I started reading The Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith yesterday since one of my teen volunteers told me I had to read it before Monday (her next day in to volunteer) so we could talk about. She told me I'd like it and so I said I'd give it a try.
I'm 150 pages and I honestly don't see the appeal. I think it's boring, Elena is obnoxious, snotty and somewhat a Mary Sue, although a more confident one. Basically all that happened in the first 100 pages of the book is that hot new guy Stefan shows up at school and popular beautiful Elena, who gets everything she wants and every boy she wants decides she must make Stefan hers, for no other reason than he's new and hot. And now, after weeks of ignoring her, they've kissed and she's now in love with him (she hasn't even talked to the guy-they've barely said three words to each other!)
So if you've read it, does it get better? I wanted to read it before the TV show comes out this Fall, although I've heard the show is different than the books. Should I keep reading??
I'm 150 pages and I honestly don't see the appeal. I think it's boring, Elena is obnoxious, snotty and somewhat a Mary Sue, although a more confident one. Basically all that happened in the first 100 pages of the book is that hot new guy Stefan shows up at school and popular beautiful Elena, who gets everything she wants and every boy she wants decides she must make Stefan hers, for no other reason than he's new and hot. And now, after weeks of ignoring her, they've kissed and she's now in love with him (she hasn't even talked to the guy-they've barely said three words to each other!)
So if you've read it, does it get better? I wanted to read it before the TV show comes out this Fall, although I've heard the show is different than the books. Should I keep reading??
So here's my thing with the Vampire Diaries. I loved, loved, loved the series when they first came out. I reread them right before the 5th book came out and did not really care for them. The 5th book was better and I am looking forward to the 6th book. You could definitely see the change in her style of writing.
ReplyDeleteYes, it gets better. Elena is such a brat in the beginning of the series, but she grows, and the plot thickens. I'd keep reading, I love these books.
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Jessica
I read these books when they first came out and loved them. It's funny, Elena doesn't even bother me much now, perhaps because I know she won't always be snotty and obnoxious. Now personally, I wasn't so nuts about the newest book, though I'm thinking about re-reading it to see if I change my mind, and I still plan to keep reading the series, as L.J. Smith was one of my favorite authors growing up. I'm not surprised that a lot of people do prefer the newer books, given what else is out there in the genre these days, but I guess I liked what I grew up with :-) Good luck!!!
ReplyDeleteOk - so I read these waaaaaay back in 1990s when they first came out. I was a pre-teen that just about gobbled up anything and everything I could read. I have very fond memmories of The Vampire Diary series as well as Smith's others - The Secret Circle and Dark Awakenings.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw they were being re-released? My first sarcastic thought was...oh, thank you Twilight. I have no way to prove this but I'm pretty sure we are seeing Smith's books again because someone is trying to cash in on the success of Twilight by flooding the market with more vampire teen romance books.
I'm going to read them again but ONLY for nostalgia. If you haven't read anything by Smith before...I don't recommend starting now. Her written really isn't all that good and the story lines are pretty shallow (especially the looooove parts!)
Just my 2 cents :)
I love, love, LOVED her Secret Circle trilogy. Never picked up Vampire Diaries when I was a teen back in the day, only because I couldn't give a hoot about vamps. I was all about witches. I still have not read the series (so, this is like, zero help to you I guess. Oops.) but I did try the first Night World volume this year and.. well.. didn't finish it. It was lousy. (I was so sad!)
ReplyDeleteShe also has another 2-book series that I loved as well, which is harder to find. But the because I found Night World so hard to digest, I am too wary to start Vampire Diaries. And I still don't really like them!
I don't even know how to judge the series. I read the books when I was a pre-teen/teen and loved them. My teens were stunned that the books were from the 90s.
ReplyDeleteBut...these books are my guilty pleasures. They don't really have substance and I'm not sure I would love them as much if I hadn't read them as a teen.
Elena does get to be less annoying though. I promise that.
I really have no desire to read these books, despite the fact I'm going to try to watch the show, and I'm a teen librarian. These books don't need recommending since most of the paranormal readers at my library seem to already know who to get next. I can't keep The Vampire Diaries on the shelf. Sometimes I think my voice in their reading questions is moot, and this is one of those times.
ReplyDeleteI went through the exact same things when i started to read the Vampire Diaries! I even quit reading it for a acoupleof days because i was just sooo tired of it! BUT WAIT!! DONT STOP READING IT! Because believe it or not the series does get better...
ReplyDeleteAt first i thought Elena was too cocky and Damen was too much of an asshole and Stefan was just to goody-goody but by the end of the Struggle (2nd book), I couldnt wait to read the next book! It gets really interesting after that!! You really should continue reading it!
Like everyone else I read these when they first came out, way back when. I LOVED them and the Secret Circle. I think these are what kicked off my love for vampires. I am really looking forward to the series this fall. I don't remember Elena being annoying, but I haven't re-read them. I do know that Bella was super annoying at times during Twilight (Eclipse) but she got better...
ReplyDeleteI didn't enjoy the first two books, they were bone dry in my eyes and I really had to force my way through them. I have nothing agaisnt the author, but I wish she'd try something other than paranomal, she may really shine in another genre but I just can't bring myself to like anything she's written as of yet. I wish I had a different answer becasue it's very rare for my to not like a book in one way or another.
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