Breakaway Books

Authored by Charlaine Harris; Published 2001; Fantasy

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️🏖️

Dead Until Dark is a novel ahead of its time—a steamy romantasy featuring a hot vampire and other supernatural creatures. But, as prophetic as it may have been of the current fad, I wouldn’t say that it’s my favorite of the romantasy genre.

Dead Until Dark tells the story of Sookie Stackhouse, who’s always been a bit of an oddball in her Louisiana town. She’s a telepath, and it turns out that that makes maintaining relationships a tough thing to do. When Bill, the town’s first vampire, arrives, Sookie is intrigued—and infatuated. But just as he is getting settled, women around town, specifically women who have been enamored with vampires, start to die. Is Bill the culprit? Or is someone else to blame?

In the universe in which this novel takes place, the existence of vampires is openly acknowledged, with a paper-thin lie about a viral disease to provide a rational, ordinary explanation for how they came to be to the populace at large. The openness of vampiric existence sets up interesting points of conflict, such as how vampires cope with the prejudice they face and how the law does or doesn’t protect them. I found the societal adjustments to be one of the more innovative aspects of the novel, but I couldn’t quite swallow the premise as a whole. It seemed strange to me that within the space of a few weeks, Sookie figures out that the virus is a mere pretext, and is shocked–*shocked*–at the existence of supernatural beings. In fact, she is flabbergasted to learn that in addition to vampires, there are other supernatural beings living among them. Yet somehow, these circumstances aren’t common knowledge in society. Of course, it didn’t unduly interfere with my enjoyment of the story; it was only when I stepped back and thought about it that it bothered me.

Sookie herself very nearly makes up for the implausibility of the premise, especially the treatment of her gift of telepathy. From the beginning, Sookie claims that it is not a gift but instead a disability; her head is full of noise, and barring consistent effort on her part, she is deluged by the thoughts of those around her. She is constantly learning things she would rather not know about her family, her coworkers, her neighbors. Her difficulties struck me as a highly realistic and fascinating way to portray an ability that is nearly universally labeled as a gift in fiction. Her struggles with telepathy and the relief she gets from being around Bill, whose mind is closed to her, are easily the most intriguing element of the book. The constant sexualizing of vampires and drinking blood is predictable, and for me, the worst part. Especially now, when books that fetishize vampires are a dime a dozen, it doesn’t feel tantalizing, just trite.

Dead Until Dark may be a favorite for true vampire junkies, but for garden variety romantasy fans, it probably won’t win many hearts.