The Vampire Diaries
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The Vampire Diaries is a YA horror quartet by L.J. Smith. It was originally made up of three books, but a fourth one was written later, continuing the series.
[edit] Books
- The Awakening
- The Struggle
- The Fury
- Dark Reunion
[edit] Synopsis
The series tells the story of Elena Gilbert, a student at an American high school in Virginia, back home from a summer in France. On her first day of senior year, she discovers a new student has enrolled: the mysterious Italian, Stefan Salvatore. Elena immediately targets him as her new romantic conquest. However, Stefan completely ignores Elena and instead turns his attention to Elena's rival, Caroline Forbes. Elena goes to her school's Homecoming Dance with Matt Honeycutt, her ex-boyfriend, but when further attempts to win Stefan fail, she attaches herself to Tyler Smallwood, the school bully. She leaves the party with Tyler and his friends for a cemetery, where they drink beer and vandalize a tomb. Tyler isolates Elena and attempts to date rape her. Suddenly, Stefan appears and defends her from Tyler. He takes Elena back to his rented room so he can pick up his car, and while there Elena asks him why he's been ignoring her. Stefan replies that Elena resembles a former love of his who died, and they are brought together.
After a few weeks, Elena starts to feel that Stefan is hiding something from her. From previous cutaways, the reader already knows that Stefan is a 500-year old vampire.
During this time, vampiric attacks have been occurring in the town, and Stefan, who has been having unexplained periods of lost time, becomes worried that he is responsible. Because he is new to the town, many of the townspeople also suspect him.
Shortly before Elena finally finds out Stefan's secret, an alluring stranger begins to appear to her and try to seduce her. After Elena discovers what Stefan really is, he tells her his life story and she discovers that the stranger is Damon, his brother. Stefan did not know he was also in the town, and Elena is sure Damon is responsible for the attacks.
Other plotlines in the books concern the theft of Elena's diary, Damon's ongoing attempts to win Elena's affections, other newcomers to the town, and the real identity of the attacker. Elena also exchanges blood with both the brothers at various points, which causes serious consequences in her life. The ending of the third book triggers a series of events that culminate in the fourth book.
Thematically, The Vampire Diaries deals with belonging and loyalty. Although she is the most popular girl in school, Elena feels isolated from the other people in Fell's Church. As an orphan, she also doesn't have very close family ties. Stefan, being a vampire and a newcomer to a small town, is also an outsider in the community. As the series progresses, the ties of friendship on which Elena relies start to unravel, and her loyalty to everyone she knows is put to the test.
