To Hell and Back • The Fury and Dark Reunion

The Fury and Dark Reunion by L.J. Smith
Series: The Vampire Diaries #3 & #4
Previous Books: The Awakening + The Struggle
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: December 26, 2007
Source/Format: Bought || Paperback

Elena: transformed, the golden girl has become what she once feared and desired.

Stefan: tormented by losing Elena, he's determined to end his feud with Damon once and for all—whatever the cost. But slowly he begins to realize that his brother is not his only enemy.

Damon: at last, he possesses Elena. But will his thirst for revenge against Stefan poison his triumph? Or can they come together to face one final battle?

After an interesting cliffhanger from The Struggle, I was dying to read The Fury and Dark Reunion. It's a good thing that I had bought both compilations at the same time, so I could get to reading straightaway.

The Fury (Book 3) is an interesting addition to the series. We start off with the fun premise of Elena having becoming a vampire after dying in The Struggle, which adds to the tension between the two Salvatore brothers who love her. The Fury follows her journey as a new vampire, the uncovering of a greater evil than any of them could have ever imagined and the coming together of friends, mortal and supernatural alike, to defeat it. While it was exciting and had new twists at every turn, I thought some of it was a little too far-fetched and fantastical for my taste. It was fun to read though!

Dark Reunion (Book 4) is probably my favorite of the series so far. It's probably because it was really in this particular book that I started to really love the characters and identify with them, especially Stefan, Damon and Bonnie. L.J. did a great job building up the new conflict for this book, and I found myself in awe of the way everything concluded at the end of Dark Reunion. I was actually immensely satisfied (and mistakenly thought I had finished the series, only to find out there are more books!) with it. I much prefer this compilation to the initial one, if only because it was more exciting and fantastical.