+++++++Contains spoilers from the book series The Vampire Diaries+++++++++
+++++++Contains a some spoilers for the Sookies Stackhouse novels+++++++++
****Seriously, I’m not trying to ruin anything. Read the books before reading this****
I’ve always been the kind of person that once I start a series of books I like, I tend to read them straight through. The Vampire Diaries by LJ Smith certainly has me hooked right now. Insert cheesy vampire reference about biting in to the series here.
In the first book, The Awakening, we are introduced to the love story between the vampire Stefan and the high spirited Elena. The Struggle introduces the third part of the love triangle, Stefan’s brother Damon. In The Fury an unknown threat looms over the city.
The fourth book, Dark Reunion stands out against the other three for me. The main storyline is that yet again, there is an unknown treat looming over the city. The huge different between the other books and this one is that the main character completely shifts. In the first three, Elena is the center of the story even though it is an omniscient third person point of view. Dark Reunion shifts to being focused on Bonnie who is one of Elena’s best friends.
The shift is natural when you read in within the series. The Fury ends with Bonnie writing in Elena’s journal which sets up for her to take over in the fourth book. Since we are still gettings lots of different people’s view, the story is still told similar to the others.
I found this shift is the center character interesting because I really can’t think of another series that did the same thing. If anyone else knows of one, let me know. Harry Potter books all centered around Harry. The Twilight Saga centered around Bella although I guess the last book did have a huge shift in perspective. Hmmm. Maybe that idea came from The Vampire Diaries since they were written almost 20 years ago. I’m not being serious about that last one. I think that lots of idea in books overlap and a lot of times, it isn’t intentional. I know that when I wrote 60 or so pages about a girl and Greek gods, I had absolutely no clue that Percy Jackson was out there with the exact same concept.
Sorry, I’m getting off point. Sometimes a series is all told from different people, like the Vegas Vampire books by Erin McCarthy are each centered around a different person even though the same characters are present. Wasn’t the Babysitters Club books written that way too?
Like I already said, in the series, this shift worked. LJ Smith was taking a risk getting rid of the character she had attached her readers to but it definitely worked. This made me think though, how will that work for the tv show? I still haven’t watched it. I fully intend to buy the dvd when it comes out so when that happens, I’ll blog again with comparisons. I don’t know how close the book and the show are but I have a feeling that even if they are close now, they will not follow the story line of moving Elena out of the way. It just wouldn’t work as well on tv. At least I don’t think it would. It is kind of like how New Moon the movie had to find a way to put more Robert Pattinson in because fans are so obsessed with him.
Guess we will have to wait and see if Vampire Diaries makes it that far on tv. Kind of like we have to wait and see what True Blood does with Bill. After the first few books Bill fades out to a minor character and Eric becomes more prominent. I hope so much that True Blood sticks with the books. Eric’s character is so much more interesting and funny and charming. So far on the tv show they have showed a little of that but I want more. Plus this season I am excited to see Alcide.
Hmm, maybe I see why people always associate me with being vampire obsessed, lol. I hate when people say that but I guess it is kind of true. I think I’ve always loved supernatural books. Then of course I got hooked on Buffy and Angel. Oh Angel. And Spike. Okay, I’m going to stop typing now since I’m going off on too many tangents.