Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Bookish Review: Vampire Diaries: The Return: Nightfall

*sigh*


It is with a very heavy heart that I write this review. Let me start by saying that I was a HUGE LJ Smith fan as a teen--I read them all. And, I loved the Vampire Diaries quartet. As anyone who read Smith's work probably knows, her final series came down to the book that was supposed to be the finale, and then she just...stopped writing. No new book, year after year. Fans all over were heartbroken.


Then came 2009. And a new LJ Smith book! Hear the choirs of angels rejoicing! But, is it the much-awaited finale to the unfinished series? No. It is a new book in a series that was finished. But we liked the characters, so let's jump in!


Or not. If you are a true and loyal LJ Smith fan, let me suggest never picking up this book and forgetting it was ever written. Reread the original books instead; you'll thank me.


This book seems to ignore the original mythology of the series, is not true to the characters, and has several plot points that just don't make sense. I have heard from other readers that they suspected a ghost writer, it was so unlike her original work. I understand publishers wanting to cash in on the Twilight phase--and I loved these books long before Twilight was even dreamed of--but rushing to print an unneccessary sequel that doesn't even make sense is not the way to do it.


I am now unsure if I even want her to finish the other series, if it is going to be like this.


I will now forget that I ever read this book.

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