Product Description

A compelling sequence from the best selling author of Night World!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #354 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Features

• New
• Mint Condition
• Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
• Guaranteed packaging
• No quibbles returns

About the Author

L J Smith is the globally best-selling author of more than 20 books for young adults, including the cult phenomenon the Night World sequence. Since childhood she has been fascinated by the night and the way the ordinary world changes when darkness falls. She lives in Northern California in a rambling house in a small town. 

Customer Reviews

Surprisingly good
I actually started watching this series on the TV before i started to read the books as i couldnt wait week after week to find out what happened....

Anyway, after reading some terrible reviews on here, i decided to give it a chance anyway, and im so glad that i did. I am not a teenager and i really enjoyed this book! I have read on some review about poor english etc etc, i think i must have got so wrapped up in the story that I didnt notice any poor english...

At first i couldnt identify with Elena...she is very self important...however, as the book progresses you begin to forget about this...

I am curently half way through the 3rd book and i am really really enjoying it!

Give it a chance! Dont believe everything you read...take it for what it is...a teenagers book...not some deep mind altering novel....

Paving the way for the teen vampire sensation
Anyone reading this book would be forgiven for thinking that it was rather derivative of a certain other one, (Twilight that is). It even has an apple on a black cover ... Amazingly, it was published over ten years before Stephanie Meyer had even started hers. Understandingly, the publishers have jumped on the bandwagon with a new edition. I didn't discover it until I had already read Twilight though, so my thoughts about Smith's book can't help but but be influenced by the other.

The Vampire Diaries was originally written as a trilogy in 1991, and extended to 4 parts a year later. This edition contains parts 1 & 2. Smith is now adding another new trilogy to the series, and inbetween also created the 'Night World' series of novels featuring many different supernatural races.

Smith's heroine is beautiful and popular, and when a new boy Stefan comes to school, she just has to have him. Sure enough he's a vampire with an evil older brother Damon. Back in the Renaissance they both loved the same woman, who became a vampire and then when they forced her to choose between them, she took both. Stefan still thinks she really loved him before she died; and Elena reminds him of her - so they're made for each other. Nasty things start to happen in this little town - there's a big black crow always around, then people get scared in the old ruined church, and an old guy is killed under bridge over the river. Then at the school's Halloween Haunted House party, someone dies - all fingers point to Stefan, but we know that Damon lives and he wants what his brother wants ...

Arguably, although more happens than in Twilight, I found the Vampire Diaries rather ordinary and humourless, somewhat full of stereotypes and also lacking the former's subtlety. Also, for a book with the word 'Diaries' in the title, the few diary pages included were strangely uninvolving to me. I would describe the book(s) as competent, and fans of her Night World series will surely enjoy these vampires.

Million times better than twilight!!
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and I personally thought this book was by far better than the twilight series. For a start it iseasier to read, as I found the twilight series (and bella) totally tiresome and hard going. Nothing much occurs in twilight where as this book, there is action all the way through. Don't get me wrong this isn't the best book you'll ever read or the most life changing but it certainly had me entertained and eager to read more...again unlike twilight. I can see where Myers found her inspiration but LJ smith far exceeds any of her novels. Its 'Gossip Girl' esk and fun. The character of Elena at first is shallow, self-centred and a bit of a princess but her character developes for the better unlike the dull egotistical bella (who is bland and bratty all the way through) and the main male characters (especially Damon) are more engaging. It has dark elements which I like and the vampires are depicted as not only seductive, handsome ect but monsterous and repellent. Ok, the story is simple but I can't help but praise it and I'm sorry for offending any twilight fans- as it is possibly the worst book I've ever read and wasted minutes of my life on(I could only read one and half novels and sent them packing to the charity shop)and I was expecting similar from Vampire Diaries, so it came as a pleasant surprise that it was hugely better.Give it a go if you fancy a bit of light reading and supernatural fun. x