22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Could have been better, March 15, 2011
This review is from: The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Midnight (Hardcover)
Having just finished The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Midnight. I found that it was lackluster in comparison to the previous "The Return" books, especially Shadows Souls. Without creating too much of a spoiler, the plot twists did not seem developed enough and resolved the issues in way too simple and easy a way. The whole side storyline with Meredith seemed ill-constructed and nonsensical, and was not fleshed out nearly enough to seem like more than a poorly constructed anime. As far as the plot line with Damon becoming human from the prior book, L.J. Smith could have done a LOT more with it, instead of resolving it quickly and progressing what seemed like "business as usual" a quarter of the way into the book. The whole ordeal with him speaking to the "Princess" was cheesy at best.
As a whole, I was disappointed with this book, having such high expectations from Shadow Souls. Will I be reading the next one when it comes out? Yes, but only because it seems like a shame to leave it on a cliffhanger after so much of a time investment reading all the other books.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed and I have yet to finish it!, March 16, 2011
This review is from: The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Midnight (Hardcover)
I received it through my kindle and I have yet to finish it. It seems like it's not even the same writer from the first original books. None of the characters are the same, and no one can say "they matured". I am going to finish it just beacause I purchased it anwant to see how OFF the chart she is going to take this story. I have loved L.J. Smith since I was a kid and its disappointing the way the story of Elena & the crew are going. Sorry! L.J.!
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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Diappointing, March 16, 2011
This review is from: The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Midnight (Hardcover)
I have read all of the Vampire Diaries books, as well as many of LJ Smith's other books. I have been disappointed with The Return trilogy as a whole, but this particular book was just infuriating. The ending was so irritating I almost threw the book.
The whole Meredith side plot was not needed and seemed to be there only to add length to the book. The same thing with Elena and Bonnie's out of body experience.
As the story wrapped up, everything came too easy. If they needed something, they found it in Mrs. Flowers's house without even having to search for it (a kiln in the backyard?). Elena's wings "happened" to work at just the right time.
Whoever edited this book should be fired. It read like a first draft from an inexperienced writer. There were several grammatical errors that any good editor would have caught. Yes, there are always a few in a book, but there were more than a few in Midnight. The overuse of exclamation points made the already unbelievable story seem melodramatic.
Like all of the Return trilogy, this book continued to undermine the vampire lore that LJ Smith spent so much time creating in the first few books. How can Damon (as a human) be able to tell by Elena's tears she was still a maiden? Plus, in the first several books, it said that sharing blood was as far as a vampire could go, so if Elena was loyal to Stefan, she still had to be a maiden.
The characters transformed from wonderful, well-written, believable characters, into flat, boring, one-dimensional stereotypes. Elena came off as flighty, selfish, and stupid, a far cry from the original Elena Gilbert. She seemed more like Katherine than Elena.
I have read and read and read the previous books in the series, but I doubt I'll ever pick up Midnight again.
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