A Love Triangle of Unspeakable Horror... Stefan Tormented after losing Elena, he's determined to end the feud with his brother, Damon--whatever the cost.
Damon Mocking Stefan and Elena, he laughs in the face of doom.
Elena Wild with her craving for blood, she confronts the ultimate evil.
The terrifying story of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them.
Smith was born in Villa Park, Orange County, California. In interviews, she has said she realized she wanted to be a writer sometime between kindergarten and first grade, “when a teacher praised a horrible poem I’d written”, and began writing in earnest in elementary school. Smith received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1987, followed by teaching credentials in Elementary education and Special education from San Francisco State University.
She taught kindergarten and special education for several years before becoming a full-time writer. Her first book, The Night of the Solstice, was published by MacMillan in 1987, followed by, Heart of Valor in 1990, and the 4-volume Vampire Diaries series in 1991-2. Three trilogies followed: The Secret Circle (1992), The Forbidden Game (1994), and Dark Visions (1995). The first installment of her popular Night World series was published in 1996, followed by eight more over the next two years. In 1998, Smith began a decade-long hiatus from writing, returning in 2008 with a new Web site and a series of new short stories. The Vampire Diaries series was reissued in 2007, followed by re-printings of The Secret Circle trilogy and Night World series in 2008/2009. The Night of the Solstice and Heart of Valor was also reissued in 2008. Three new Vampire Diaries installments were published in 2009 and 2010.
Smith lives in the San Francisco Bay area “with one dog, three cats, and about ten thousand books.”
Ok this one actually wasn’t that bad! I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun I had with reading this one. It had a decent plot and end result and I really enjoyed it!
I’m reading this series for the first time, before I watch the show for the first time. I have a full reading vlog on this book on my YouTube channel, if you’d like to hear my more in depth thoughts, you can check out that video here:
After finishing book three of the Vampire Diaries, and liking it considerably more than the first two installments, I noticed the irony of the titles and how I felt about each book.
The Awakening - I never woke up for it.
The Struggle - I struggled to get through it.
The Fury - I was gonna be really irritated if this book wasn't moderately better than the first two.
Thank you! It was better! (Moderately.)
Even though I admire people who can put books down when they don't like them, I find that I learn things about what I want and need from books when I read them through. Apparently, I am fairly dependent upon action to get me through a story.
The action finally picks up in The Fury. I noticed that the immaturity of the characters that I complained about in the first two installments didn't bother me here, although I will admit that it's probably because I was so thankful for the action that I didn't notice it anymore. (I remember a few eye rolls, so it was still there.)
I was bothered by the "white light and rainbows" feelings towards vampires however. They are obviously dark entities, and there are considerable debates over the state of their souls and the evil/goodness of their natures. But they are painted as saviors in The Fury, and too easily suppress their dark natures to help the humans. I was also disturbed by the fact that they cried, had beating hearts, and lots of compassionate feelings. Ew.
But the story was better; I liked how it turned out (and hated it, too) which means I was finally becoming attached to the town and its characters. I liked the elevated role that secondary characters from the first books were given.
I still recommend this only for younger audiences. Adults may find the plot juvenile.
I enjoyed this book a-lot more than the first two, it was constantly engaging and I found myself actually being excited and anticipating what was to come.
I had my theories of who the 'big bad' was in this book, and I was right! thank you TV show
I connected a-lot more to the characters in this one, and really just enjoyed them all a whole lot more!
My sister actually was my own personal audiobook and read aloud to me for about 30 pages because I'm sick and my eyes hurt too much to read. It's great having a sister :')
The ending was so intense/confusing, and I'm so interested to see how book 4 plays out!
Excelente continuación de estas crónicas, en que se devela el misterio que rodeó a los personajes durante las dos primeras entregas. Perfectamente podría haber terminado aquí, pero como hay un volumen IV... voy por él.
Pues me ha gustado mucho más que el libro anterior, hay más acción aquí, también más Damon y el final me ha dejado un tanto sorprendida. Definitivamente, voy a terminar la serie, necesito saber cómo termina.
well that was A LOT better than the other ones. so much so that i was tempted to give it more than 2 stars. also... now i really need to go read the next one cause idk how they’re gonna follow up with an ending like that
While a lot of people already know the story, I am determined to not spoil anything, maybe the first time in my life. However, I do have to say that I absolutely love how it all turned out. The villain let's say, is almost childlike and innocent one moment and cruel and vicious the next.
But I am getting ahead of myself. Elena becomes a vampire - I know, not a big spoiler there. Also not a big spoiler - she hates it. Oh, she's so good and vampires are so evil, even though she's in love with one, or maybe two (eye roll), but she can't go on like a vampire. And of course Stefan and Damon are hovering over her to give her anything she wants (Stefan obviously and Damon conspicuously and with feigned disinterest). Not just two of them, but Meredith, Bonnie and even Matt.
Things are moving, stuff is happening. Everything is becoming at least a bit clearer. Caroline and Tyler are conspiring together, but to do what? Matt is avoiding everyone after Elena is presumed dead, but then shows up undead to feed on him. Bonnie is fluttering and Meredith is suspicious. Strange things are happening around Fell's Church, animals are restless and attacking people without provocation.
I do appreciate the drama and the build-up of all the tension, just for it to smash against everyone. Maybe I'm just judging the book too harshly because it was written for teenagers (and though I did read it first as a teenager, most of the details are hazy) but it's just missing things. The writing feels like it's missing a lot of descriptions, of things and characters and what they're doing (my love of high fantasy coming into play here), but like it's an abstract of the book rather than the book itself.
I am giving this book a generous 4 stars. 3.5 is most accurate. The onle reason its not a three is a semi-unexpected twist toward the end. Otherwise this book follows along the same lines as the other books. Elena is less self-centered and Damon is more likable than he was previously. I hope to read more about him as the series continues. Stefan is way to angsty from beginning to end and I have a feeling he always will be. The story once again seemed rushed and too short. Lot of unnessessary thoughts that were not even character developing and not enough story. It is fun, and easy reading though and the pace is quick so I still had some fun reading and will continue with the series.
Elena hesitated for an instant. There was something about those eyes that called up memories inside her. Standing in the moonlight, sitting in an attic room… But the memories were too vague. She couldn’t get a grasp on them, and the effort made her dizzy and sick.
And this one had to die, this green-eyed one called Stefan. Because he’d hurt him, the other one, the one Elena had been born to be with. No one could hurt him and live.
She clamped her teeth into his throat and bit deep.
This review is just for "The Fury" which is book three in the "Vampire Diaries" series. This series continues to surprise me. SPOILER ALERT I did not expect Elena to be turned into a vampire. I know it is the logical outcome of spending time with vampires, but when it happened in book two I was surprised. I kind of put the book down in shock at that point. Then the conclusion of this one was full of more surprises. It turns out I was totally wrong about who the Other Power was. Part of me hopes it is just because I started the book, then put it down for a few weeks and then picked yesterday to finish. Did I miss clues because I didn't read it all at once? But I think the author may have just done a really good job of concealing the Other Powers identity while giving small clues along the way. i was glad to discover who it was who was speaking through Bonnie when she was in the trance state. My big question at the end was how the series could go on if one of the main characters is dead and the other two are leaving town. How would there be a need to continue the Vampire Diaries. I read the first chapter or two of the next book and kind of see where it may be going. I think this is well written and keeps the reader guessing. Things are not as obvious as they may seem. One thing that continues to throw me is how different it is than the TV series the CW is running. I guess the TV series took the general idea and went in their own direction with it. It will be interesting to see how that continues to play out and what other changes will be made to the original story.
The book was really nice. So touching. I didn't liked the end, though. Elena never actually got to tell Damon that she loved him. I would have like to see his reaction to those words. The Stefan-Damon end was really touching. The last line was really beautiful. There's not enough of Damon in the book as I'd have liked but I really hope we get to see more of him in the next.
I don't know... When I started this series I guess I was expecting this quality.
And yes I know that not all vampire fiction can be as awesome as Vampire Hunter D, but I was expecting a lot more out of Smith on Vampire Diaries. Her Night World series was so much better in: plot, romance, and overall character. I'm baffled as to the reason why this show has done so well on the CW/WB.
Instead by the end of this installment I literally was like Captain Kirk throwing a fit because the laser beam missed its mark.
Better than the 1st two books. The story was more interesting with a bit more suspense + the characters finally improved. I didn't like how it started but it improved a bit later (once Elena was back in her senses to be precise). The characters were still kind of annoying but they had improved a lot when comparing to the previous 2 books.
I especially like the ending of the book...the diary entry by Bonnie was a nice touch.
"Es innegable que es una novela muy sencilla, pero cumple su función de entretener. La nueva situación de Elena es lo que menos se aprovecha, y es una pena, ya que podría haberla hecho más poderosa en determinadas escenas. Lo mejor es ver a determinados personajes secundarios ganar protagonismo. El desenlace es ligeramente emotivo y bastante cerrado, por lo que resulta extraño saber que hay otra entrega más".
Lo dije antes y lo vuelvo a decir: thank God for the TV show. The Vampire Diaries siempre va a ser, al menos para mi, un excelente ejemplo de que a veces las películas o series son mejor que el libro. Ya es el tercer libro de la saga, y todavía no puedo conectar con los personajes. Todos me parecen demasiado superficiales, muy básicos. Elena no hacia mas que molestarme, aunque en este libro me cayo un poco mejor. Encontré poco romance, poco entretenimiento mas que el misterio de quien es la presencia oscura que ha llegado al pueblo. Me aburrí bastante y hubo solo tres cosas que me hicieron terminarlo: 1. Es muy corto y tenia tiempo. 2. En mi corazón en realidad hay mucho cariño hacia esta serie gracias a la serie de televisión, por lo que al menos imaginarme a los actores y relacionar todo con ellos me lo hizo mas fácil. 3. El final fue muy bueno, lo suficiente para que casi le de tres estrellas. No me lo esperaba y la carta final fue demasiado tierna. Además, mi copia vino con unos sneak peak al cuarto libro y parece estar muy interesante. No fue una lectura que haya disfrutado particularmente, pero tampoco una que haya odiado. Pero sí, definitivamente de las peores del año hasta ahora.
Elena wakes up from where she has been pulled out of the river – she’s not dead; or rather she is, but she’s a vampire. Which means she has a whole new life to prepare for as a blood drinking creature of the night. Further, she’s in Fells Church where everyone believes she is dead – an act that is causing all kinds of drama and grief.
And then there’s Stefan and Damon – though betrothed to Stefan she now looks at Damon and finds him unnaturally compelling because… I don’t know, just run with it. As she gets closer to him as a vampire it becomes clear that not all the evil acts they’ve been attributing to him may actually be his fault.
Then the dogs lose their shit. Definitely not his fault. There’s an Other Power in town and it’s targeting Elena. And it’s only a matter of time before someone dies.
I think Elena has grown up a fair amount in this book to some degree. Her motives and goals are much less self-absorbed and self-centred and she’s moved away from treating everyone around her as servants who exist only for her whim (even though everyone around her are pretty much servants who exist only for her whim). We even have some pretty good moments of self-reflection where she realises what a selfish, manipulative person she was! An excellent start – albeit somewhat deadened by the fact that everyone else assures her it wasn’t so and it seems to exist largely to give Elena something to angst about.
Still, Elena is a much improved character. That’s not entirely surprising considering how much room she had to improve, but it’s still motion upwards.
I do not like the love triangle, not even slightly. Even working on the fact that Damon isn’t quite as evil as everyone imagined, that still leaves him pretty damn evil. Elena and Stefan have also had virtually no real communication or contact with each other – especially non-antagonistic where Elena hasn’t been furious or terrified. The insta-love she felt for Stefan was bad enough – happening with virtually no foundation, very little mutual communication and quickly careening down the path to becoming Stefan’s fiancée, but this is several orders more ridiculous. Other than his physical appearance, what about Damon has Elena fallen in love with? Give me one feature of his personality, one element of his character, one action he has performed that makes him a viable love interest for Elena?
There’s nothing – this romance has no foundation. But now she finds the idea of choosing between Damon and Stefan so damn hard? Now Damon is a competing love interest? Now we have a love triangle? It makes no sense to me, not even slightly and makes her previous, already dodgy love interest with Stefan seem even more dubious. And it was already pretty dubious.
But there are 2 main elements of this book that really break it for me.
Firstly the melodrama! The awful, over the top, emotion laden, drawn out angsty monologues and hugely flowery, purple descriptions get on my last nerve. It’s a short book, yet so much of it consists of drawn out rambles of what people are feeling and really really over-wrought writing. I just can’t get into it.
I just can't give it that extra .25 star, and I don't know why. I just know it isn't exactly a favourite like my other 5 star books. Or maybe it is. I may change it in a couple of hours.
This book was haunting. It had brilliant writing, and nothing was predictable. It had angst and comfort, and tbh the romance was at its low. But I'm not complaining. Because we got an amazing dose of Katherine.
Oh, Katherine. What a treat she is.
Absolutely phenomenal- her hostage situation at the end was the most edging thing I think I've ever read. I could not put the book down.
Getting through this book was both fun and boring. The only thing kept me reading was the thought of I am almost done. While there was a plot in this book, I stopped caring. The whole “Other Power” crap was ridiculous and irrelevant. The more I read these books, there more I am thankful for the producers because they changed the majority of it. These books would have made a boring show had they stuck with the original plot line. Yeah, I hate the characters in this book. I hate Bonnie especially. 💕