L. J. Smith Books

As a reader who has read this seiries as well as the Dark Visions and the Forbidden game series, I can say that anyone who is a L.J. Smith fan is sure to love this book. It has romance that is not over the top mushy, and Smith incorporates real feeling into believable characters in a story that is sure to hold your attention until you have finished reading and even after you're done. I highly reccomend this book.

Lisa J. Smith is one of the most believable horror-fantasy writers for teens (if not, just plain the MOST)that I've come across. She takes the reader easily into a world where creatures such as vampires and werewolves do exist... and she makes the reader become part of that world.

It's a shame that the final book has not been written... or if it has, that it was never published. L.J. .. if you hear your fans, please publish that last book?

imo the rest of the story seemed alittle bit, I don't know it's hard to put my finger on it, but I quess it just seemed a little slow to me. The story is about Maggie who is trying to find her supposedly dead brother and who, because of her dangerous quest, is dragged into a land unchanged by time, a place of castles, and witches, and gorgeous vampire princes with hearts of ice. The chemistry between Maggie and Delos is great and Maggie, like Poppy, is not drop dead gorgeous as a human. She's just an ordinary girl with a big heart and extrodinary courage which Delos see's in her eyes and it attracts him to her. She is the warmth that is missing in his cold existence and the scenes where they are together just make me want to go "awww" because of how tender he is towards her.
Maggie seems, I don't know, I quess less archetypal to me then some characters and like a real girl. Like the kind who would at school get voted most popular simply because she's so nice to everyone.
An L.J. Smith book that in my opinion is not to be missed!

this is really one of the greatest books i have ever read and own. i was fortunate enought 2 own all 9 night world books and im still waiting 4 strange fate 2 come out. neways this book tells about a gurl name maggie who searches for her missing brother miles after when he and his girlfriend slyvia goes out mountain climbing but then disappears without a trace. maggie doesnt trust slyvia and thinks she is lying about her brother's disapperance so she follows her and then is captured and taken as a slave 2 a kingdom that is owned by the Night World and is ruled by a young vampire prince name delos. this is one the books that deals with finding the wild powers and needing 2 find all 4 of them that are needed at the end of the millenium. this is one of the best lj smith has written and i hope she will continue writing more books for the series. keep up the great work. and i pretty much think that strange fate is NOT the last book in the night world series.

I have read and own every L.J. ever printed (and loved every one of them), and am going crazy waiting for the last of the night world series!!!!! It's been years and still no book!!! HOW CAN SHE DO THIS TO US READERS!! (I'm sure it's not all her fault)...

I always have a bit of trepidation approaching paranormal novels not vampire or were- based. They're often a bit inaccessible to me, especially those based on witches, loaded down with spells and difficult-to-follow lore.

But as with the others of Smith's "Night World" I have read thus far, "Spellbinder" is much easier to approach than the norm, written for young inductees into the paranormal phenomenon.

Good witch Thea and dubious cousin witch Blaise are alike and yet quite dissimilar -- Blaise is a virtual goddess of love, while Thea's lie more in the arts of caring for animals. The two have few disagreements in contrary to what one might expect, though they share the mantle of Blaise's ongoing penchant for trouble.

Upon arrival at their new school and last chance, Thea's skills with animals are instantly tested, and resultingly she finds herself drawn to human boy Eric, a veterinarian to be (and one of the most compelling "Night World" heroes).

Things would be hectic enough with Blaise's attempts to claim Eric for herself, but soon even Thea is working forbidden magics of her own, and eventually the full burden of responsibility for their actions comes to bear down on the witch-pair.

While I very much (and surprisingly!) enjoyed this book, there are a few flaws. I found myself questioning a few subplots -- most notably Blaise's former pet and his appearance at the school seemed a bit embryonic and not thoroughly explained, and the book's resolutiooon, while surprising and fulfilling, still leaves one wondering if justice really has been served.

All in all, fun, with good characters.

7.8/10

This book was one of my favorite. I actually loved Blaise, she was such a bad girl hehe

I even use her name as my SN!

This book is one of the greatest of the nightworld series. This book is about gentle, nature loving Thea and her wild beautiful cousin, Blaise.Thea falls in love with a human but since the rules of the nightworld state that she can't love a human Thea finds herself in a situation that could turn deadly......
Blaise willing to do anything for her cousin tries to lure Eric into her trap and get him away from Thea for good!

This has to be my favorite of the series. It was interesting to see the nightworld from the witches point of view and Thea and Blaise are great characters. Especially Blaise, she's no airhead beauty but like her name a bright blaze of passion, intelligence, and loyalty.

While not the best Night World book, it's certainly a good read. Thea and Eric were almost too goody-goody as main characters for my taste, but they were still fun to read about. I thought Blaise was one of the most interesting characters, with so many layers it's hard to really figure her out. The author did a wonderful job creating characters you could care about.

"Spellbinder" (also published as "Enchantress") is the third book in L. J. Smith's `Night World' series, concerning the secret world of supernatural creatures that live among normal human beings. Called the Night World, there are several rules imposed upon the witches, vampires, werewolves and shape shifters that inhabit this world, namely that they are to never tell a human being about their secret society, and never to fall in love with one of them.

This is the first book in the series to deal with witches rather than vampires, and concerns the lives of two seventeen year old witch cousins who made their first appearance in "Secret Vampire": Thea and Blaise Harman. The two girls are complete opposites; Thea is fair and quiet, whilst Blaise is black-haired and someone who enjoys playing with the human world for fun - making boys fall in love with her and then discarding them. After a series of expulsions from high schools around the country (the last one having resulted in the school burning down), the cousins are brought to live with their grandmother Edgith Harman - the Crone of All the Witches, a prestigious position within the Circles of Night World witches. In other words, the cousins are on thin ice.

But Blaise doesn't trouble herself with things like this - she's always played her love games and doesn't plan on stopping now. Thea however, is desperate to live a quiet, peaceful life. But then she finds her soul mate: Eric Ross, a human. Their connection is powerful, but Thea knows that should they be discovered, it could result in executions for both of them, or in war among the factions of the Night World. When Blaise finds out about Thea's feelings, she decides the only way in which to act is to separate the two of them: by using her own charms to divert Eric's attention away from Thea...

The blurb would have you believe that Blaise is an out-and-out villain, and the focus of the story is on the two girls fighting over Eric's affections. This however is not so - the main conflict in the story comes from Thea's attempts to protect Eric by summoning up a benevolent spirit. However, when the spell goes wrong, Thea finds that a murderous witch-ghost is on the loose, and perfectly capable of killing. As well as this there are numerous sub-plots, including Edgith's failing health, Blaise's exploits at her new high school, a few spells and meetings with other witches, Thea's various attempts to allure/dispel Eric's affections and an introduction to Eric's family and his radical-feminist little sister.

All this equals a rather slip-shod plot that slides all over the place. It's not that the story isn't interesting, but L. J. Smith doesn't seem quite sure on where it's going, or where the true conflict lies. Instead it comes across as a series of magical events and workings that don't quite have the urgency and suspense of other books in the series - especially the later ones.

Furthermore, many of the plot points and characters in the book were rather familiar - Smith has been recycling her own work, most particularly "The Secret Circle" trilogy. Blaise and Thea are almost identical to Faye and Diana (and both sets were cousins!) whilst things like the vengeful spirit, the death of a school student and the forbidden love affair all have their counterpoints in this previous trilogy. As such, the story has a lack of originality (and the coupling of Thea and Eric doesn`t come across as *that* genuine).

But there are some nice touches throughout: we get another piece of the ever-growing history of the Night World (this time it's the story of Hellewise and Maya), some names of other characters that have either been in previous books or will pop up in later ones (such as Aradia, Ash, Quinn and Thierry) that make the book feel like a small part of a larger whole. Smith also makes good use of folklore and mythology, weaving little bits of `real' legends and practices into what the characters say and do - like the Cup of Lethe or the many allusions to Aphrodite.

All in all, not a bad contribution to the 'Night World' series, though by no means the best: things only get really interesting when we hit book five: "The Chosen".

i absolutely love this book. it soooooooo has to be one of the best of l.j. smith's. rob and gabriel sound so gorg. i cant wait to read the next one . if u have read any of l.j. smiths books than read this one amd even if u havent still read it its great!!!!!!!!!!

title xplains my opinion

I guess this was a good book. It sort of reminded me of Lois Duncan's The Third Eye and maybe this one was based off it. Who knows? Well, I would if I were psychic like the people in this book... Anywho, this book starts a trilogy that is your basic teens get sucked into a situation seemingly above their heads until they grow and rise to it and blah blah blah... BUT there is no denying that it's extremely easy to read, not at all boring, and that the characters are cool. Sure you have the bad boy turned good by good girl cliche but here it's pulled together with as little cheese-iness as possible ^_^ All in all it's worth a read. This is a pretty good start to a pretty good trilogy

Kaitlyn Fairchild has always been unnerved by her uncontrollable ability to draw pictures of the future. So she's thrilled when she gets into a special school for psychics. For the first time in her life, Kait is surrounded with people she feels she belongs with and she's especially interested in kindhearted Rob. But she begins to suspect that the owner of the school has an ulterior motive, one that could get Kait and her new friends killed.

The Strange Power is an intriguing but a bit slow start to the Dark Visions Trillogy. I probably should be continuing L. J. Smith's The Vampire Diaries series but I decided to take a break from that. This series was a nice chance of pace. I really enjoyed the characters and am curious to see what happens next. I have no clue why The Vampire Diaries seems to be the favorite of many L. J. Smith fans. This series and all her others are much better.

Kaitlyn Fairchild is a psychic. She sees things before they happen by drawing things. The problem is that her drawings never make sense until the actual event happens. But one day Kait is called out of class and she meets Lydia. Lydia tells her about the Zeetes Institute. A place in California where she can learn to control her psychic abilities. When she arrives she meets the other students: Rob, Gabriel, Anna, and Luis. Soon though they all begin to realize that something isn't quite right and that Mr. Zeetes may have more sinister intentions. Another interesting thing going on is that Gabriel psychiclly linked all of them and now he can't unlink them. So now they can read each other's thoughts.

This is an EXCELLENT trilogy. My god I love Gabriel. Geez he sounds sooo FINE!

I really enjoyed this series and each book just keeps getting better and better. I love the whole love triangle of two vampire brothers and the beautiful young girl torn between them!
It inspired me to write a vampire novel myself, THE DARKEST HOUR about a love triangle between a human, a vampire, and a beautiful young woman.

The thrills keep on coming in this book as the mystery deepens and you find yourself trying to solve the mystery along with the other characters.
The twist at the end leaves you reeling and although not the ending you'd expect it is however a very good ending.

Hmm.... what to say when my title's already done it?!

I rfirst read this book, Oh, lets say about 7 years ago. I found it in a dingy little second hand book shop. I loved it. Although I hadn't read the first two. I Loved it. Did I mention I loved it? Now, especially considering I've read the rest of the series, it's still my fave. The way LJ Smith writes, it's with such passion and simplicity, it's hard not to get drawn into her writing. I felt horrible when Elena died. Even Elena the vampire, because of the way she sacrificed herself for Stefan and Damon. Tearjerker, but also full of laughs....

The Fury starts right where The Struggle left off. Stefan went to challenge Damon and Elena is a vampire. Elena stops the guys fight and says she loves Damon because she can't remember Stefan. Stefan's heart is broken. Anyways Elena gets her new diary back and she reads it. Then she remembers Stefan and goes back to him. They find out about The Other Power who turns out to be Katherine, who only pretended to be dead before. But in the end Elena killed Katherine but had to sacrifce her life to do it. Once again Stefan was crushed.

Another great addition to The Vampire Diaries mini-series thingy.

"The Fury" is the third book in the "Vampire Diaries" saga by L. J. Smith, which really should have been the last in the series, but was followed up by an unfortunate and unneccessary sequel. But that belongs in another review, and "The Fury" is a reasonably satisfying wrap-up of the events begun in "The Awakening" and "The Struggle".

Elena Gilbert is in love with Stefan Salvatore, a vampire, but is also attracted to his brother Damon. Throughout the course of the first two books she has shared blood with both of them, which means that when she is driven by some unnatural force into the river she rises once more as a vampire after her human body has perished. The brothers hide her at a local house, planning to smuggle her out once the town has quietened down once more, but as soon as she awakens after a week-long slumber, Elena refuses. Now more than ever she is certain that a third Power is present at Fell's Church, endangering the citizens and the vampire brothers.

Along with her friends Meredith, Bonnie and Matt (who are privy to the secret of Elena's transformation), they begin investigating, and come up with a range of suspects. But whilst they continue with their detective work, more and more dangerous things are happening in the small town: the domestic pet dogs attack the mourners at Elena's funeral service, and some of the townsfolk have decided to take matters into their own hands - blaming the newcomer Stefan for the supernatural trouble. But the real source lies deep within the vampire's past...

L. J. Smith brings together her entire cast to battle the evil, instigating all their talents (ie, Bonnie's psychic abilities, Alaric's vampire lore, Meredith's leadership, Damon's shapeshifting), and then splits them up in order for the teenagers to defend the school students at the prom, protect Elena's family and go up against the third Power in a satisfying conclusion to the story with an unexpected twist and death. The tension that was building up in the first two books is finally paid off, though most readers wishing for a happy ending will be sadly disappointed.

L. J. Smith unfortunately leaves several plot threads dangling - she never fully wraps up the motivations behind Robert's actions, nor why it looked as though he knew what was going to happen with the dogs outside the church - presumably it was instinct, but she might have told us that! Furthermore, I was expecting a plot twist in the character of Ms Flowers - in this and the previous book the teenagers see her leaning against the window, refusing to help them when they call, and I suspected that somebody had killed her and propped her body up against the window. Nope. She was apparently just a crazy old lady.

There are some devices that L. J. uses that get rather annoying, and which reminded me of R. L. Stine - both of them would end chapters on tense, dramatic sentences, only for them to come to absolutely nothing, rendering them silly and melodramatic. For instance: when Stefan is being attacked, Smith ends the chapter with "A white hand reached out of the darkness and knocked the rifle away...Elena had arrived". Whoohoo, is she finally about to beat up someone? No, the tension drains away with the arrival of Alaric. Later on, when Elena and the brothers are at the mercy of the Power, it tempts Damon with an alliance: "Oh God, no, Elena thought. Please no. Slowly, Damon smiled". Oh heck, is Damon going to turn on them? Or perhaps only pretend to in order to get free? Again, the drama is drained away as Damon refuses. After a while these sentences on the chapters end would get annoying as well as disappointing.

Oh well, why am I complaining over a book that cost me three dollars in the local bookstore's bargain bin? On the whole, "The Fury" is the most worthwhile read in L. J. Smith's vampire series, but not in her entire collection of books. If you're searching for a book to give to a pre-teen female, then you can't go wrong with L. J. Smith - the only problem she has an annoying habit on un-necessarily dividing her stories into several volumes, and you'll have to track them all down to get the full picture.

The mystery continues in book 2.
This book is fantastic,jumping straight in from book 1 you barely have time to breathe as it keeps you guessing.
I couldn't put this book down

Vampire Diaries was a great series!! I didn't like how the last book in the series was going but it ended up great! The book starts with: girl meets hot vampire Stephen and his also very hot but evil brother Damon. She is in love with the kind hearted Stephen, but evil Damon wants her all to himself. She trys to stay away from Damon but no matter what she does he keeps finding ways to get to her to take her blood, slowly turning her into a vampire. She cannot tell Stephen what is going on because he is still weak from a horrific battle with Damon, and if she would tell him he would become so angry he would try to kill Damon and end up dying because he isn't strong enough to battle him again so soon. The whole series has a great plot, but I definitly recommend buying all the books before you start reading the series or you will be left hanging untill the next book. Trust me I know! I started reading the Awakening #1 in the Vampire Diaries series, and I had to end up waiting for two months to find the second book and another month to find the third and fourth book. I have read the series about 6 times since last year. L.J. Smith is a great writer, if you like the vampire diaries you should read the Secret Circle series and her Night World series.

Before Buffy and Angel lite up the tv screens spinning off book series there was L.J. Smith's series 'Vampire Diaries". This series was the first vampire books I ever read back when I was about 12. Ten years later, and heavy dog eared copies of the "Vampire Diaries" the story and plot is still fresh as ever, keeping me coming back again and again. If you love the paranormal, a bit of romance, adventure, two good looking vampires, and of course the age old struggle school politics then you'll love this book. Its a story that you wont soon forget.

In volume #2 "The Struggle" the heat intensifies as Damon and Stefen continue the struggle for Elena, one who looks very much like a woman they both loved long ago. Will she turn to either vampire or is there something sinister keeping watch to stop all three? It continues on to volume #3

Everybody out there; I order you to READ THIS BOOK! It was the best vampire book I have ever read! I fell in love with the characters and the constant tension and twists kept me reading for hours. The plot is brilliant and I'm now officially addicted to L.J Smith's books (and they're vampires). I really felt for the brave and beautiful Elena, and Stephan is so handsom and sad it made me want to cry. But the character I love the most is definatly Damon, the evil and incredibly sexy evil vamp brother. I don't know about you, but I always fall for the bad guy, and this one is definatly HOT!!!And man does the end have a twist! It's totally brilliant and it's even exciting me (the girl who wants Elena to choose the bad guy over the good). So trust me (the girl with style) and READ THIS BOOK!!!

"The Struggle" is the second book in L.J. Smith's "Vampire Diaries" series, and like all middle books, it suffers from a sense of displacement. It begins in the centre of the story and it ends in the centre of the story, and so one needs both the previous book and the following one in order to make sense of it.

The premise is hopelessly melodramatic: the beautiful blonde Elena (what, you expected an L. J. Smith heroine that *wasn't* stunning?!) is caught between two vampire brothers, the angelic Stefan and the demonic Damon. Though she loves Stefan she is equally attracted to Damon, and I'm wincing whilst writing this, such is the corniness of the situation. Elena reminds the brothers of a girl they both sought after whilst they were human: the vampiric Katherine who Turned them both, but then killed herself when they wouldn't cease their feud. Now the triangle is replaying itself out once more in contemporary Fell's Church, but with a few differences, namely the presence of another Power wrecking havoc upon the citizens. At first Elena and Stefan think Damon is responsible for the attacks and other strange occurences, but mounting evidence leads them to believe otherwise...

The love-story is simply painful to behold, and I'm not sure what's worse: the love-lorn wide-eyed declarations of love between Stefan and Elena ("you've stolen my soul") or Damon's painful attempts at seducing her ("You can become a queen of shadows"). Smith is usually quite good at capturing every-day speech, but the dialogue of this book is abysmal.

But in the face of the awful love-story, there are other little plot strands to consider that keep "Vampire Diaries" from being a complete waste of time. Even though "The Struggle" isn't that important in the context of the entire series, the more mundane occurances hold one's interest. In the previous book, Elena's diary is stolen, which contained several crucial passages about Stefan's involvement in the attacks at Fell's Church. Now little notes are popping up, posting on notice boards, slipped into her bag, that quote Elena's own words back at her. Elena and her two closet friends Bonnie and Meredith suspect their ex-friend Caroline, and dread the fact that she's planning on reading out the diary at the Founding Day celebration.

In between hatching a plan to steal back the diary, there is a whole range of other problems that need to be dealt with: the previously attacked Vickie is now acting very strangely at school, a new teacher Alaric Saltzman is asking a lot of suspicious questions, Bonnie's prophesies continue to get more and more ominous and class bully Tyler Smallwood is also causing trouble amongst the students. To top it all off, Damon is prowling around, inviting himself to class functions and even Elena's house in the attempts to stir up trouble between the brothers.

It ends, of course, on a big cliffhanger, and I think it's fair to say that on the whole "The Vampire Diaries" are not L. J. Smith's best work (not that any of her work is high literature). For me personally, I like my vampires evil and dark - but Smith's vampires are technically the good guys, and have no sense of the massive weight of vampiric lore that surrounds the legend; instead they act too much like teenagers. Though the books are backed up by reasonably interesting sub-plots, and one can clearly see from the other reviews that pre-teens swoon over the books and characters, it's only a matter of time before they're looking back and wondering "what was I *thinking*?!" They're good books to take on holiday - quick, easy, entertaining reads that don't need too much brain-power to read, and are no big loss if they are misplaced.

Completly forgotten that I bought this item however it was a Fast delivery and well wrapped item. Haven't had the chance in reading the book yet but will evently get there.

I enjoyed this book, but I didn't like the way you had to wait until half way into it before the game started and Julian came along. He's my favourite character, and I really feel Jenny should have just gone with him! That being said, it's a good book and you HAVE to read it! I've set up a Yahoo! group called THeforbiddenGame to talk about it, so if you like these books as muchh as I do, please join!

This book though not as good as books 1 and 3 is still very good. I loved the scene were Julian and Jenny meet face to face for the first time since the last book. We get to see Jenny's character development and every scene with Julian and Jenny is Just Fabulous. I strongly recommend this trilogy........these books are great beach reads.

Jenny and her friends are dealing with the aftermath of the events of the first book. No one believes them about their friend's death and the paper house is still missing. When they finally find the paper house it is ripped to shreds and they don't know if Julian was released or not. All is soon reveled and they begin a new deadly game where Jenny's friends are disappearing one by one.

This book wasn't nearly as good as the first one. The first half of the book is pretty dull. The action does pick up but it's barley enough to make up for the first half. I did like how we got to know the characters better but I didn't like how little Julian there was. The book kind of struck me as a filler book but I'm sure the last in the series will be much better.

Again, I'm not disappointed in L.J. Smith. She is such a good author. If only she would write MORE three part series. I highly recommend this series. You've GOT to read it. The things that happen in this book are so.....freaky, they give me the shivers every time I read it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it's sequel. I highly recommend them. You should buy both because once you finish the first one you will want to start the second.

GREAT book! Highly recommended.
Original Twilight? It seems Ms. Stephanie Meyer took themes from this book and twisted them and just ran with it. It starts off a bit like Twilight but with less detail. Towards the end it's HARDLY like Twilight.

This book was unputdownable. I love Stefan. I just wish there was MORE. I can't put my finger on it but something was missing...more romance? More Stefan? More detail? More character development? Perhaps all of the above.

I guess that was my biggest issue. The relationship between Stefan and Elena. I mean maybe they were physically attracted to each other but I don't really get why they're in love. I couldn't relate to Elena on any level either.

The writing is easy and uncomplicated. The plot leaves me to feel that we the reader don't know the whole story yet and that will all be revealed if we just keep reading and that's what I LOVE in a book...and some sexy vampires. haha
Really good overall and I can't find myself to hate Damon...hmm...

Off to buy the second installment!

this was a good vampire series focused on a main character that i expected to hate. In the beginning of the series i was somewhat hesitant to like elena because she is one of those self centred, bossy personalities one usually acquaints with the antagonist, Elena herself was oblivious of the fact that she was so selfish of course. but even though she was so unforgivingly forward, the reader is compelled to appreciate her personality and interpret her methods of accomplishing something as strength. the first task we see her trying to accomplish is the wooing of stephan, and though this plot development seems typical, the way in which elena throws herself whole heartedly into what she wishes to accomplish really connects her to the reader and makes the reader want to support her. she has this energy and strength of will throughout the entire series. She also grows tremendously. in the beginning, as i've said, she's somewhat focused on herself, but as the series progresses, her focus shifts to those around her and to those she cares about. all in all elena was a very proactive heroine and i recommend this series to those who appreciate a good vampire romance.

If you love to feel the rush of falling in love along with the heroine, if you love to feel her fears and worries just as if it were you, then you won't like this book.

I was so excited to read it, but I had to stop half-way through the first one because it was totally unbelievable- not the vampire stuff, but the actions of the characters.

NO ONE behaves the way these characters do, NO REAL PERSON would ever jump from feeling to feeling without any cause the way these characters do.
I wasn't able to sink into the book the way I usually do. I can always get 'caught up' in novels and live the story with them, but with this book it was impossible.

I don't recommend it.

I was torn whether to give this book two or three stars, mainly because I'm coming at it from the perspective of an adult who expects a bit more from her books, even if they are YA. This book (and I'm guessing the others in the series, though I haven't read them so I can't say definitively) does not cross over to adults the way the Harry Potter, Golden Compass and Twilight books do. For those of us looking for supernatural romance after Twilight, this will be a huge disappointment.

I'm well aware that LJ Smith and Stephanie Meyer are different writers and that you can't compare them, etc. etc. I'm writing this review for two reasons - one, to let other adults know that this will not impress them (especially if they've read Twilight) and two, the book is unimpressive on its own merits.

The characters are completely flat, two-dimensional and unrealistic. They do not behave the way real people do (as another reviewer pointed out); the dialog is stiff, awkward, choppy and superficial; the scenes cut in and out from one character's experiences to another's, much like a soap opera with about the same pacing and depth; and the love story is shallow at best.

My other complaint is that while the writing style is juvenile and not appealing to adults, the content isn't entirely appropriate for a younger audience either. I found the whole drinking, s3x and attempted rape in the graveyard scene to be a gratuitous and tasteless attempt at drama.

Overall, it's just not something I can imagine any adult enjoying unless they read it as a teen and have an affinity based on that. But even when I was a teenager, I think I would have expected more.

"Night of the Solstice", followed by its sequel "Heart of Valor", were Lisa Jane Smith's first novels, targeted at younger readers, unlike her later (and more popular) horror/teen romance novels surrounding the lives of vampires, witches, shapeshifters and the like.

In her delving into the fantasy world, L. J. Smith introduces us to the four siblings, responsible Alys, normal Charles, kooky Janie and dreamy Claudia who have absolutely nothing to do with each other. All that changes however, when a red vixen lures seven year old Claudia to the strange house upon the hill and asks for her help in saving her mistress, the sorceress Morgana Shee. Convincing Claudia to bring her brother and sisters to the house, the vixen soon inlists all three of them to help her in her quest.

She explains that the house is called Fell Andred - the House of Mirrors, and that it serves as a gateway between this world, known as the Stillworld, and the Wildworld. Each mirror within the house leads to the Wildworld, and it is through these mirrors that Morgana's kidnapper, the twisted and evil sorcerer Cadal Forge, plans to journey through on the Night of the Solstice to exact revenge on the world that once betrayed him.

But when the vixen diappears, the children are left on their own, with only two weeks before the Solstice, to master the mirrors, rescue Morgana and prevent Cadal Forge and his sorcerei from entering their world.

Its seems a magical premise, but often L. J. Smith's writing style falls short of the narrative. She is best at human nature: relationships between people, responses to the supernatural, the meeting of challenges - all this she handles with ease. However, in the context of the fantasy world she presents exposition of how the Wildworld runs in large, confusing chunks, (usually through someone talking or reminising) instead of a gradual unwinding of figures and facts, and often dwindles on the wrong situations - rather than conveying the potentially fascinating history and information of her world in an interesting manner, she gives us Janie overhearing a catty conversion between two school friends that really lends nothing to the story. This is unfortunatly a constant trend in the novel: skipping over what could be the most interesting scenes and giving them to us in hindsight (such as Charles luring Elwyn, the creation of the Heart of Valor, and the trio of children [minus Janie] being confronted by the sorcerei).

The pacing is exhausting - the conflicts and problems flit by in rapid succession, jumping from scene to scene with no respite in between from one crisis to the next. Some may consider constantly moving action a good thing (one is never in need of excitement during the course of the story), but sometimes the pacing needs a little rest: it is in restful moments were we get to know the characters a little better, and let them reflect on their thoughts and circumstances.

Solutions to problems often fall into the children's heads out of nowhere, or at least from very unlikely drawn conclusions: (Claudia for example identifies an imposter by the size of her feet as compared to barely-glimpsed footprints in the dust, and Charles sudden awareness of how to combat the Groundsler by its scantily-revealed clues seems out of the blue) and for the most part the narrative goes nowhere - the children travel through the mirror, triumph over a certain obstacle and then return, often with little or no progress in their overall quest.

However, despite my critism, young fantasy fans *will* enjoy this: it's exciting, suspenceful and inventive, and L. J. Smith paints vivid pictures of family relations and child perceptions. The comparisons between our sunlit world and the shadowy, night-time Wildworld is delightful, with Morgana's house as a clever gateway between the two. She is a master at creating interesting names (Elwyn Silverhair and Thia Pendriel, for example) and all her plot threads flow together nicely.
Though she is certainly *not* up to the standards of Susan Cooper and E. Nesbit (no offence to the reviewer who thinks she is), L. J. Smith's first novel is a strong, colourful and compelling, and leaves room for a sequel - make sure you have a copy of "Heart of Valor" on hand after finishing this one.

"Night of the Solstice", followed by its sequel "Heart of Valor", were Lisa Jane Smith's first novels, targeted at younger readers, unlike her later (and more popular) horror/teen romance novels surrounding the lives of vampires, witches, shapeshifters and the like.

In her delving into the fantasy world, L. J. Smith introduces us to the four siblings, responsible Alys, normal Charles, kooky Janie and dreamy Claudia who have absolutely nothing to do with each other. All that changes however, when a red vixen lures seven year old Claudia to the strange house upon the hill and asks for her help in saving her mistress, the sorceress Morgana Shee. Convincing Claudia to bring her brother and sisters to the house, the vixen soon inlists all three of them to help her in her quest.

She explains that the house is called Fell Andred - the House of Mirrors, and that it serves as a gateway between this world, known as the Stillworld, and the Wildworld. Each mirror within the house leads to the Wildworld, and it is through these mirrors that Morgana's kidnapper, the twisted and evil sorcerer Cadal Forge, plans to journey through on the Night of the Solstice to exact revenge on the world that once betrayed him.

But when the vixen diappears, the children are left on their own, with only two weeks before the Solstice, to master the mirrors, rescue Morgana and prevent Cadal Forge and his sorcerei from entering their world.

Its seems a magical premise, but often L. J. Smith's writing style falls short of the narrative. She is best at human nature: relationships between people, responses to the supernatural, the meeting of challenges - all this she handles with ease. However, in the context of the fantasy world she presents exposition of how the Wildworld runs in large, confusing chunks, (usually through someone talking or reminising) instead of a gradual unwinding of figures and facts, and often dwindles on the wrong situations - rather than conveying the potentially fascinating history and information of her world in an interesting manner, she gives us Janie overhearing a catty conversion between two school friends that really lends nothing to the story. This is unfortunatly a constant trend in the novel: skipping over what could be the most interesting scenes and giving them to us in hindsight (such as Charles luring Elwyn, the creation of the Heart of Valor, and the trio of children [minus Janie] being confronted by the sorcerei).

The pacing is exhausting - the conflicts and problems flit by in rapid succession, jumping from scene to scene with no respite in between from one crisis to the next. Some may consider constantly moving action a good thing (one is never in need of excitement during the course of the story), but sometimes the pacing needs a little rest: it is in restful moments were we get to know the characters a little better, and let them reflect on their thoughts and circumstances.

Solutions to problems often fall into the children's heads out of nowhere, or at least from very unlikely drawn conclusions: (Claudia for example identifies an imposter by the size of her feet as compared to barely-glimpsed footprints in the dust, and Charles sudden awareness of how to combat the Groundsler by its scantily-revealed clues seems out of the blue) and for the most part the narrative goes nowhere - the children travel through the mirror, triumph over a certain obstacle and then return, often with little or no progress in their overall quest.

However, despite my critism, young fantasy fans *will* enjoy this: it's exciting, suspenceful and inventive, and L. J. Smith paints vivid pictures of family relations and child perceptions. The comparisons between our sunlit world and the shadowy, night-time Wildworld is delightful, with Morgana's house as a clever gateway between the two. She is a master at creating interesting names (Elwyn Silverhair and Thia Pendriel, for example) and all her plot threads flow together nicely.
Though she is certainly *not* up to the standards of Susan Cooper and E. Nesbit (no offence to the reviewer who thinks she is), L. J. Smith's first novel is a strong, colourful and compelling, and leaves room for a sequel - make sure you have a copy of "Heart of Valor" on hand after finishing this one.

The Night of the Solstice
By: Lisa Jane Smith
Reviewed by: T. Sun
Period 1

This story is about Alys, Charles, Janie, and Claudia who are trying to save their world from an evil sorcerer named Cadal Forge. They also have to save Morgana Shee because only she can prevent Cadel Forge from conquering the Stillworld, Earth. They embark in an adventure that takes them to the magical world of the Wildworld. They travel every night through the mirrors in Morgana's abandoned house. It takes them to the Wildworld version of that exact same house. They search every room they can open and run away from the sorcerei of the Society. In the end Janie figures out which room Morgana is held in and they free her. But they had to battle through the Society, Cadel Forge, and Thai Pendriel; she is a councilor of the Wildworld. In the end they send all the sorcerei who escaped into the Stillworld on the winter solstice back into the Wildworld, except Cadel Forge. He gets trapped in the mirrors. Every thing goes back to normal but all isn't too well, because Thai Pendriel stole Heart of Valor, a Forgotten Gem with incredible power. Morgana and the others will not worry about her right now. Morgana rewards each of the children with a gift. Alys gets a horse, Janie becomes Morgana's apprentice, Charles gets a sample of Kryptonite, and Claudia gets a charm that lets her talk to animals.
I liked this book because it's funny, has a lot of action, and is magical. There was plenty of fighting with magic, which I liked. For example: " She whirled back on the last words, and in her hands was the Gold Staff, dazzlingly bright. Out of the head of the staff shot a golden ball, which plummeted to the ground only to erupt upwards as a tree of living crystals, which grew with lightning speed. Needle-sharp branched burst our in all directions, transfixing sorcerei on every side." This quote describes a battle-taking place in Fell Andred in the Wildworld. Morgana is trying to stop Cadel Forge from entering the Stillworld. And she sort of failed at first, but in the end she traps him in the mirrors.
The only thing I disliked about The Night of the Solstice was that a Quislai (fairy) named Elwyn. She is Morgana's half sister. Morgana is only half Quislai while Elwyn is full. Elwyn's personality is very annoying and frustrating to understand. The reader, like me, can feel how the characters felt when they were trying to make Elwyn corporate with them. For example: " `Do you realize what Cadal Forge is Planning?' Elwyn pursed her bright lips. `Cadal Forge spoke rudely to me once.' She mused. Charles stared "Did he? Did he really?' `Perhaps I just dreamed it. Do you dream?' `Have you understood a single thing I've said?' `Of course I've understood a single thing you've said. You're Charles and you're not thirsty. But perhaps you'd care for something to eat?'" As you can see Charles isn't having a very easy conversation with Elwyn. He's very frustrated with her because she keeps changing the topic.
My favorite part of the book was when Alys, Janie, Charles, and Claudia found Morgana and the vixen. Then they battled the Society and Cadel Forge. I like this part because it has the most action and tension in it. It's is so much fun to visualize Morgana battling Cadel Forge and Thai Pendriel with magic while trying to protect the stillworlders (Alys, Janie, Charles, and Claudia). I am very content with the description of Morgana's stress as she tries to stop this madness

"Night of the Solstice", followed by its sequel "Heart of Valor", were Lisa Jane Smith's first novels, targeted at younger readers, unlike her later (and more popular) horror/teen romance novels surrounding the lives of vampires, witches, shapeshifters and the like.

In her delving into the fantasy world, L. J. Smith introduces us to the four siblings, responsible Alys, normal Charles, kooky Janie and dreamy Claudia who have absolutely nothing to do with each other. All that changes however, when a red vixen lures seven year old Claudia to the strange house upon the hill and asks for her help in saving her mistress, the sorceress Morgana Shee. Convincing Claudia to bring her brother and sisters to the house, the vixen soon inlists all three of them to help her in her quest.

She explains that the house is called Fell Andred - the House of Mirrors, and that it serves as a gateway between this world, known as the Stillworld, and the Wildworld. Each mirror within the house leads to the Wildworld, and it is through these mirrors that Morgana's kidnapper, the twisted and evil sorcerer Cadal Forge, plans to journey through on the Night of the Solstice to exact revenge on the world that once betrayed him.

But when the vixen diappears, the children are left on their own, with only two weeks before the Solstice, to master the mirrors, rescue Morgana and prevent Cadal Forge and his sorcerei from entering their world.

Its seems a magical premise, but often L. J. Smith's writing style falls short of the narrative. She is best at human nature: relationships between people, responses to the supernatural, the meeting of challenges - all this she handles with ease. However, in the context of the fantasy world she presents exposition of how the Wildworld runs in large, confusing chunks, (usually through someone talking or reminising) instead of a gradual unwinding of figures and facts, and often dwindles on the wrong situations - rather than conveying the potentially fascinating history and information of her world in an interesting manner, she gives us Janie overhearing a catty conversion between two school friends that really lends nothing to the story. This is unfortunatly a constant trend in the novel: skipping over what could be the most interesting scenes and giving them to us in hindsight (such as Charles luring Elwyn, the creation of the Heart of Valor, and the trio of children [minus Janie] being confronted by the sorcerei).

The pacing is exhausting - the conflicts and problems flit by in rapid succession, jumping from scene to scene with no respite in between from one crisis to the next. Some may consider constantly moving action a good thing (one is never in need of excitement during the course of the story), but sometimes the pacing needs a little rest: it is in restful moments were we get to know the characters a little better, and let them reflect on their thoughts and circumstances.

Solutions to problems often fall into the children's heads out of nowhere, or at least from very unlikely drawn conclusions: (Claudia for example identifies an imposter by the size of her feet as compared to barely-glimpsed footprints in the dust, and Charles sudden awareness of how to combat the Groundsler by its scantily-revealed clues seems out of the blue) and for the most part the narrative goes nowhere - the children travel through the mirror, triumph over a certain obstacle and then return, often with little or no progress in their overall quest.

However, despite my critism, young fantasy fans *will* enjoy this: it's exciting, suspenceful and inventive, and L. J. Smith paints vivid pictures of family relations and child perceptions. The comparisons between our sunlit world and the shadowy, night-time Wildworld is delightful, with Morgana's house as a clever gateway between the two. She is a master at creating interesting names (Elwyn Silverhair and Thia Pendriel, for example) and all her plot threads flow together nicely.
Though she is certainly *not* up to the standards of Susan Cooper and E. Nesbit (no offence to the reviewer who thinks she is), L. J. Smith's first novel is a strong, colourful and compelling, and leaves room for a sequel - make sure you have a copy of "Heart of Valor" on hand after finishing this one.

The fact that this book is out of print is a crime. This is the first book L.J. Smith ever wrote and the best -- you get the benefit of her amazing writing style and wonderful plots without the required romance. (I know some people like the romance, but the lack of it adds to the suspense.) Four children are called upon to free a trapped sorceress and help stop a mad sorcerer from taking over earth. The sorcerer lives in another world which can only be entered through mirrors in the sorceress's home. Guided by the sorceress's familiar, a fox, they make several terrifying ventures into the other world while trying to deal with problems in their own world. The characterization in this book is the best that L.J. Smith has ever done, and the pace never lets up.

You can tell that this series is written by a native New York City person (?} because she keeps comparing the area (Schoharie up near Albany) to New York. Any native of "The City" will tell you that north of NYC is "Upstate" and east is "The Island", new york city is NEW YORK. Those other places are New York STATE, which is like Vermont or New Hampshire or better yet...Montana. For all intents and purposes, it's like the area behind your backyard that is owned by some conservation group and isn't anyplace you'ld want to go except to drive through or past it. Got That!

As to the story, it's a typical 'Bill Smith', where he gets beat up more times than I can remember, but always ALWAYS gets up off the floor and gets to best the bad guys. The local cops are all hayseeds and couldn't get a job as a traffic brownie (Dept of Traffic) in NEW YORK. Bill is always ready to smoke a cigarette, drink a beer, race around like a NASCAR guy and still find time to practice a couple of Chopin etudes. Lydia is her 'gorgeous', intelligent, wise cracking inscrutable self at all times and never misses a beat.

Even with all this the stories are still welcome and readable and enjoyable...just don't expect them to be plausible.

The more you read the more you appreciate her writing

Bill Smith is the lead in Stone Quarry. Previously I had read only novels that put Lydia Chin in this role. The accomplishment here is that Rozan does quite a remarkable job of creating a wholly new ambiance when she skips from Chin to Smith. The Chin books kind of remind me of a modern day Agatha Christy while this Smith work falls under the hard tack noir of yesteryear. Stone Quarry is a bare-knuckle brawl that comes close to greatness but falls just short. One thing that I like about Rozan is her ability to work in a very complicated plot structure that pulls together through intricate evolution. But here, parts of this plot feel unnecessary and burdensome.

All of my complaints aside, Rozan is an author that I would recommend to anyone. The closest authors that I can think of are either Dick Francis or the Kate Shugack series'. If you have read these authors and enjoyed them, I think that you will be in for a treat with Rozan

You can tell the Audiofile person wrote a review without listening to it, since the character's name is Bill Smith, not Bill Stone.

Anyway, all of the Bill Smith/ Lydia Chin books are terrific, especially since the point of view for each book switches from Lydia to Bill. Lydia's problems with being female and Chinese in a white man's world are my favorite part of the books. Poor Bill! Carrying a torch for Lydia and trying not to mess up a fine partnership. They have such a strange relationship, but it works. Get the books or tapes, curl up in a chair and enjoy.

By reading the hype written by a lot of my favorite authors of mysteries and thriller about S.J. Rozan's latest book, "Stone Quarry, I expected a lot from it. What I found though was somewhat entertaining, not at all informative, and wholly average.

Bill Smith, private detective, and his on-again/off-again partner, Lydia Chin, are the stars of this current installment of an ongoing series. While vacationing in his deceased uncle's cabin in upstate New York, Smith becomes engaged in a what appears on the surface to be a simple burglary involving a reclusive artist who wants to remain anonymous but still recover some valuable paintings that were stolen from her. The situation devolves quickly into a fight to the death with local crooks who may-or-may-not have mob ties, along with some bought-off cops on the local force.

While Rozan does an able job with telling this story, it follows a well-trodden path and ends in a place we've all been many times before. By the end of the story, I found myself being able to skip ahead without missing anything, which to me, says a lot about a book. While it appears that Rozan may have a huge following, she didn't gain a new one with me.

The setting is different in this book (rural upstate New York vs NYC) but in every other way this book is very similar to Rozan's other novels, which is a good thing. As usual, this is a very well-written book; Rozan obviously puts a good deal of thought and effort into her writing; she tries hard to describe things and people in a way that is fresh and that puts vivid images of the scene into the minds of the readers. The plot is complex and satisfying, which is one of the things that Rozan always does well that most of the current mystery writers do not. This series is made up of real, quality mysteries, in the tradition of Chandler, Hammett and Ross MacDonald; these are not thrillers masquerading as mysteries. There is a good bit of action here, though, and the ending is a real barnburner. My only quibble, and it is a small one, is that Rozan needs to either have Smith and Chin get together or have them decide to be strictly friends. The quasi-relationship that they have been in for several books now is starting to wear a little thin.

I liked this book a lot because it was very believable. I admire most of the characters, especially Janie, because they are very good examples, but they're not perfect. My favorite part was the trial before the Council and I think that particular scene was the most thrilling scene in the whole book, although nothing too gruesome or sensational happened. I loved the ending, although I cannot give any reasons why because they would give it away. However, it does a lot of explaining in the text, and I was a bit disappointed about that, because in the first book most of the explaining was in the dialogue. I appreciate this style more because it makes everything clear without boring the reader at all. Not that I think the sequel was boring! It is definitely one of my favorite books, but nonetheless, I like Night of the Solstice better than its successor.

I think that this book IS L.J Smith's greatest! I liked it because it combines a world of fantasy and magic, where anything can happen, and the Arthurian legends (my favorite) with the modern world, where magic is not believed in by most people. All of the characters are very real and unique, and serve a purpose in this exciting book. The fantasy element in this book isn't too unbelievable and overwhelming- it makes you think that maybe the story doesn't seem so impossible. I was actually disappointed after I finished this book, because I wanted it to keep going on! I know it is wishful thinking, but I am still praying for a third book to make this duet of The Night of the Solstice and Heart of Valor a trilogy!

'Heart of Valor' is set a year and a half after the events of the previous book in this two-part series (though both can be read as stand-alone novels), in which four siblings helped the sorceress Morgana Shee prevent the evil sorcerer Cadal Forge from emerging through her magic teleporting mirrors and causing havoc on the world. At the end of 'Night of the Solstice' the doorways to the Wildworld were closed, Cadal was destroyed, and his ally Thia Pendriel managed to escape with the immensely powerful Heart of Valor, a magical gemstone.

All has been quiet since then, with the quirky Janie studying magic under Morgana's guidence, Claudia enjoying her newfound gift to speak to animals, and Alys and Charles simply getting on with their lives. But after what seems like a typical Californian earthquake, the children and the sorceress begin to suspect that Thia is up to something - perhaps trying to re-open the portal between the Wildworld and the Stillworld. Morgana hurries north in order to prevent her, while the children begin to experience dangers of their own - the park is now full of strange and dangerous creatures, bizzare signs can be seen in the sky, and finally their house is attacked by groups of strange elementals. With the sword Caliborn, that gives Alys dreams of ancient Arthurian lore, the children hurry to find Morgana and help prevent Thia from whatever she is planning next...

If in the last book you thought the name 'Morgana Shee' rang a bell, your suspicions will be put to rest here - in the Arthurian legends that L. J. Smith mixes into this book, Morgana plays the part of Morgan LeFay *and* the Lady of Lake, set against the tricky, but somewhat malevolent Merlin, in an interesting re-working of the old myths.

However, the structure of this book is rather shaky - after conveniently disposing of the children's parents via an overseas voyage, the children do not participate in much of the action till over halfway through the book when they go after Morgana, and the events occuring in the Wildworld (when it should get *really* interesting) are jammed into the last few chapters of the book. What was supposed to be the climactic showdown between Morgana and Thia lasts less than a paragraph, and the ending is so hurridly wrapped-up that readers might feel a bit short changed (plus confused at how Alys plans to spend a year in the Wildworld without her parent's knowledge).

L. J. Smith's protagonists are always female - three of her four children are girls, and she's at a complete loss as how to handle her only named male character Charles, who ends up being merely a device to draw yet another female character -Elwyn Silverhair- into the plot. I'm all for strong female roles (I am a girl, by the way), but L. J. doesn't to much to extend her reading material to the opposite of sex. If you're a parent looking to get your son/nephew/grandson/whatever interested in books, unfortunatly 'Heart of Valor' probably won't help you out.

However, despite its faults, this book is a reasonable, entertaining read, and on par with its predecessor 'Night of the Solstice'. L. J. Smith went on to better fame with her teenage-horror-romance novels, but there are a few hints of her books to come in her first fantasy novels, for instance: the dog attack here resembles that in "The Fury", Claudia's ability to speak to animals is like that of Anna Whiteraven's in the "Dark Visions" trilogy, and the name 'Thia' pops up again in her Night World book "Spellbinder", with different spelling: 'Thea'.

I read the whole book in a matter of 3-4 hours, I just couldn't put it down! I'm dissapointed that I could never (and still can't) find one single copy of Night of the Solstice. I have read Heart of Valor a countless number of times. L.J. Smith is the only adolescent author that I buy and read their books nowadays (I'm 16, but I started reading adult novels when I was 7). That is really something too, and I give all of her books that I have read great! reviews.

This book is the sequel to L.J. Smith's first book, "The Night of the Solstice." In it, four siblings come together to help the sorceress Morgana Shee, who is the only hope of their world's safety. I enjoyed this book more than the first one because it combines Arthurian lore, other legends, and an original plot, which is a talent L.J. Smith has continued to show in her more recent books. Unlike her recent Night World series, these books were more for children than young adults, and focus more on fantasy than romance. They are wonderfully simple, with an easy-to-follow format, but contain things that even adults can enjoy. Unfortunately, relationships and characters, especially the underused Morgana, are not explored very deeply, but this book is perfect for readers of any age...especially fans of magic and legends.