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A Visitor's Guide to Mystic Falls: Your Favorite Authors on The Vampire Diaries by Heather Vee, Red
annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition
3.0
I love everything the Vampire Diaries, both the books and the series, so when I saw this book here on Goodreads I got curious and decided to just get it from Amazon. And since I was so curious I also decided to dive into it almost right away!
It's hard to review a collection of essays, especially as they've clearly been written when only the first season was out and a lot of it was still unknown. Quite a few essays didn't age very well. Mostly because the criticism displayed in the essays was tackled or talked about in later seasons.
However, there were also essays I'd say aged very well! Especially the one stating that both Stefan and Damon are heroes in their own way, both Gothic and Romantic ones, was lovely and I loved the essay explaining how the relationship between Damon en Stefan could be mended, because it was close to the what eventually happened.
I personally think White's essay on how Stefan is a total and complete monster (based on season 1 only) was a little uncalled for. I'm the first one to say that he's not the perfect hero the show sometimes portrays him as, but this essay felt quite harsh.
Reading this book however did awake my urge to rewatch the show again. So, maybe soon!
It's hard to review a collection of essays, especially as they've clearly been written when only the first season was out and a lot of it was still unknown. Quite a few essays didn't age very well. Mostly because the criticism displayed in the essays was tackled or talked about in later seasons.
However, there were also essays I'd say aged very well! Especially the one stating that both Stefan and Damon are heroes in their own way, both Gothic and Romantic ones, was lovely and I loved the essay explaining how the relationship between Damon en Stefan could be mended, because it was close to the what eventually happened.
I personally think White's essay on how Stefan is a total and complete monster (based on season 1 only) was a little uncalled for. I'm the first one to say that he's not the perfect hero the show sometimes portrays him as, but this essay felt quite harsh.
Reading this book however did awake my urge to rewatch the show again. So, maybe soon!
littlefoot10's review against another edition
3.0
I bought this novel probably around the end of Season 2..because I was obsessed with this show and just needed more in every avenue. It was a cute, short read for more insight into the Vampire Diaries world.
readsby_sam2's review against another edition
2.0
I tried so hard to read this book. I had to DNf It as I just couldn’t not get into it a single bit. I wish I could read it as I’m going to Georgia next month where TVD was filmed. It seems to me this is just a lot of opinions of the series wrapped into essays. I know it wouldn’t be exactly like the show but I wish it had more play into it rather than comparing it to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight.
stephieb78's review against another edition
2.0
I should have read this when it first came out. Most of the essays are outdated. I probably would have liked it more if I didn't already know what theories were right / wrong.
smashattackash's review against another edition
Great for all you Vampire Diary fans!
crissycalhoun's review against another edition
5.0
Reviewed here on my blog: http://crissycalhoun.com/2010/10/17/a-visitors-guide-to-mystic-falls-your-favorite-authors-on-the-vampire-diaries/ (Spoiler alert: I loved it.)
taschima's review against another edition
4.0
A book a la true Smart Pop books fashion. A bunch of author's coming together in a single book, essay format, to talk about the wonders and amazingness of what is The Vampire Diaries, season 1. Being a Vampire Diaries fan myself, TV Show not books (though I did read those before watching the TV show a long time ago), I found this book sooo freaking enjoyable, because as I always say when it comes to Smart Pop Books it's like coming together with your favourite authors (Bree Despain, Alyxandra Harvey, Kiersten White, Claudia Gray...) and just talking about and gushing about Vampire Diaries.
Amazingly, they talk about more than how attractive Ian Somerhaulder is and how his gaze can pretty much make any panties fall instantly to the ground in complete surrender (Team Damon here). They talk about how the history of Mystic Falls is in itself like a character to the series, an essay focuses on who is the true villain of this tale (supposedly Stefan- a judgement I find very appealing), and just basically about a whole bunch of things that if you are a Vampire Diaries fan will find super interesting. I specially enjoyed the end, where they start talking about how the books differ from the series. The only essay I didn't enjoy that much was Claudia Gray's, not because it wasn't greatly written but because I didn't join in her opinion of making the show that much more historically accurate. It is about the history of mystic falls, but not in that fashion.
Anyways, awesome essay book. Only thing I would request now is a follow up book on the second season of The Vampire Diaries, have the authors who made speculations about season 2 see how their argument changes or not, and see if they themselves change in their opinions. I would certainly buy that book! I would also enjoy some pics of Ian shirtless... You know, for the sake of research.
Amazingly, they talk about more than how attractive Ian Somerhaulder is and how his gaze can pretty much make any panties fall instantly to the ground in complete surrender (Team Damon here). They talk about how the history of Mystic Falls is in itself like a character to the series, an essay focuses on who is the true villain of this tale (supposedly Stefan- a judgement I find very appealing), and just basically about a whole bunch of things that if you are a Vampire Diaries fan will find super interesting. I specially enjoyed the end, where they start talking about how the books differ from the series. The only essay I didn't enjoy that much was Claudia Gray's, not because it wasn't greatly written but because I didn't join in her opinion of making the show that much more historically accurate. It is about the history of mystic falls, but not in that fashion.
Anyways, awesome essay book. Only thing I would request now is a follow up book on the second season of The Vampire Diaries, have the authors who made speculations about season 2 see how their argument changes or not, and see if they themselves change in their opinions. I would certainly buy that book! I would also enjoy some pics of Ian shirtless... You know, for the sake of research.
serenitymoon's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't enjoy this as much as I enjoyed reading The Girl Who Was On Fire. I guess how interesting dissecting a fandom can be depends on how interesting the source material is in the first place. Not that TVD isn't great, it just doesn't offer that much to ponder about as The Hunger Games did.
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