A Visitor's Guide to Mystic Falls

A Visitor's Guide to Mystic Falls: Your Favorite Authors on The Vampire Diaries by Red, Vee, Sarah Rees Brennan, Heidi R. Kling, Karen Mahoney, Bree Despain, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Alyxandra Harvey, Vera Nazarian, Jon Skovron, and Kiersten White

In A Visitor’s Guide to Mystic Falls, YA authors—led by Red and Vee of premier Vampire Diaries resource Vampire-Diaries.net—take a closer look at Mystic Falls: its residents (both alive and undead) and its rich, inescapable history.


Claudia Gray delves into the events of 1864 and how they’ve shaped not just Mystic Falls but the success of the show itself

Sarah Rees Brennan tells us what it takes for a girl to hold her own against a vampire boyfriend (or two), placing Elena squarely between fellow vampire-daters Buffy and Bella

Jennifer Lynn Barnes takes Mystic Falls to task for poor treatment of Caroline Forbes

Jon Skovron examines the male-female vampire dynamic, in history and in The Vampire Diaries

Plus a guide to the book series for tv fans looking to visit The Vampire Diaries’ literary inspiration, and more. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

Oh how I love TVD. If you haven't tried it, there's a good chance you will, too. One of the most prominent ideas that pops up in reviews of the show are people saying things like "Ok, I don't like vampires and I never watch teen dramas. But this is my new favorite show." There is just so much to love: a heroine that really cannot be beaten (loyal, sweet, independent, strong, loving and just genuinely Good), sexy vampires (I would like the order of this list carefully noted), a great soundtrack, a phenomenally well-developed cast of characters, and a knack for turning expectations on their heads. This book covers all that, and a lot more.

I've read and liked other collections of essays before (Buffy, Ballads and Bad Guys Who Sing: Music in the Worlds of Joss Whedon, and The Girl Who Was on Fire: Your Favorite Authors on Suzanne Collin's Hunger Games Trilogy were also excellent), but this book shines for its skillful combination of insighful, academic, and just plain fun aspects. One of my favorite entries was from the point of two female fans debating Team Stefan VS. Team Damon. By comparing the Romantic Hero to the Gothic Hero. And summoning the ghosts of Jane Austen and Emily Brontë. It's called "In Which Our Intrepid Heroines Discuss the Merits of the Bad Boy Versus the Reformed Bay Boy with the Help of a Couple of Dead Women Who Know About Such Things" and it is fantastic.

Some of my other favorite essays include a scathing review of Stefan's supposed nobility by Diana Peterfreund, an essay praising Elena's character and ability to hold her own despite being 1/3 of a fangy love triangle by Sarah Rees Brennan, and Jennifer Lynn Barnes look at the overlooked Caroline.

This book was written with just one season to work with- now that the fifth season is set to air in a few months and there is far more material to to draw from, I am very much hoping for a sequel.