1st three Sookie Stackhouse books Omnibus ( )

I picked this up to explore the latest and greatest in the recent glut of Vampire Writings(tm) that has everyone so gaga. After the sparkly ones in Twilight, these vampires aren't much better. To base a television show off a book series, I'd expected more. I've been struggling to put my finger on why these books are not appealing to me. After three, I think I am nearing a conclusion. They'd make great Novellas but not Novels. The author doesn't seem to have the material to fill the pages.

Dead Until Dark
Um, when its difficult to pull two plots apart, normally that is a good thing. When the plots are so disparate as this book tried to meld them, its horrible. The writing feels like a junior high author wrote it. I wanted all the characters to die. There are psychological issues involved that the writer doesn't take into account, even with vampiric magic involved. Maybe I'm too high browed to like this type of writing. Its a drama/romance/mystery, which is not what I expected when I read the cover blub.

Living Dead in Dallas
So in this one, we meet more vamps from outside of Bon Temps. We also run across the hunter regime of the series. Tension lacked when dealing with the hunter versus vampire plot line. In addition to that, we start a storyline in Bon Temps, leave it hanging while we travel to Dallas, with no updates, only to complete it with a chapter at the end of the book. VERY disappointed.

Club Dead
Well, it took her three tries, but the author finally figured out how to sustain a plot the length of the book. I'm notably not impressed with any of the writing. Probably, the reason is that the book is pointed more toward the feminine gender and I'm not the target audience. The way her supernaturals are designed, I started looking for sparklies. Again, the main character has problems with the main male love interest. Fortunately, this time, she throws him away.

I'll grant this a 2.5 star rating, only because characterization grew as the three books completed, however, the writing was substandard and the action pitiable at best. ( )

The author draws the reader into this world where the unexpected is welcomed. The characters have vivid personalities; the stories are entertaining, funny and suspensful. It left me wanting more. ( )