Books or TV Show: True Blood

As we’ve all seen from film and TV show adaptations, books and their visual counterparts are different. In some cases, very different. “True Blood” is no exception to this rule. Based around “The Southern Vampire Mysteries” by Charlaine Harris, “True Blood” brings the thirteen novels to life across seven seasons. For the most part, the TV adaptation of the series is true to the books. The first season is the truest to the books, but once you hit season two, things start to change. Fair warning: spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen the TV show or read the books.

Perhaps the most notable change is with the characters themselves. One of the many supernatural creatures in the series is a maenad, an immortal who followed Dionysus, the Greek god of wine. In the books, she’s known as Callisto. In the TV show, she’s known as Maryann Forrester. For the most part, her character remains the same across the books and the TV series, but her interactions with the characters play out differently across both formats. Overall, Maryann has a larger role in the TV show as the main villain of season two compared to her book counterpart, who feels like she was just a brief mention in the second book of the series.

In some cases, the characters play different roles in the books versus the TV show, impacting the plot in different ways between the two adaptations. This is the case with Jason Stackhouse, the older brother of the series’ narrator Sookie. He is more of a main character on the show than in the books. He plays a larger role through the Fellowship of the Sun plotline that spreads across multiple seasons, starting in season two.

There are also several characters exclusive to the TV show, including Jessica, the progeny of vampire Bill Compton. She plays a large role in the series and directly impacts one of the characters who’s featured in the books and the show, Hoyt Fortenberry. He’s still a sweet, innocent guy in both adaptations, but overall, he comes across as two very different people.

And then there’s our narrator: Sookie Stackhouse. I think she’s the reason why the books felt like such a drag. Maybe it’s the way Charlaine Harris wrote her. Maybe it’s just how her character is. Maybe it’s because I watched the TV show before I read the books. I have no idea, but the character of Sookie is a hundred times more annoying in the books than in the TV show. She was actually far more likable in the TV show compared to the books. Her book counterpart comes off as extremely ditzy and just gives out way too much unnecessary information that’s just not important, especially compared to her TV show counterpart, who, while not perfect (as no character should be), is significantly better in all aspects.

Overall, between the two adaptations, I enjoyed the TV show far more than I enjoyed the books. Both certainly have their flaws, but the TV show brought the characters to life in a way that the books just didn’t. At some point, after seven seasons, shows become a drag, and “True Blood” has been no exception to that, but it took a lot longer compared to the thirteen novels of “The Southern Vampire Mysteries” that were a drag from the very first book.