“The Return: Midnight is the last of the Vampire Diaries series written by L. J. Smith. It's also the last of the three part The Return series, which Smith herself dubs as the 'Damon' books. After this instalment, Smith will seize to write the books herself and instead a ghost writer will take over. I'm undecided whether I'll to read this series when it continues as I don't feel it'll be the same without the heart and hard work L. J. Smith has put into these books. Therefore, I read this book with the offset that this was the final book.
After the events of the previous book, The Return: Shadow Souls, I was extremely eager to read this instalment. With a lot of questions risen, I was apprehensive to have them answered and Midnight delivered. Damon, now human, desperately seeks a means of becoming what he once was; a vampire. Unlike his Brother, Stefan, Damon doesn't want to be human. He returns to the Dark Dimension in pursuit of a powerful vampire who can grant him his wish but takes Bonnie along with him by accident. As the book progresses there seems to be a spark between these two, which I'm undecided upon. I don't know who I'd like Damon to be with, especially when I'm in love with his character myself!
Meanwhile, the others remain in Fell's Church desperately seeking a solution to save their town from the evil Kitsune who are set on destroying it. In both locations, the story is not short of action and the book itself, although quite thick in pages, offered a fast-paced read. It was never short of twists, turns and shocking revelations which kept me hooked.
The ending of the book managed to finalise the plots while also making me want to read more. I can't go into the ending in detail as this would spoil the book for potential readers, but after experiencing the heart-wrenching plots in this tale and making me feel feelings of 'what's done is done and there's no going back now' – this will become clearer if/when you read – the ending was brilliant.
I started off this book wanting questions I had from the previous instalments answered. I finished the book feeling satisfied that a lot of the plots were tied up in metaphorical neat bows. Although the ending has left me a little bit tempted to see how the ghost writer continues. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and in my opinion, it'll be hard to beat the great work L. J. Smith has put into this series.
www.booksthatspark.com”
Jennifer Elgey wrote this review Tuesday, June 26, 2012.
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