TVD book 2
Apr. 9th, 2012 02:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urthSo I finished up ‘The Struggle’ otherwise known as TVD book 2 (or the second half of book one I think), and...
Well, that was...unexpected. I’ll get to the end later, but all told that was...I still wouldn’t say good but almost engaging.
I still think book-Stefan is a personality-less lump and book-Damon so far is only mildly interesting as a bad guy and not at all as anything else, and book-Elena has only improved slightly in my opinion of her, and I still want to reach through to pages and thrust show-Katherine at them for who Katherine SHOULD be, and...
Okay, so there’s still a lot of problems, but I really did find parts of it way better than the first book and most of it at least a little better.
As silly as it sounds, I liked it better because it had less to do with the vampires. A good chunk of the book had the human characters doing stuff that only sort of involves the vampires. From the girls and Matt having to rescue Stefan to the whole drama with Caroline
There were even a *couple* of scenes that I liked involving Stefan/Elena. But that barely counts because there’s a lot more where I HATE it (for the record I’ve never done more than dislike it occasionally on the show, and most of that’s feeling like it’s stuck this season). A lot of that goes on book-Elena, who I...really dislike when it comes to Stefan, Stefan is just a personality-less bore so I can’t even dislike him because he’s just a blob of meh. Elena turns into Bella around Stefan, and no one wants you to be Bella girl.
Plus the lying, the lying is annoying as hell. I’ve forgiven show-Elena a lot worse things, but book-Elena is lacking in the reasons I love show-Elena so much so I get bothered by things here that I probably would forgive show-Elena for.
Damon does breathe energy into the story, but I’m a long way from liking him in the slightest. Well, towards the end when I thought I saw a flicker of show-Damon who would step in and save his brother from the townsfolk because no one hurts his baby brother but him, but Im not sure the book was actually going for that so I’m reserving judgment.
You know how I endgame ship Elena/Matt on the show mostly because I think it’s Elena’s best chance to be happy (even if it breaks my Elena/Elijah shipper heart to still think that)? Well I don’t ship them at all in the books because this Matt is WAY too good for this Elena. I do however love the Matt-Stefan friendship, Stefan almost seems to have a personality in those scenes and Matt just deserves all the friends ever. If I had read these books as a teenager I wouldn’t have understood AT ALL why Elena didn’t go for Matt, now I just assume she’s an idiot.
I wish I had things to say about Bonnie and Meredith, because I’m waiting for them to really step up into the story. I’m not sure they will since they’re not so involved with the vampire stuff and the story will probably tackle that even more going forward.
On a sort of generic note, the serial nature of this series is...different. I read a lot of series’ but the ends don’t usually feel so, well, TV-like. This feels very episodic, but in a novel way rather than a TV way, but it’s something I associate more with TV. Okay, roundabout statement is roundabout, but I wanted to say it.
Am I a bad person that I kind of laughed at the end? Elena goes over Whickery Bridge, OF COURSE. Of course, I have to remember this is the first time she’s done that in the books instead of crashing off it with her parents the way she did in the show. Still, it amused me for entirely show based reasons (maybe not *entirely* because she was also being an idiot, the book said several times that it was a FOOT bridge, not a car bridge so GET OUT AND WALK).
I really didn’t expect the books to go for vamp-Elena so early. I’m not certain it has but that was the implication of the end of the novel whether it turns out to be true or not. Thankfully that’s another thing the show so far hasn’t gone for, because I may have to flounce if Elena ever turns in the show (unless it’s REALLY well done, and this wasn’t).
Well, that was...unexpected. I’ll get to the end later, but all told that was...I still wouldn’t say good but almost engaging.
I still think book-Stefan is a personality-less lump and book-Damon so far is only mildly interesting as a bad guy and not at all as anything else, and book-Elena has only improved slightly in my opinion of her, and I still want to reach through to pages and thrust show-Katherine at them for who Katherine SHOULD be, and...
Okay, so there’s still a lot of problems, but I really did find parts of it way better than the first book and most of it at least a little better.
As silly as it sounds, I liked it better because it had less to do with the vampires. A good chunk of the book had the human characters doing stuff that only sort of involves the vampires. From the girls and Matt having to rescue Stefan to the whole drama with Caroline
There were even a *couple* of scenes that I liked involving Stefan/Elena. But that barely counts because there’s a lot more where I HATE it (for the record I’ve never done more than dislike it occasionally on the show, and most of that’s feeling like it’s stuck this season). A lot of that goes on book-Elena, who I...really dislike when it comes to Stefan, Stefan is just a personality-less bore so I can’t even dislike him because he’s just a blob of meh. Elena turns into Bella around Stefan, and no one wants you to be Bella girl.
Plus the lying, the lying is annoying as hell. I’ve forgiven show-Elena a lot worse things, but book-Elena is lacking in the reasons I love show-Elena so much so I get bothered by things here that I probably would forgive show-Elena for.
Damon does breathe energy into the story, but I’m a long way from liking him in the slightest. Well, towards the end when I thought I saw a flicker of show-Damon who would step in and save his brother from the townsfolk because no one hurts his baby brother but him, but Im not sure the book was actually going for that so I’m reserving judgment.
You know how I endgame ship Elena/Matt on the show mostly because I think it’s Elena’s best chance to be happy (even if it breaks my Elena/Elijah shipper heart to still think that)? Well I don’t ship them at all in the books because this Matt is WAY too good for this Elena. I do however love the Matt-Stefan friendship, Stefan almost seems to have a personality in those scenes and Matt just deserves all the friends ever. If I had read these books as a teenager I wouldn’t have understood AT ALL why Elena didn’t go for Matt, now I just assume she’s an idiot.
I wish I had things to say about Bonnie and Meredith, because I’m waiting for them to really step up into the story. I’m not sure they will since they’re not so involved with the vampire stuff and the story will probably tackle that even more going forward.
On a sort of generic note, the serial nature of this series is...different. I read a lot of series’ but the ends don’t usually feel so, well, TV-like. This feels very episodic, but in a novel way rather than a TV way, but it’s something I associate more with TV. Okay, roundabout statement is roundabout, but I wanted to say it.
Am I a bad person that I kind of laughed at the end? Elena goes over Whickery Bridge, OF COURSE. Of course, I have to remember this is the first time she’s done that in the books instead of crashing off it with her parents the way she did in the show. Still, it amused me for entirely show based reasons (maybe not *entirely* because she was also being an idiot, the book said several times that it was a FOOT bridge, not a car bridge so GET OUT AND WALK).
I really didn’t expect the books to go for vamp-Elena so early. I’m not certain it has but that was the implication of the end of the novel whether it turns out to be true or not. Thankfully that’s another thing the show so far hasn’t gone for, because I may have to flounce if Elena ever turns in the show (unless it’s REALLY well done, and this wasn’t).
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Date: 2012-04-09 08:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-10 11:55 pm (UTC)Sometimes I'm amused by the idea of book Katherine, but mostly it just upsets me. Maybe I'd be more amused if show Kat were around...