank: 27
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.5
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 6.2 x 4.3
ISBN: 0441017770
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780441017775
Publication Date: November 12, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 109 more reviews...
 A truly superb series of novels November 9, 2008
288 out of 293 found this review helpful
This past year I began a reading project of the major vampire novels and stories, from John Polidori's THE VAMPYRE to Bram Stoker's DRACULA to Richard Matheson's I AM LEGEND to Theodore Sturgeon's SOME OF YOUR BLOOD to more recent works. I had previously read various novels, including the Anita Blake series, which started promisingly but not only never lived up to its initial promise but regressed to embarrassingly awful pornography. In August of this year I decided to read Charlaine Harris's vampire series, which was originally known as The Southern Vampire Mysteries but eventually became better known as the Sookie Stackhouse Novels.
Now, this is where the story gets odd. Completely independently of my reading project I had heard about and planned on watching Alan Ball's new series TRUE BLOOD. I was a huge fan of SIX FEET UNDER and was anxious to see how he would handle a series dealing with vampires. A few days after I had ordered the first four Sookie Stackhouse novels I learn to my great shock that Ball's new series was based on the very same novels. It is the most serendipitous coincidence in my life as a reader.
Because so many people have become aware of these books as a result of the TV series, a word about the differences between the two is in order. There are both definite similarities and some sharp differences between the two. The books focus much more on Sookie and less on the lives of the supporting characters, not surprising given that Sookie is the narrator in the novels. Sookie's narrative voice is for me one of the joys of the books and I miss that very personal perspective when I watch the TV series. The books are also far less sexual than the series, though there are several sex scenes (though it never descends to the pure porn found in the Anita Blake books). The series differs sharply from the books when it deals with characters other than Sookie. For instance, Tara in the books is a minor (and white) character. Jason plays a far smaller role. Just about everything touching Tara and Jason cannot be found in the novels. Sam and Tara are not involved. Without giving spoilers, Lafayette cannot be regarded as an important character in the books. On the other hand, Eric is as important as the other three main characters in the books, Sookie, Bill, and Sam. Still, based on all but the last 2 or 3 episodes of Season One of the TV show, Sookie's story there is pretty close to that is the first novel in the sequence.
The one huge advantage of the novels over the series is that there is just so much more that happens. Season One of the series corresponds to the first novel in the sequence. I expect that the TV show will begin to diverge from the novels in the second season. So I see no reason for anyone who enjoys the show not to plunge in and enjoy a whole string of new adventures in the life of Sookie Stackhouse, barmaid and telepath. What has delighted me is how consistently superb the novels are. I felt the second novel in the series, DEAD AND LIVING IN DALLAS, was a bit less entertaining than the second book, but all the rest in the sequence were increasingly excellent. And they all mesh to tell a unified story. One novel ends and the next picks up the story perhaps as little as two or three weeks later.
The novels also introduce new and more interesting supernatural characters. The Anita Blake novels did this as well, but I felt that that series was increasingly less successful. Both series introduce weres (were wolves, were tigers, were panthers, and others), witches, vampires from other locales, and fairies. But throughout it all Sookie remains both an innocent and an explorer.
All in all, this is one of the most enjoyable long series of novels that I know. My only real disappointment is that a date has not yet been announced for the next and ninth novel in the series. Charlaine Harris (who lives in the southern part of my native state of Arkansas) has a couple of other series and 2009 apparently is devoted to those. My hope is that perhaps the success of the TV show will cause Ms. Harris to revise her plans and bring out another Sookie Stackhouse sooner rather than later.
I will add that on some boards many fans of the books don't like Anna Paquin as Sookie. I do. She isn't quite the way the books describe Sookie, being slender and not at all voluptuous, whereas in the books Sookie is constantly described as curvy and very chesty. But I think Anna Paquin gets a lot of the spirit of Sookie. She feels in her performance very much like someone who has been traumatized by hearing the thoughts of others.
If you are a fan of TRUE BLOOD, you should definitely read these. I actually prefer the books to the TV show, though I like the show as well. But if you haven't watched the show, but enjoy well written book on supernatural themes, you should read these anyway. In the recent tradition of revisionist accounts of vampires, this is one of the best.
Great Escapism... November 25, 2008
23 out of 24 found this review helpful
First off - if you are interested in the True Blood series on HBO - get these books and get this set. I was STRONGLY recommended to read these books after talking about the show by a friend who read them when they first came out. So I did...purchased one at a time. Boy do I wish I would have bought the set right off and then get the additional books later for I would have saved a bit of money and had a great way to keep all the books together and in great shape. Nevertheless, the books and show ARE different and yet both are worthy of reading/watching if you are into this genre of books. I have enjoyed both for various reasons, but for the books, I truly enjoy the narrative of Sookie through all her trials and tribulations of interacting with "special" characters. This is not a wannabe Anita Blake type of series, but very unique, exciting and often lighthearted...definitely not as dark! Harris has written these books in such a way to really draw one into them, sometimes even identifying with human emotions that is sometimes unexpected. Now I have all the paperbacks, without the boxed set container (sad), and am awaiting the next book in the series.
Plus I will continue to watch the show, knowing on what it is based and that I should not expect the same thing as I read in the books...yet knowing the same "flavor" will be retained. That makes for good reading and for good TV/movie adaptation.
 easy and addicitve, sure, but tin can entertainment at best November 24, 2008
9 out of 21 found this review helpful
Charlene Harris tapped into a very trendy storyline and while the book is great to plow through quickly, this is not a work of classic fiction sure to last the test of time. "Write what you know," doesn't mean you can't write fantasy, but don't try to see through eyes you clearly have no connection with. Charlene writes in the first person, with Sookie as the voice, yet clearly has no notion of what it means to be this girl. I don't just mean a telepath, but an attractive, smart yet ditsy waitress dealing with maintaining self-respect while tying not to cause waves and learning to pick her battles. It seems as though she is writing about a girl she always wished she were, but never understood. She's placed Sookie on a pedestal which seems almost sexual when viewing it as the reader. I can't help but think that Mrs. Harris imagines herself as this girl when she's laying in bed at night. The sex scenes are forced, and a little too much like a 'romance novel', again as though someone is writing a sex life they wish they had. But the book is easy to read and has fun moments. I plan to try the second and see if Mrs. Harris improves as a writer, but I'm not sure how far down the line I'll take it. There are better vampire books, but if you're a fan of story lines found in shows one might find on the WB, now CW, I'm sure you'll enjoy this. Or if you just need a book that will fill your world for a short while, but not take up too much time or thought, Dead Until Dark is the book for you.
For those who need a True Blood fix while we're waiting for the 2nd Season! December 17, 2008
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
Bought this set (cheaper than buying them seperate, that's for sure!) so that I can get my True Blood fix while I'm waiting for the 2nd season on HBO. Obviously the show and the books are different (drastically sometimes), but the books are highly addictive!
SOOKIE; YES. TRUE BLOOD; NO November 24, 2008
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
Having been a fan of the Southern Vampire series from the onset, I eagerly await each new installment. I was very excited to learn that HBO planned to base a series on these books as I thought they'd have a sure fire hit on their hands. I was very disappointed in their execution, however, as these books are so loosely based on the novels they are more runny than loose. Aside from the names and characteristics of the people and places surrounding Sookie, there's very little from the books in the television show. That's not to say the HBO series isn't good - it's just not the Southern Vampire series the readers have come to know. For me, I'll stick to the books. Each new book is an enjoyable experience; one worth waiting for.
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