Too Many Characters…?

[new_user]

Yeah, that happens sometimes. I think I picked up a Feehan and I read "X said such and such, then Y, then Z and then R entered the room..." LOL. I was like "wut?"

But when you're reading along in a series, you tend to become invested in the characters, so authors introduce characters in earlier books to spark interest and set them up for later books. This does mean though that some series don't lend themselves well as standalones. They have to be read in order.

[Brenna]

Nine books in? Sure. I have family trees of dozens of people by six books in. I try not to show them all in a single book, but then you get books like Christine Feehan's Dark Celebration, where everyone and their mother (literally) are appearing in the book...and it snowballs.

Brenna

[Ann aka Iftcan]

J--yes this is something that Charlaine has always done in her books. Sometimes the "extra" characters are introduced in a minor way, and in a later book get knocked off. Sometimes they are used to advance the plot of a book. And Charlaine has Sookie remembering characters that have "died" or moved, which is something that bothers me about other series. Especially ones where there is movement in time. Yes, you don't always think about people who have left your life--but seriously, if its your Gran or someone you knew that was murdered/died in a disaster, don't they stick with you? And if you are from a small town like Sookie, then you know EVERYONE. And in small towns, everyone affects everyone.

If you haven't read the previous books in the Sookie series, you should, so that you can understand the evolution of the portrayal of the characters. For instance, the way that Bill is seen in the early books is not the same as the way he's seen in the later ones. People in real life change, grown and even move away (emotionally or in actuallity) so, in a continuing series, the same thing should happen.

If this is your first taste of Sookie--I will say, that's not really the book to start with. Its so far the least satisfying of the stories. And this really is a series that needs to be read in order.

[new_user]

That sure is a lot of characters, LOL.

[The Flooze]

You haven't read far enough into Anita Blake yet. She has WAY MORE characters. Characters that Anita talks to on a daily basis because she lives with most of them.
On the other hand, I'm not bothered by the number of characters in Sookie. A lot of them are background. They're just there to give you a feel for her community. Also, she works in a small town bar. She's bound to know even more people in passing than the normal resident.

[Gail]

That is a lot of named characters. It's hard, though, in a series to refer to people by "the store clerk" when the character would know their name. (I've lived in towns of less than 2,000 population, though, and I sure as heck didn't know EVERYBODY. I didn't grow up there, though...but even my friends who did didn't know every single person by name.)

I actually think Hamilton handles it fairly well in the Blake books. She tends to divide her characters up. "This book will be about Anita and Micah, Nathaniel and Richard; and THAT book will be about Anita, Edward and Tiger-boy, while This other book is about Anita, Jean-Claude and Asher--with assorted other people thrown in." That's a pretty reasonable way to do it, IMO.

At least Harris does it in 1st person so there's only one POV. I have written books with as many as 9 or 10 POVs, and afterward sworn that I will NEVER do it again. But I still have about 6 major characters in the current book... sigh.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

J--that is a lot of people. But Sookie while she might not know them PERSONALLY would at least know of them. In the South you are defined not by who YOU are but by who your family is. My Mum lives in a town that I think is about the same size as Bon Temps seems to be--and I walked in and used a library card (out of STATE one at that) to cash a check. All I said was "My Mum is (her name) and my Uncle is standing over THERE and my cousin is over THERE" Pointing at different areas of the store. Mum and Dad moved back there after Daddy retired the third time, but it was where they grew up. So lots and lots and LOTS of family. (I figure I'm related to about 95% of the town--with the remaining 5% newcomers or military from the NAS that's about 20 miles away.)

So, while I don't KNOW them, they all know ME. Even if it is only as Mizz (or Aunt, cousin, etc) XX's daughter. (two weeks in the summer while I was growing up wasn't enough time for me to get to know anyone that wasn't really closely related to me.) But my cousins who grew up there, do know everyone--or at least of everyone. And Harris is also from the South, so she knows what its like to run up and down family trees, working out how you know someone/are related to them/ what they do.

[The Flooze]

I didn't realize there were that many people floating around this one. Thirteen on your list are new. Perhaps that's it, because I have to admit that I was getting a little cross-eyed with Braenden and Murry and Claude and Claudine and Niall and Loghlin and Neave and Dermot and Fintan and Donlin (is that last one right? Claudine's dad, whatever his name is...). Add Mel in too and it's a bit of a clusterf*ck. But that's in line with my thinking that this book was already a little all over the place. A lot of throw away characters this time, the more I think of it.

[The Flooze]

And there are probably more.

JB duRhone!
Felicia!
Crystal's sister and cousin...

The list goes on and on.

[Sandy]

I agree that there were a lot of characters in Dead and Gone but I didn't mind. I think that a lot of books that take place ina small town setting tend to have a lot of characters - everyone knows or knows of everyone else.