Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

5 reviews

ravenousrose's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I had seen bits and pieces of the show and wasn’t a huge fan. But the books are so much better. Really enjoyed this tale and am looking forward to reading more.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Cancer, Incest, Rape, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

seriouslynerdy's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I started the show “True Blood” on HBO and gave up around season 3 (let me know if I should give it another chance) instead of trying the show again I decided to tackle this series (which I should have started first) When I started reading this book it was very similar to the tv show they did a good adaptation for the first book. If you have watched the show and enjoyed the characters Lafayette and Tara, the book will be a bit shocking as they do not have big roles in the book as they do in the show. 

I did enjoy that this book was fast paced and an easy read, if it had truly grabbed my attention I could have read it in a day.  The book follows Sookie Stackhouse a waitress in Louisiana who has a special ability to read minds and nobody knows why and anyone who does in Bon Temps thinks she strange and a “freak”, vampires are known in this world not accepted fully but people know of their presences and they don’t need to hide anymore. She has built a wall up in her mind to protect herself and not hear other people's thoughts when she doesn’t want to hear them but sometimes her wall crumbles. She is waitressing one night when a man walks into her section, one she doesn’t recognize and one she can’t read , leading her to believe that this man is a vampire. Once she lays eye on him her world changes in one second and doesn’t go back to normal. The whole first book is Sookie and Bill (the vampire) trying to have a normal relationship but people in town are dying and placing the blame on vampires and they decide to investigate and figure out who is murdering the people of Bond Temp. 

This book does not have excellent writing, it’s not a masterpiece but I enjoyed it and if you enjoy cheesy, trashy vampire stories that are a step up from twilight this book is the perfect book for you. 

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

braveprincess11's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

at first, I thought maybe I’d watch True Blood. then I got halfway through the book & went… “no, think it’s best if I don’t”

the same goes with reading the rest of the series. think it’s best if I don’t. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Incest and Death of parent

Brief mention of necrophilia

caseyf's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Addiction and Sexual content

katte's review against another edition

adventurous funny informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A fun romp, especially if you’ve seen the show. Don’t expect deep mystery or heavy emotions and you’ll likely be satisfied with this. First-person narrative isn’t usually my bag, but it worked, and made some of the cringier and uncomfortable terminology or biases showing through a little easier to accept, since it was filtered through a character’s mind. Perhaps this was intentional, perhaps it was happy accident - it was written in 2001, after all. My biggest beef with it was some of the dynamics between Sookie and Jason - siblings just don’t call each other “bro” and “sis” where I’m from. Maybe it’s different in the South!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Incest, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia, Mental illness, and Racism