Many people have heard of the CW’s hit show “The Vampire Diaries” but often the books it’s based on by L.J Smith go unnoticed. Most people tend to think of the Twilight series as the beginning of YA vampire love triangles, but The Vampire Diaries series began years before, with the first book being published in 1991.
Let’s delve into the first two books of the series… (some spoilers ahead!)
The Awakening
Elena Gilbert suffered a great tragedy after losing both her parents in a car crash. Now living with her Aunt Jenna, she has to pick up the pieces of her life and try to move on. Elena is considered to be the most popular and beautiful girl in Fells Church high school, and she plans on maintaining that status regardless of all that has happened. But when a new student, Stefan Salvatore, comes to town Elena suffers a major blow to her ego when he ignores her attempts to get to know him. But, Stefan is only doing this to protect her and himself, since no surprise he’s a vampire and Elena weirdly looks exactly like the woman who turned him over 500 years ago. All the while mysterious attacks on townspeople are occurring on the townspeople causing everyone to worry.
There were some noticeable differences between the show and the book. One is the addition of the character of Meredith who is best friends with Elena and Bonnie, as opposed to Caroline in the show. Instead, Caroline is a mean girl who is competing with Elena for her queen bee status and for Stefan’s attention (unfortunately for her she’s unsuccessful in both her attempts). The root cause for their rivalry remains unclear, but you get the feeling that something is being left unsaid.
Stefan and his brother Damon’s backstory is also very different. Stefan and Damon are even older than in the show, about 500 years plus since they were born in Italy during the Renaissance era. This was something I appreciated since in the show Stefan and Damon are both originally from Mystic Falls, Virginia (in the books the town is instead called Fells Church) a prominent confederate area during the Civil War era. In the show, Damon even served in the confederate army which seemed like a very unnecessary and poor decision on the writer’s part. Instead in the book when Stefan arrives he has no connection to Fells Church and its history. Although the book Stefan does still say “I have an appreciation for places that honor their past.” That I can’t agree with.
The love story between Stefan and Elena can feel rushed while reading, and something that you can find in many other young adult romance novels. But their love embodies the fated soulmates trope meaning their connection is supposed to be instantaneous. I was surprised that even though the two of them finally get together halfway through, Stefan’s secret is drawn out as a major plot point till the very end.
I found Damon, Stefan’s brother, to be the most interesting character, and I honestly felt like I was just waiting for him to make his entrance. He finally appears three-quarters in and his presence perfectly contrasts Stefan’s constant brooding and tortured attitude. Damon, although far more dangerous than his brother, is a much more fun character to read.
The one thing that I wish that the tv show included from the books was the additional abilities vampires and witches had. Since Damon consistently drinks human blood he is much stronger than Stefan and can shapeshift, manipulate weather, manipulate people’s dreams, and read minds in addition to the ones shown on the show like compulsion, super strength, hearing, and healing abilities. In the show, Bonnie had a wide range of powers as a witch, but in the book she had an added element of psychic abilities that I wish was explored on screen.
Overall I would rate this book 3/5 stars. There were moments where the story felt like it was moving too slowly when it came to the high school drama, but the whodunnit mystery, Bonnie’s premonitions or rituals throughout, and the conflict between the brothers towards the end all draw you in.
The Struggle
Following the cliffhanger ending where Stefan has gone missing, Elena goes to confront Damon about his whereabouts which is unproductive. Their conversation only reveals that he is obsessed with possessing her no matter what. Elena and her friends eventually find Stefan, but he’s not in the clear since most of the town thinks he is responsible for the attack and death of their history teacher. To make matters worse, Elena’s diary is missing, and anyone who reads it may be able to use it to claim Stefan is guilty of the crimes that have taken place.
This book was much more fast-paced and action-filled compared to the first book, making it a much quicker read. I genuinely enjoyed seeing Elena throughout the book taking things into her own hands, and showing that even though she may not have the same abilities as Stefan she can still look out for him. It also shows how she is willing to get her hands dirty instead of pushing off her responsibilities onto others as she did in the first book.
There’s an introduction to the character Alaric, the new history teacher, who did appear on the show, but his intentions are very unclear throughout the story. During his class, he encouraged students to speak on the recent events of the town and the details of their last history teacher’s death as a way to heal and process. But, you can likely assume he just needs that information for something he’s planning. At one point in the story, he even invites his students for a house party to get to know them, which I found extremely odd for a teacher, but it seems he wants to get close to a certain set of people.
At this said house party we get a very brief interaction between Damon and Bonnie, where we later find out that the two shared a kiss. This is very different from the show since the two start off as enemies, but in the books, Bonnie seems to be interested in him upon meeting him. But she is also characterized as more boy obsessed and somewhat childlike in the books. Their relationship is one of the reasons I picked up this series in the first place since I always thought the two of them should have been together on the show. But, we’ll have to see to what extent their romantic relationship develops throughout the series.
While Stefan and Elena’s relationship is still going strong, Damon is becoming an unwavering presence in her life. He is entering her dreams, shapeshifting into a crow to spy and attack her, and even feeding from her. Even though Damon’s actions have Elena on high alert you can sense a slight attraction coming from her side throughout their interactions. It was surprising to see Damon act this violently towards Elena and simultaneously see Smith try to build tension between them. I would expect Smith to take the route of Damon viewing her as his weak spot and wanting to protect her, but instead, he just seems determined to make her his partner in crime to spite Stefan.
Overall, I’d rate this book 3.75/5 stars. This book also ends with a major cliffhanger (which wasn’t too hard to predict) that changes Elena’s life drastically. But I am curious to see how it plays out in the next book.