Lisa Jane Smith

I've been a fan of The Vampire Diaries (TV Show) for quite a while now but I've never read the books. So I decided I would finally start reading the book that inspired this amazing show. There has only ever been 1 other time when I've said the movie is better than the book (Breaking Dawn) and I didn't think that would ever be possible. Well this is second time I'll say it, the show is so, so, so, much better than the book. If you're a fan of the show I wouldn't even bother with the books. For one thing, the storyline isn't even the same, some parts of it are but there's a lot that they change and thank goodness for those changes. Also the characters will probably annoy you to no end (they did for me), they are so much different from the show. I'll go into the pros (however few there may be) and the cons (which is plenty) below. Beware, anything written after this point will contain spoilers (From the Show and Book)!


**SPOILER ALERT**

Pros: Very quick read (230-250 pages). Since the storyline is different from the show there were some interesting things going on in the book, such as when Caroline and Tyler work together to expose Stephen as the town’s killer (even though he isn’t). Book got 10x better once Damon was introduced.

Cons: We'll start with the characters. They were all annoying, especially Elena, Stephen, and Damon and they're the MAIN characters. The only characters that were ok were Bonnie and Meredith. If you've seen the show Meredith is basically Caroline's character. In the book Elena and Caroline use to be best friends but they aren't anymore and Caroline is a spoiled, shallow, vindictive b**ch but so is Elena so I guess they've got that in common. Elena is the most shallow and flat character there is; all she cares about is popularity and boys. Then she meets Stephen and all she cares about is making him hers even if it kills her, she seriously says that in the book. In the beginning Stephen tries to ignore her and keep his distance from her which only makes her more determined to "have him" because she's Elena Gilbert and OMG, no boy has EVER ignored Elena Gilbert before, it's just not done. It goes against the laws of physics! (Sarcastic voice). Elena, like Caroline and a lot of the other characters in the book is as shallow as a kiddie pool (Didn't Damon say that to Caroline one time on the show?)

Stephen, mysterious, brooding, and very boring. I don't care about Stephen at all. Even though TV show Stephen is brooding and sometimes boring, he's got more of an interesting backstory, especially when he’s in "Ripper" mode.

Damon, still smoking hot, dangerous, but more of an asshole than in the show. How's that even possible? Damon, who is a lot like Elena, will stop at nothing make Elena his. Though Elena has said she'll have Stephen even if it kills her, Damon wants Elena no matter who he has to kill (innocent or not) to get her. At one point in the book, Damon threatens to kill Elena's little four year old sister Margret (which is another change, no Jeremy in the book. I really liked Jeremy, especially once he became a hunter). But seriously how messed up do you have to be to threaten a four year old? TV Damon has his psychopathic tendencies but I don’t think even he would go that far.

Also Alaric is in this book but they don’t show him much. It would be interesting to see what role he plays in all of this, maybe we’ll find out more about him in the next book but I definitely think he’ll have a bigger role in all of this than what it seems like right now.

Book Katherine is completely different than TV Katherine. Book Katherine is more like TV Elena and Book Elena is more like TV Katherine. Their personalities are just switched. Book Katherine is portrayed as this sweet, innocent, and naïve girl. In the book, Katherine was upset that she got between two bothers and that they were fighting over her so she kills herself, hoping it would get them to stop fighting and bring them together (which is dumb, she could have just left and gone somewhere else. She didn’t have to kill herself). Also Stephen and Damon hated each other since before Katherine came into the pic so just because she’s gone doesn’t mean they will all of a sudden become best friends.

One thing I didn’t like about Stephen and Damon’s relationship is that they never really explained why they hate each other so much. They kind of said that Damon blames Stephen for their mother’s death because she never fully recovered after Stephen’s birth, but that seems like a lame and weak excuse for a lifelong feud between two bothers.

Also they briefly mention Klause at the beginning of the book. I was hoping that some of the originals would show up in this book but they never did. I think it would have been so much better if they did but maybe they’ll be in the next one.

Bonnie is still a witch so that hasn’t changed but book Bonnie and TV Bonnie look nothing alike. In the book, Bonnie has fair skin and is a redhead. Though none of the book characters look like their TV characters, except for Stephen and Damon. Even Elena is different; in the book she’s a blond and Caroline has auburn hair. But anyway, appearances aren’t that important. Lets move on to some other annoying aspects of the book.

Inst-Love: I think this book invented the term insta-love. Stephen and Elena don’t know anything about each other and Stephen has been ignoring Elena for the first half of the book. Then one night Stephen saves Elena from being attacked by Tyler (who almost becomes a rapist in this book) and they share one kiss and all of a sudden Elena is madly in love with Stephen and can’t be without him?! Seriously, it’s ridiculous. The love relationships in this book are based solely on looks and nothing else.

The Ending: The ending was actually pretty good. It’s the ending that has me considering reading the next book. In the end, Elena car goes over the bridge and she ends up drowning but since she had Damon’s blood in her system when she died she is now transitioning to be a vampire. But one twist just isn’t enough, right? Well, now that she’s a vampire she is also sired to Damon and is now head over heels, madly in love with Damon and will do whatever he wants. But what about Stephen you ask? Stephen who? That’s basically Elena’s thought process now that she’s sired to Damon, all she can think about is him. Overall this book just had too many issues for me, especially the characters. But I am kind of interested to see where the story goes now that Elena is a vampire, especially since it’s different from the show.
… (mer)