Thursday 5 January 2012

My review of The Awakening + The Struggle

05/01/12 - The Awaking and The Struggle by L.J. Smith - Released 26th June 2007

This wasn't what I expected.

The Awakening and The Struggle (The Vampire Diaries, #1-2)The Awakening: Elena Gilbert is used to getting what she wants and she wants mysterious new boy, Stefan. But Stefan is hiding a deadly secret - a secret that will change Elena's life for ever ...
The Struggle: Elena is torn between her boyfriend, Stefan, and his brother, Damon. But these brothers hide dark secrets and a tragic past that threatens them all. Damon wants to lead Elena astray - and he'd rather kill Stefan than let him possess her...

That all sounds great right? Well, think again. It's not. I approached this series with high expectations. There has been SO MANY vampire stories, I wanted something different and unique. Sadly, this book didn't deliver. At all. You'd be better off reading the Twilight Series.

1) Characters
Elena; blond, full of herself, boy-obssessed, whiny and annoying. She didn't do it for me. She was so PREDICTABLE, I hate that in a character. She was so......stupid. STUPID. She dates guys who drink from her?

Stefan, he sounded so gorgeous and dreamy at the start, but everything went down hill when he met Elena. He was exactly like Edward Cullen. Actually, Edward was so much more interesting.

Matt, he deserved so much better. Lovely, kind, caring, HUMAN, Matt. In this book, he got treated like crap. He had his heart broken by a girl who couldn't keep her eyes from walking everywhere. Sigh, I really liked Matt, it would have been nice to see him happy.

I'm not even going to start talking about the others. What a headache.

2) Writing Style & Plot
They're both SO bad I just HAVE to talk about it. One, the writing style of L.J. Smith. Terrible. I wanted to fall asleep, no description, which left me without a picture in my mind. Two, the plot from the imagination of L.J. Smith. Terrible. Eventhough she did come up with the whole Vampire idea first, she did a bad job. Stephenie Meyer might have got a bit of inspiration from the Vampire diaries but at least she made it a bit different and exciting.

I'm going to read the rest of the series because I want to how stupid Elena can get. A bad start to my 2012. -.-

I rate this book:

6 comments:

  1. Noooo! Save yourself! Don't read the rest of this series. I made the same mistake because I am OCD about completing series and could not stop myself and, girl, did I regret it! I felt a little sick after finishing the last book- it read like fan fiction, not like something you'd expect an author with previous books under her belt to write! What a disappointment... I prefer The CW's show better.

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  2. I have to tell I love the series..on TV lol xD Not so long ago I decided I'm gonna read them, I even started the very first one, but I have to confess.. I put it down after a few pages! honestly, I was bored! I thought I will love it more after the films are one of my favorite series, but I didn't :(

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  3. I decided to read this book after I started watching the TV series back when it first came out. OMG the horror! I read The Awakening and the characters didn't even manage to get beyond one dimensional! Elena was so shallow and the only reason she was interested in Stefan was because *gasp* he ignored her! I couldn't bring myself to read The Struggle, despite the cliffhanger ending. Kudos to you for managing it!

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  4. I am on the fence with this series. I want to love it...I really do. I made it through the first two and got half way through the third and put it down.....that was over two years ago. I tell my self I must finish this series, but there just to many good books ahead of one that I have to force myself to read. I do adore the show and never miss an episode. Thanks for your review and honest opinion on this series. I am glad I am not the only one with the same feelings.

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  5. I really really love the show. That being said I read these books after watching the first few seasons of the show. I didn't find them great but I did finish them and it was something to do to get my vampire diaries fix in-between seasons.

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  6. Well, I have been interested in this series just because I thought it must be dang good to warrant a long lasting tv show. Seems I was wrong to be interested. Interested no more. I will leave this one off of my "Possibly. Maybe. In the Future." list!

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