The Struggle

The second entry in L.J. Smith's four-book Vampire Diaries series, which features the story of a young woman caught up in a bitter love triangle with two vampire brothers, The Struggle picks up exactly where the first installment (The Awakening) left off. In the graveyard...

As the stakes rise, Elena finds herself confronting bad-boy Damon Salvatore - ruthlessly intent on making her his dark queen - while seeking to protect the one she loves: Damon's good-guy younger brother, Stefan. Caught in a growing web of lies, Elena must also contend with a human enemy, whose plotting could ruin her future.

Given my nostalgic fondness for L.J. Smith - whose Night World books were my introduction to vampire-fiction - I was expecting to enjoy these show more books far more than I actually have. It's not that I was unprepared for a healthy dose of teen cheese - something any rational person would expect to find in a work of supernatural romance. But I do expect my fantasy, whether intended for children or adults, to be at least semi-plausible - to make sense, within its own parameters. Somehow, I just found it highly improbable that Elena would be so unwilling to share the truth about the Salvatore brothers with her friends. They seemed willing enough to believe in Bonnie's psychic abilities... would supernatural creatures really have been that much of a jump? It's such a cliche - the heroine who won't speak, and won't speak, and won't speak - creating unnecessary and unconvincing drama.

On the other hand, I thought Smith did a much better job here, fleshing out some of the secondary characters, than she did in The Awakening, and I came away with a much better sense of Bonnie and Meredith. Damon remains an almost blank slate, but then, there are still two more books to go. Whatever weaknesses it may have had, there's no denying that The Struggle was highly readable. And with another cliffhanger ending, I'll be sure to continue with the series... show less

This author has a gift when it comes to cliffhanger endings, that is for sure. This is the second installment in the series and the second cliffhanger.

As an observation, this is not a series of books that can be read out of order. Having not read them in order would leave a reader confused and missing too many pieces of the puzzle.

The mystery that is Damon just grows more and more as this story progresses. He has yet to display a single redeeming quality and so far I just really do not like him.

I am amazed at the differences in the abilities that the vampires have when comparing the book to the television show. The crow thing just gives me chills and almost makes me shiver every time I see a black bird.

There are a few editing show more mishaps one would not expect in a traditionally published book, but not so many as to make it unreadable.

Overall, this is another quick read and a page-turner. I cannot wait to see what is next for these characters. show less

Stefan is missing and Elena thinks Damon is responsible – for both the missing Damon and the bodies that are starting to pile up messily around town, making the place untidy. Unfortunately, much of the rest of the town is focused on Stefan as the culprit and he has too many secrets to be put under such close scrutiny

And Elena’s own rising star is dimming with her association with a suspected murderer. Once Queen of the school, Elena is rapidly becoming a pariah and even her own family are doubtful of her ongoing relationship and wish she would end it. This newfound unpopularity just hands mean girl Caroline more ammunition with which to attack Elena.

Behind it all, there’s Damon – who is disturbingly interested in Elena and keeps show more appearing at random moments with a declared goal of having her – even if he has to hurt her loved ones to achieve it.



In the last book I found Elena annoying. In fact, I found her intolerable to an unbelievable degree. She was incredibly selfish, utterly self-absorbed and the way she treated the people around her was beyond contempt. I wanted very much to give Bonnie and Meredith large wet fish and encourage them to take it in turns slapping Elena around the face with them.

In this book it’s not quite as much. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s still bad. Elena is self-absorbed, incredibly selfish, treats her friends like servants, has incredible, disproportionate tantrums and epic woe-is-me sessions; but it’s not longer to an UNBELIEVABLE degree. It is to an epic degree – but it’s no longer at a level that is inconceivable for a teenager to adopt. Her behaviour is potentially real and human

Of course, not all teenagers are like this, not even close. And, if I didn’t know better, I’d put Elena down as a teenager of 14-15 by her behaviour and viewpoint rather than 17. But Elena is now a realistically possible, albeit immature, 17 year old character who we have probably all met before or something close to it, she’s not the mutant hellbeast of raging selfishness. So that’s a step up.

But I’m left with 4 issues on this.

Firstly, if she is a, rather immature, 17 year old then why, in the name of all that is sensible, are Robert and Judith encouraging her to date the college student who was polite to her at dinner one time? I get that this is the convoluted foreshadowing of the love triangle and an attempt to create conflict for Elena’s tantrums by having her guardians be so against Stefan – but they can be against the guy they suspect of murder without deciding their 17 year old niece needs to be dating college students.

Secondly – ENGAGED?! Are the readers supposed to SUPPORT this choice? Are we supposed to sigh and say “oh it’s so romantic”? Or are we actually meant to have our jaws drop in sheer horror before gasping aloud what a terrible, awful idea this is.

Thirdly – why are her friends so epicly, amazingly loyal? Why do they even like her, let alone be willing to break into houses for her? While her treatment of Meredith and Bonnie is better than it was, it’s still poor and their lives still all centre around Elena. Everything Meredith and Bonnie do is based on serving Elena – even Bonnie’s psychic gift centres around Elena! And Matt? Ye gods that man needs a spine, some self-esteem or to get out of town because Elena has some kind of spooky toxic hold on him. I think she might be his secret crack dealer because I can think of no other reason why he does what Elena and Stefan ask of him. I don’t understand why Stefan is so completely gone on her unless it’s entirely because she looks like Katherine. I don’t understand why Damon is fascinated by her unless, again, it’s because of her resemblance to Katherine.

Fourthly, and most strongly, are we supposed to like Elena? This is a major thing for me.

Now, it’s not always necessary to like the protagonist of a book – and it’s certainly a good idea to make them flawed for fear of them – but I think there needs to be some connection. On some level there’s to be a reason why I, the reader, am interested in Elena’s story – and I really don’t think “tiny possibility of seeing her eaten by monsters” really counts. To me this is a real barrier in the book because I have a strong dislike for Elena. That doesn’t make her an unrealistic character – I dislike lots of real people as well! That doesn’t mean (contrary to what reality television seems to think) I’m interested in their lives. Am I supposed to be rooting for Elena? Am I supposed to feel sympathetic when she has her tantrums or angst fests? Am I supposed to exult in her victories? Because I’m not – I just don’t find anything about this character pleasing. Again, realistic, but is that good for the book?

I can’t say I understand any of the side characters – they just aren’t developed enough for their motives to be clear. And this, unfortunately, includes the antagonists Tyler and Caroline. I get that they dislike Elena and I get that Tyler has some kind of familial grudge against the town. But they amount of time and effort they’re putting into this, Caroline apparently changing over the course of one holiday?

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An easy read. There are hints that Damon may not be as totally evil as we thought. And Elena reminds me of Cordelia in Buffy. It's not clear why she is anyone's best friend---everything seems to revolve around her. When does she ever do anything for anyone else?

I've figured it out (I'm slow)---vampire romances are a way for the sweet young thing to keep her virginity while experiencing a total physical connection with another. They even take turns ... uh, I'll stop now.

Why is this nothing like the TV series? The brothers are centuries older and from Venice, not the local town. And the best friend who is a witch is not Black---ok, changing her character not only lets Jasmine Guy have a role, but it's nice to have a Black supporting show more character for a change. Maybe all the extra people and plot lines show up in later books in the series, but Elena has already gone through more by the end of this book than she has in the first season. show less

Iniziato e finito in un giorno.
La lettura è scorrevole, piacevole e tuttosommato ricca di suspance.
Non manca niente a queswto libro, benchè catalogato come un 'libro per ragazzi' l'autrice riesce comunque a coinvolgere anche chi ha degli standard decisamente più alti.
La protagonista è decisamente ben strutturata, è umana e quindi con pregi è difetti.
e' riuscita a creare una ragazza forte, decisa e combattiva ma allo stesso tempo in grado di provare paura e quindi di sentirsi indifesa.
Il 'cattivo' del storia è un personaggio piuttosto ambiguo, Damon, è il fratello del protagonista, Stefan, che in questo capitolo della saga viene un po' messo da parte, e cerca a tutti i costi di conquisare? Catturare? Uccidere? Giocare? con la show more ragazza (fidanzata di Stefan).
Ed è proprio qua la bravura della scrittrice.
Non c'è nulla di scontato e molto elementi che sembravano esserlo alla fine del libro non si rivelano tali (esempio: il diario, sembrava scontato che fosse stato Damon a rubarlo!).
Beh, che dire, aspetto con ansia il nuovo libro nella speranza di vedere come si evolverà la storia.
Unica paura... non è che alla fine lei si innamora del fratello cattivo?
Speriamo di no... sarebbe così scontato! show less

Sigh. When people talk about paranormal YA these days, there's a lot to choose from in the genre and even if I haven't read it all, I get the sneaking suspicion that most of it isn't brilliant. When it comes to The Vampire Diaries, however, I knew that LJ Smith and her series had been around before Twilight and that claims were made about how it seemed hard to believe that Meyer hadn't read Smith's series, given certain similarities. So while fishing about for something to read in the wake of the Vampire Academy books, I remembered The Vampire Diaries and now I rather wish that I'd just Netflixed the DVDs.

*Note: this is the same review for the whole "original" trilogy, with the specific book substitutions added in for each individual show more book. I'll try not to give anything away... but I won't try very hard.

If you've read Twilight, you will, indeed, be able to see some suspicious parallels... but not so spot-on that it's inconceivable the two works could have been produced without any influence. That said, there are a few details that make The Vampire Diaries a little better... and yet I actually prefer Twilight. I'm not sure I ever thought that Meyer's writing style would be the thing that came out as the number one thing in her favor -- btw, have you visited http://reasoningwithvampires.tumblr.com yet? you really should -- but I actually think I disliked Smith's style even more. It felt as though she was impatient to get through everything, wishing for wit and passion yet only producing a quick account, interspersed with teenage tantrums.

The Awakening sets us up with a basic plotline. Elena is queen bee at the small town high school and has never really been refused anything she ever wanted, though all of that isn't enough. With a tragic background (parents killed, she and her baby sister left to be raised by her aunt), Elena still manages to shine as a cold beauty with perfect high school gentleman and football star Matt on her arm... and yet she's supposed to be sensitive enough to know that she doesn't really feel that way towards Matt and so after a summer of traveling, it's time to officially end it. Matt, being a good guy, takes it in stride. Then, Elena meets the new kid in school -- Stefan -- and she wants to claim him as her own. The trouble is, Stefan doesn't seem to want anything to do with her... but just give it time. Meanwhile, Elena and her two bffs have been encountering some strange things in town. A bird that looks too knowingly at her. A strange presence in the graveyard that chases them until they cross the safety of running water, an attack on a girl in their class who doesn't seem to mentally recover. We've also got the emergence of a rival love interest other than too-nice Matt and in case you were wondering, it's not a werewolf... it's another vampire named Damon and he also happens to be Stefan's brother. It's a small vampire world after all.

The Struggle continues in the same vein (Get it? Vampires? Blood? Veins? Sorry.) except things are getting even more dangerous for Elena and her vampire boyfriend and... is there a romantic equivalent of "frenemy"? The book literally starts right off where The Awakening left off. Damon is even more interested in Elena now, though Elena is loyal to Stefan. I'm not sure if this wasn't an issue in the early 90s when this was published (but seriously, when has this ever not been an issue?) but why aren't they having sex? I mean, I think we get one scene where Stefan silences Elena with a kiss and I laughed out loud at its ridiculousness as there's a complete and utter lack of passion/chemistry with those two normally. They just kind of cling to each other with no other interaction that suggests two characters who are interested in the other as people. At least in Twilight you get blind and ridiculous devotion but that's accompanied with a stated interest in the other, whether that's believably demonstrated or not. In any case, the scene is getting desperate and Stefan is driven to great lengths to try and save Elena from his brother... but is it Damon that Elena needs saving from?

Here's the thing. I picked up The Vampire Diaries series with the full knowledge that if I read one, I'd read them all, but it wouldn't be that hard to manage, as they were each fairly quick reads. This remains true if you do not put the book aside to do something else, but once you do that... well, it's very easy to leave the book aside. I read the first two quite quickly (and honestly, when the last line of the first book is the same as the first line of the second, you know it's one of those things where you just need to keep reading, as the first has no closure whatsoever) and then put down the third at some point... and didn't care much to pick it up again until I decided I just wanted to write this review and be done with them. Sadly, there's a fourth book written after audiences clamored for more (seriously?!) called Dark Reunion which I'll have to read because apparently I hate myself but at least follow through on things. This is not admirable when taken to such extremes as this.

So if you want my recommendation, here it is. If you want real vampires, go watch True Blood and start reading Charlaine Harris. No, the aren't in high school, but that means they can have sex without panning away and it's a much more interesting choice that Sookie has between two vampires than Elena does. If you really want the teenage vampy thing, go to Twilight, then Netflix the first season of The Vampire Diaries (though I haven't seen this, so I can't offer an opinion), or try reading Vampire Academy, but be aware that it's a very different world and you're dealing with very different vampires. After reading LJ Smith's books, though, I am mighty suspicious of Stephenie Meyer (but hey, rest assured that all the freaky stuff from book four must have come direct from her crazy Mormon mind, as Smith doesn't deal in werewolves or vampire babies of any kind). Meyer's world goes far beyond the small town that Smith explores, but they have many things in common. It just seemed like very little happened in this series, and yet everything was written as though we were in a rush. I never felt like the characters were sitting still or getting to know each other (heck, I didn't even know why any of these people were friends with each other except out of habit and convenience). It doesn't help that I don't particularly like any of these characters to start with. So I can't say I endorse the series, but perhaps you'll find something you enjoy about them as many other readers have. As for me, I'll be impatiently waiting for the last Vampire Academy installment and hoping that Charlaine Harris starts laying off the fairies. show less

I almost don't want to admit this, but I actually like the Vampire Diaries. There is a development in the characters and the story is kind of original, especially considering it was written in the nineties. On to part three!