Skip the Book, Watch the Movie: The Vampire Diaries (series)

Hi there readers. Let me first apologize for my lack of post on Monday and my lateness in posting today. Among other things, I've been a little underwhelmed by my reading material as of late and I was trying to avoid reviewing books that aren't really worth reviewing. A book review blog, after all, should be saving you guys time by letting you know which books are worth reading--it shouldn't waste even more time than reading books that aren't.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), the book I'm reading right now (which is worth reading and reviewing) is taking me rather long to read and I can't review it just yet. So, to avoid leaving you guys without a post again today I'm going to do a short review a series of books (which I read quite a while back) before their subject matter completely leaves the forefront of young adult fiction: L.J. Smith's The Vampire Diaries.

If that title sounds familiar to you it may be because you've heard of the TV series of the same name, which is (VERY) loosely based on the books. And there's a good reason why the TV show has made out better than the books themselves. Honestly, the books just aren't that memorable. The writing is on the lower side of average (and we're talking about the lower side of average for a Young Adult book). The story is relatively interesting but a little overdone--seriously, how many times can you read about teenage girls falling for perpetually teenage vampires who are tortured but ultimately honorable and good. I mean I'm the first person to admit I get sucked in by books that are even vaguely supernatural, but some authors need to work a little harder. You can't simply regurgitate a Hodge-podge of every vampire novel you've ever read--I'd rather read something completely out there than something I've already read a hundred times over. However you feel about Stephanie Meyer's books and the changes she made to vampire myth, you have to admit that at least sparkling vampires was something new.

As for The Vampire Diaries, though some of the plot twists are pretty interesting, the overall story is same-old-same-old. I did enjoy the conflict created by the fact that Elena, the main character, is torn between two brothers (Stefan and Damon), who were also both in love with a woman who looked just like Elena (Katherine), centuries before. And then, to make matters worse, Katherine comes back, pretends to be Elena, tugs at Stefan and Damon's heartstrings, and attempts exact her revenge (talk about complicated!). But, overall the characters are alternately unoriginal and inconsistent--the changes in their personalities are less like character development and more likely the result of an author not completely sure of who she wanted her characters to be.

So, and I'm going to shock you guys again like I did with the Hunger Games, my ultimate verdict is that you should box the book and just watch the TV series instead. If you're at all interested in the subject matter, its a pretty great show. I confess it's one of my guilty pleasure TV shows: unrealistically beautiful cast, long, complex storyline that borders on Soap Opera, ridiculous love-polygons, what more could you want? I mean it's really not one of those shows you can watch to fake your way through explaining the book--basically the only thing the book and TV series have in common are character's names. But, in this case, that's a good thing. The show's characters are more interesting, the plot is more interesting, there's A LOT more going on, and you've got some hotties to look at. It's an all around win. So, like the title says, this is one of those rare times when I'll take TV over a book.

(On a side note, I also did not particularly enjoy The Secret Circle, L.J. Smith's other series, about witches. Though the characters were slightly more interesting, I thought the writing was perhaps a little weaker. I'd be interested to know if the TV show version of those books is also much better. If anyone cares to let us know in the comments below, it would be much appreciated!)