Vampire Diaries: The Fury / The Reunion

Please note that this review may contain spoilers for earlier novels in the series. You can read my review of these novels [here].

Over the last few months, I’ve reviewed quite a few paranormal romances. We’ve seen girls being seduced by fae, voodoo ghosts and the devil himself. I think it’s probably a good time to take another look at the mother of all vampire romances – Vampire Diaries.

The original Vampire Diaries series consisted of four novels: The Awakening (1991), The Struggle (1991), The Fury (1991) and The Reunion (1992 – published as Dark Reunion in America). The series regained popularity in the late 00s, following the success of both Twilight and the Vampire Diaries TV series and three further trilogies hit the shelves – The Return Trilogy (2009-11), The Hunters Trilogy (2011-12) and The Salvation Trilogy (2013-14). For the purpose of today’s review, I’ll be looking at The Fury and The Reunion only.

Following on directly from the events of The Struggle, Elena Gilbert has awoken in the woods to discover that she is now a vampire. Stumbling through the trees in a daze, she soon discovers Stefan and Damon in the middle of a duel to the death. Interrupting their fight, Elena finds herself confused. Although she has some dim memories of her promise to Stefan, she now finds herself drawn to the freedom and darkness that Damon represents. She agrees to stay with both of the brothers until she decides which she wants to spend eternity with.

Yet they will have little time to get use to this situation. An ancient evil still stalks Fell’s Church, one with the power to send animals into vicious frenzies. Realising that it was this entity and not Damon that ended her life, Elena bands her friends together to find out what it is and how they can stop it. But the being is far more powerful than they could ever have imagined and not all of the party will make it out of the final battle in one piece…

Vampire Diaries: The Awakening / The Struggle

With the release of Twilight came a boom in popularity for the paranormal romance sub-genre. Its roaring success encouraged many authors to churn out cheap carbon-copies in the hope of making easy money, but also lead to the re-releases of older titles that also focused on forbidden romances between human girls and boys who were far less ordinary.

The original Vampire Diaries first hit the shelves fourteen years before Twilight, though became better known following the release of the TV series of the same name in 2009. The initial series was written by L.J. Smith and consisted of four novels: The Awakening (1991), The Struggle (1991), The Fury (1991) and The Reunion (1992 – titled Dark Reunion in America). In recent years, this original run has been followed by three further trilogies titled The Return Trilogy (2009-11), The Hunters Trilogy (2011-12) and The Salvation Trilogy (2013-14).  For the purpose of today’s review, I will be looking at the first two novels.

Elena Gilbert is used to having things her own way. As the most popular girl in Fell’s Church, she has always been idolised by girls and had her pick of the boys. When she first sets eyes on stunningly handsome Stephan Salvatore, she knows that she must have him. Yet Stephan shows no interest her whatsoever, even going out of his way to keep his distance. For Elena this is unthinkable and it just makes her want him all the more.

Yet what Elena does not realise is Stephan hides a terrible secret. Although he looks like an ordinary teenager, he was actually born in 15^th Century Florence and is struggling to resist Elena (who reminds him of his lost love). What Elena also does not realise is that Stephan is not alone. Another figure from his past has also come to Fell’s Church – his brother, Damon. While Stephan is desperate to fit in and live an ordinary life, Damon wants the opposite. He possesses a terrible power that Stephan does not and is intent on using to make Elena into his Dark Queen…