![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Hey, didn't I promise to celebrate the season with Sweet Valley? Indeed I did. I think I also threatened to discuss the redheaded southern stepchild of the SVH 'verse: Sweet Valley Senior Year.
Once upon a time, I had a subscription to the SVH books. Which meant that I got the newest books (and copies of the older books) delivered to my house and it was awesome. Why don't they do this anymore? What do kids love better than mail? Mail with extra goodies! It's like a present every month. Ah well.
Anyway, when SVH ended, they switched over to SVH: SY and I got the first eight or so books before the company realized Dad wasn't paying the bill anymore. So I read the end of SVH proper and the start of the new direction the series was taking. (I also peeked briefly at Junior High and um, no Lila? No thank you.) When it was happening.
Senior Year was obviously meant to be a more realistic look at the gang of SVH. Which meant you needed some 'outsiders' to observe the wacky hijinks that normally ensue, except in order to bus these suckers in, there was a huge earthquake that killed Olivia and that was a bit of a bummer.
Also, the tonal shift in the books meant the wacky hijinks no longer seemed to exist.
I'm still not sure how realistic I like my Valley. I adore the dramatic aspects and I'll cop to the werewolf arc being a guilty pleasure (you admit you like that one and fandom's like "wtf is wrong with you?") but I'm still not a fan of the vampire arc and I love me some vampires. :P
That said, I was willing to give SY a chance. And at first I kind of liked things. Jessica was called out for her excessive dating around and Melissa Fox stood up to Jessica attempting to "steal her man" and hey, that almost never happened. Only... Jessica didn't know he was taken and Melissa made Heather from the cheerleader arc look lovable. :/ I don't like my twins not being on top and having Jessica fall so far, so fast was whiplash inducing.
Couple that with the mocking from Conner (which was funny the first book but then it was basically a giant fuck you to anyone who liked the series before. An interesting stand to take for a spin-off.) and the massive downgrade in Elizabeth's character and things just got weird.
Lila and Amy dumped Jessica for Melissa way too fast (much as I love that quote, I also find it really hard to believe that Lila would trade in being the second hottest girl for being, what, #3 or lower on the list without a fight) and Andy was gay!Winston, only with a small chance of having been cool at some time in his life.
Tia started off awesome and then things got super messy and ... yeah.
The series revolved around Conner too much and for far too long and it was not a good time. For me, anyway. Way back in the day, it appears he was rather well loved. I... don't get it. I really don't. o_O
Thing is, for as much as I hated reading certain books, when it was done, I went back and used PBS to fill in the gaps. I read through it once back-to-back and it wasn't as irritating as it had been initially.
I get that the series probably desperately needed a reboot (I don't know for certain nor do I care enough to dig around and find out) and I can see why they'd go for more straight forward angst as opposed to Wacky Hijinks. But if I wanted Dawson's Creek, I'd be watching DC. Which I did until the good 'ship Pacey/Joey happened and no thank you. But I digress.
One of the best things about SVH (and its spinoffs) was that it revolved around the girls. Even when the girls were fighting over the boys, the boys weren't the center of the known universe. That was obviously the fabulous Wakefield Twins.
Senior Year wound up revolving around Conner. Elizabeth had a thing for him, Maria dated him, Tia was his best friend (who occasionally wanted more), his drinking problem became everyone's problem, and the only escape from Conner was Jessica's world which had Melissa and Will, and I didn't like them any better than Conner. There wasn't really any relief from two camps with wildly annoying characters either at their center or close enough to count.
One of these days I'll do another re-read and see if it's better than the last read through.
(I think Jeremy might be the best guy Jessica was ever with in any incarnation, and I loved Sam/Jessica and Ken/Jessica. So not a total loss, even when I first read them.)
Once upon a time, I had a subscription to the SVH books. Which meant that I got the newest books (and copies of the older books) delivered to my house and it was awesome. Why don't they do this anymore? What do kids love better than mail? Mail with extra goodies! It's like a present every month. Ah well.
Anyway, when SVH ended, they switched over to SVH: SY and I got the first eight or so books before the company realized Dad wasn't paying the bill anymore. So I read the end of SVH proper and the start of the new direction the series was taking. (I also peeked briefly at Junior High and um, no Lila? No thank you.) When it was happening.
Senior Year was obviously meant to be a more realistic look at the gang of SVH. Which meant you needed some 'outsiders' to observe the wacky hijinks that normally ensue, except in order to bus these suckers in, there was a huge earthquake that killed Olivia and that was a bit of a bummer.
Also, the tonal shift in the books meant the wacky hijinks no longer seemed to exist.
I'm still not sure how realistic I like my Valley. I adore the dramatic aspects and I'll cop to the werewolf arc being a guilty pleasure (you admit you like that one and fandom's like "wtf is wrong with you?") but I'm still not a fan of the vampire arc and I love me some vampires. :P
That said, I was willing to give SY a chance. And at first I kind of liked things. Jessica was called out for her excessive dating around and Melissa Fox stood up to Jessica attempting to "steal her man" and hey, that almost never happened. Only... Jessica didn't know he was taken and Melissa made Heather from the cheerleader arc look lovable. :/ I don't like my twins not being on top and having Jessica fall so far, so fast was whiplash inducing.
Couple that with the mocking from Conner (which was funny the first book but then it was basically a giant fuck you to anyone who liked the series before. An interesting stand to take for a spin-off.) and the massive downgrade in Elizabeth's character and things just got weird.
Lila and Amy dumped Jessica for Melissa way too fast (much as I love that quote, I also find it really hard to believe that Lila would trade in being the second hottest girl for being, what, #3 or lower on the list without a fight) and Andy was gay!Winston, only with a small chance of having been cool at some time in his life.
Tia started off awesome and then things got super messy and ... yeah.
The series revolved around Conner too much and for far too long and it was not a good time. For me, anyway. Way back in the day, it appears he was rather well loved. I... don't get it. I really don't. o_O
Thing is, for as much as I hated reading certain books, when it was done, I went back and used PBS to fill in the gaps. I read through it once back-to-back and it wasn't as irritating as it had been initially.
I get that the series probably desperately needed a reboot (I don't know for certain nor do I care enough to dig around and find out) and I can see why they'd go for more straight forward angst as opposed to Wacky Hijinks. But if I wanted Dawson's Creek, I'd be watching DC. Which I did until the good 'ship Pacey/Joey happened and no thank you. But I digress.
One of the best things about SVH (and its spinoffs) was that it revolved around the girls. Even when the girls were fighting over the boys, the boys weren't the center of the known universe. That was obviously the fabulous Wakefield Twins.
Senior Year wound up revolving around Conner. Elizabeth had a thing for him, Maria dated him, Tia was his best friend (who occasionally wanted more), his drinking problem became everyone's problem, and the only escape from Conner was Jessica's world which had Melissa and Will, and I didn't like them any better than Conner. There wasn't really any relief from two camps with wildly annoying characters either at their center or close enough to count.
One of these days I'll do another re-read and see if it's better than the last read through.
(I think Jeremy might be the best guy Jessica was ever with in any incarnation, and I loved Sam/Jessica and Ken/Jessica. So not a total loss, even when I first read them.)