The Vampire Diaries, Book 1: The Awakening

Can’t believe I put off reading these for soo long. I found the show like 10 years ago but didn’t pick up the books. These are so much better! They definitely don’t read like they’re older than me. I still picture Bonnie as tv show Bonnie but with red hair—everyone else has become the book descriptions. It’s a nice, sort of familiar read but so very different from the show and I love it!

I am a sucker for vampire lore as well as teenage drama so this series was just plain amusing fun. It's nothing deep or profound but I just enjoyed them and found them enticing and intriguing. Since I researched them a little bit before buying, I discovered that there were originally three books and the author obviously meant for them to be a trilogy that (a la Star Wars) ties everything up neatly so the reader can have closure at the end. To clarify any confusion, The Awakening is followed by The Struggle and then finally The Fury. They were meant to be read all three in order. I'm not sure why the author didn't just combine them into one novel but I noticed another reviewer commented that the book just ended. This is true but the following books pick up exactly where the previous ones left off.At first I thought they were silly and I had no love for its heroine, Elena, and not too much love either for its hero, Stefan. However, they grew on me and I fell in love with the Damon character- first for his evil bad-boy persona but then later because he softens and actually becomes lovable. The other characters in the story are actually interesting as well.I have only seen the show a few times but am trying to catch up with it now by watching episodes online. I'm finding the show is also growing on me. It's obvious there are many many differences between the show and the trilogy of books. Though there was resolution at the end of the third book, the author eventually started writing further sequels due to its popularity. The show obviously takes a different direction and uses some creative liberties that are necessary for it to continue on as a show instead of a movie. So really the show is loosely based on the novels and they are indeed very different.It's amazing to me also that these books came out in 1991- way before the Twilight saga as well as True Blood and even before Buffy the Vampire Slayer. One can't help but wonder if maybe the creators of those sagas borrowed from these. Anyway, I found that after a bit of a cheesy slow start, I was absorbed by them and read all three in about three days. If you are in to teenage vampire love stories (similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer,) these books deliver entertainment (thrills, chills, suspense and romance plus an unexpected storyline twist at the end) without over the top drama (such as Twilight.) They are just good clean high school fun and I enjoyed myself while reading them even at the age of 35.

I read this in one day, what a fun book. I Can’t wait to read more of this classics series.

I didnt enjoy it at the start - coming from the television series there too many differences to enjoy it at first. As I continued on I came to take a little more interest in the differences, it's same same but different and it feels like I'm getting a different perspective on some favourite characters.The writing initially felt very dis-empowering to women, I can't really speak for that not being one but perhaps I was over empathising and most women wouldn't be bothered by it. It did appear to shift a bit such that I didn't think Elena was a complete idiot as I went on (which was probably the authors intent).The writing got a bit much at times.. like bad purple prose.. and it felt like the author was just throwing in obscure 'Olde Englishe' and Italian words to make it appear as though it was better constructed than it actually was.I will have to continue with the second to see how it goes so on that front I guess this book is a success :pI am interested to see how these different versions of Bonnie and Matt develop - and I'm looking forward to seeing when Alaric is introduced (personal fave - I hope he is in the books and not just a construction of the television series).I was a little bit disappointed that Jeremy doesn't seem to exist but he may be an external character introduced later - the family setup and dynamic is totally different in this book to the series and I'm not sure if I like it yet - though it hasn't really been developed much yet so we shall see.What does bother me a lot about this book is that this 'publishing' of it has the actors from the television series on the cover, which gives a false sense of what the characters in the novel will be like. I dislike when publishers do this to draw the eye to attract the sales of those who briefly glance at it an recognise it from the show.I wish Amazon let you choose which cover you wanted in your library because I'd much rather have the originals or a variant without the actors.

Finally started reading the books as a longtime fan of the show. They are almost entirely different but this first book is good I’m excited to read the next book.

This is an incredible, breath taking, astonishing novel by L.J. Smith!!!! The compassion, the intensity, the power of the love that the two characters stefan Salvatore and elena gilbert have over each other is just incredible. This novel is truly a roller coaster of events that will get you so involved and deep into the story of the characters lives that you won't be able to look away from this story. You will get so involved in this novel that it will completely remove reality from you and just drown you in the pages making you imagine that you are actually in the story watching everything happen!!!! Truly, never in my entire life have I ever been so anticipated by a book like I have been with the vampire diaries. I would strongly recommend this novel by L.J. Smith to someone who loves fiction or fantasy, love stories, possibly adventure, and action. I gave a five star rating because of the reason that this book has the ability to completely take away any glimpse of reality from a person and just drown them in the story of the fantasy and fiction of the vampire diaries.

Although the book was amazing when it delivered it was damaged

Item as described. Fast shipping. Thanks!

Libro y serie geniales. Envío rapidísimo y el producto llega genial. Me vi la serie y ahora necesitaba leer los libros. Muy recomendable.

I love Vampire Diaries! This is a very good written book. I love it

本は美品です。ただし、内容でTVシリーズと似てるのは主人公の名前くらい。WerewolfのSmallwoodはRockwoodに名前が変わっていましたが、正直Rockwoodの方がまし。