Book Reviews

The Night World Series

THE NIGHT WORLD by L.J Smith

Now, I'm going to talk about the whole series because the books (there are three huge ones that are like seven hundred pages) each contain three smaller books that are connected to each other but that don't really have the same characters. It's like mini spin offs that all exist within each other and for a specific purpose, since the main characters all have a part to play in stopping world destruction.

Now, I'm conflicted about these books. I loved them, I still do, but all nine of these mini books are basically like the first half of a book. They lead to this climax, where they are supposed to stop world destruction, and that book (the last installment that'll tie everything up in a nice bow) STILL HASN'T COME OUT YET!!!! Take this into perspective. All nine of these books have been out for years. Literally, years. I think I read the first one (which happened to be the third one but since none of them really depend on each other, it doesn't matter what order you read them in) when I was in freaking fourth grade! That was nine years ago! The book gets announced but moved back and it's been doing that for nine bloody years!!!Do you know what that does to a series, holding off the last book for that damn long? If you said, "it builds anticipation", you'd be fucking wrong. It kills that series, absolutely fucking murders it.

If I weren't someone who is as crazy as I am, who keeps every book she's read and who frequently rereads (not to mention that I need to know how a series ends, no matter what), I would have lost interest a damn long time ago. These books are no longer sold in book stores and much less in regular stores (I bought the first one at Target). So when the final book finally does come out, none (or very little) of the people who were its original fans won't even read it. Sure, a person might trip on the series and be able to finish it happily but honestly, now that it isn't getting any of the advertising it used to, it'll be unlikely that it'll have much success. If you read the books when you were a teenager (which I didn't), then you'd be an adult by now. Who the fuck would want to read the last book at that age? And it hasn't even come out yet! It could be another ten years before it actually comes out.

So the books are very good on their own but frankly, the damn wait is absolutely killing it. I'll read the last book, maybe, just to see how it ends but I just don't really care anymore. When you are a Y.A writer, this apathy in your readers will kill your career. Having each book about a year (or less) apart would be perfect. But I digress.

The books are good. But I am not liking the author so much and I absolutely hate the wait.

In my gradebook, this series gets an A for effort but an F for keeping me interested.

*NOTE: this is also the writer of the vampire diaries (the originals, not the stupid bullshit that came out of the TV show. By the way, I actually really really despise what they've done with the show) and she's pulling the same shit with that series. She actually had the balls to put out a book that was written by a completely different person!

I really like her writing. I think she's very good. But she's getting lazy or something and that's just really making me not like her. She's put out a ton of books and I admire her for that but she really needs to finish what she starts. It's the worst torture to inflict on a reader, having a great series that has no ending (or a really crappy one).

P.S: I don't have a summary because there are nine damn books with different plots. If you're really interested, tell me and I can cook something up. But I don't think anyone reads these for genuine recommendations so yeah. Just tell me if you want some sort of summary.

Anyways, love ya :)