Customer Reviews

Dark Visions The Strange Powers, The Possessed, The Passion

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This novel follows the adventures of five physcic both blessed and cursed because of their power. Rob is the healer, Anna manipulates animals, Lewis is the quick talking "mind over matter" guy, Gabriel, the physic vampire, and Kaitlyn , the witch.

Five teens invited to live together in a purple mansion called "The Insitute", to inhance their powers and be given the scholarship of a life time. And who would be so kind as to do this? Mr.Zetes.

Of course there's a catch.

Whe the five learn of the Insitutes horribl past they realise their lives are in danger and they have to escape.

But there is no where to hide that they can't be found.

This book is a real page turner. Gabriel, Lewis and Kaitlyn are fantastic, belivable characters. Gabriel and his interactions with Kait truely are the highlight of the novel. He is a bad guy who grows a strong but unwanted relationship to a headstrong witch.

Witty remarks, believable characters and a thrilling "love triangle" all contribute to this clever and romantic science fiction thriller.

*But the title page really doesen't do the book justice.*

This book was so good! I am so glad i bought the collector's edition, with all the books together! i couldn't put it down! I read all like 700 pgs. in 2 days! You can't resist falling in love with Gabriel's dark personality! I definitely recommend this book to all other L.J. Smith fans out there! Or just all readers in general! It's a great book!

Whilst LJ Smith's books are a good read, I do get narked with the characters sometimes. Most of the lead characters are too nice and any 'bad' characters are always gothy and into heavy metal. Goodie is sickly sweet and oh so nice blonde, baddie is hot but very nasty brunette (see how easy it is to follow the plot read the secret circle if you don't believe me) But back to this, this had a great starting point, but lost the plot slighty. LJS seemed to be really hitting us on the head with how 'bad' Gabriel was and how nice everyone else was, and of course the main female is so understanding and desired by all. Liked it but not as much as the Forbidden Game.

This was the first series by L.J. Smith that I had ever read, and now I've read the Forbidden Game and Night World and Secret Circle series. What I love about these books was, although good does triumph over evil (as always) it was nice to see dark triumph over light. If you don't get what I mean, then you have to read the book. Then I'm sure you'll agree. YOU HAVE TO GET THIS BOOK.

This book is by FAR my favorite book of all time. Kaitlyn Fairchild is my new favorite female character. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings... Yeah, they don't hold a candle to L.J. Smith's Dark Visions Collector's Edition.
Personally, I am AMAZED that this book doesn't get more recognition than it currently does. I would enjoy it more than life itself if this book became a movie. I'm actually telling all my friends about it.
I am not much of a reader... at all... But this book... This book made me cry, made me laugh, made me think hard on certain subjects... everything. I loaned my copy to a friend in hopes of getting her hooked on it too.
I have read and re-read this book, time and time again, for years. It never gets old. Smith's vivid descriptions of surroundings and characteristics give me a good mental image of all her characters.
I am seriously thinking about getting her other books. In fact, I will.
Read this book. If you think you knew what a good book is... you haven't read anything until you read this.

I had a hard time getting into Dark Visions. The storyline could have been interesting, but the characters did not deliver it for me. Kaitlyn's relationship with Rob and Gabriel felt platonic and forced. I did not feel the spark between them at all. I also thought that the ending was way too perfect. Everyone ending up with their perfect other half was a bit too cheesy for me.

To me, many parts were rushed. The characters would be doing one thing and do a complete 180 and start doing something completely different. Other parts, like the relationships between the characters seemed forced. I loved the idea of the characters having a psychic link between them where they could mentally speak to each other. A great relationship could have really developed between the characters, even an intimate one, but it felt to me like their relationships were forced.

One thing about this series that really bugged me was how the author constantly switched from referring to Kaitlyn as "Kaitlyn" in one paragraph and "Kait" in the next. I felt like it should have been one or the other, not both. I finally got used to the name switching in The Passion, but there were times when I just had to stop reading because it just did not flow for me.

At some parts, especially in the first book, The Strange Power, I was screaming at Kaitlyn in my head. I could not believe some of the things she did. If she just kept her mouth shut at times, then certain situations could have been avoided completely. She definitely was not the brightest character because she did some stupid things that were completely avoidable.
I know many people love this book, but I just could not get into it. I have read and enjoyed L.J. Smith's Nightworld series, so I think it was the story that I did not like, not the writing. Anyways, I would suggest you give it a try if you want and form your own opinion about it.

It has taken me a while to write this review because for a while I wasn't sure how I felt about this book at as a whole.

Dark Visions is broken up into three separate stories the first one is The Strange Power. I liked this story the best, and on it's own I would give The Strange Power 5 stars, it was a little cheesy and the character's weren't particularly original, but I liked Kaitlyn the main character in the book, she starts out as an outcast at her own school because people think she's a witch because of her psychic abilities. Then she's invited to be a part of a psychic study and brought to special institute in CA where she lives with four other teenagers all who have different psychic abilities.

From there the story turns into part mystery/part budding love triangle and for me the best part of all of this was probably Gabriel, the bad boy (for lack of a more creative term) who Kaitlyn can't help but be attracted to. The story was a little cheesy, but it had enough mystery and suspense so that once I started reading it I literally couldn't put it down until I finished.

Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the other two stories that comprise Dark Visions... The Possessed and The Passion (which I would say are each about 2 stars). Not much happened in the Possessed, it felt like filler, it was a of running away from bad guys and I honestly thought it could have been cut in half -or just been written differently. For me it was just okay, I honestly only kept reading because I really like Gabriel- LJ. Smith is good at writing bad boys, and that is about the best thing I can say for the last two stories in this book.

I thought the Passion was just as bad as The Possessed, the characters didn't feel real in this story and to me it just wasn't very believable (given the context of the book because obviously the whole premise of this book is a bit fantastic -which I love!)

To sum up, I wouldn't say it was a terrible book, but I will say that it is my least favorite out of all the books of LJ Smith's that I have read. But if you're interested give it a shot... and if you're not after reading this or any other reviews, let me recommend The Forbidden Game by LJ Smith that is another 3 books in one book and that book I loved! It was so fun to read! And I totally would recommend that book over this.

L.J. Smith really has great imagination and excellent writing skills to back it up. If the Forbidden Game trilogy was about the Shadow World of dreams, this trilogy is about psychic abilities.

Once again, L.J. assembles a cast of fascinating teenage characters who are written so well, you feel like you know them. They develop and grow throughout the books, and this is what I love so much about Smith's books.

The story is fast-paced, entertaining, and captivating. I am very happy this trilogy is scheduled to be re-printed this September.

I had read several of L.J.Smith's Nightworld series when I read Dark Visions, and I was immediately spellbound. The characters were all well-developed and very appealing - you cared what happened to them. Of course, Gabriel was my favorite. There's something so appealing about a bad boy in need of salvation. I read the whole thing through in one sitting and then sat down and read it through again. I would recommend it for anyone interested in the unknown, in coming-of-age books, or just interested in a good read.

I personally love to read and when i picked up this book i thought hey this seems good, but as i read it was dragged out in some areas and in others there wasn't enough, what i also didn't like was the fact that Kaitlyn was so choseie she went from one to another and every other word i read was 'I was so scared'...'frightened'...'angry' those words were repeated throughout the book so many times i almost went crazy. Plus i just got bored of the book, i dropped it right in the middle, then picked up bout 5 or 6 months later. Here are my thoughts on this book, you decide if you want to buy it, i say if you do want to try it out and read it then borrow it from your local library.