Twilight / New Moon / Eclipse / Breaking Dawn

I spend a lot of time browsing in the book section. I pick up books and then put them back down. I picked up Twilight and set it back down, a bunch of times. One day I didn't. I had heard a lot about the Twilight series and every time I read the back of the book I just couldn't see the point in reading it. It just sounded silly. It sounded like something totally aimed at a teenage girl (which there is nothing wrong with), but then I heard about all these women my age who read the books and were totally absorbed by them. I figured I was missing something, I put off reading Harry Potter for a long time because I thought it would be silly and I was wrong then, so maybe I was wrong this time. I wasn't. If there was ever a book that I wished show more could be banished from the earth, this is one of them.

I read the first, and forced my way through the rest because I felt like if didn't read the entire series then I really couldn't develop an informed opinion about the series. As I paged through the books, the feeling of disbelief grew and grew and grew. By the end, I wanted to throw the book across the room.

Bella, a teenage girl, moves to Forks, Washington and then falls in love with a vampire. Throughout the book, Bella talks about how she doesn't understand why Edward, the vampire, loves her, despite the fact that every. single. boy in school wants to go out with her. Her self-loathing is frequently evident in the book and although she appears to be perfectly normal and is supposedly very smart, she labels herself irredeemably flawed because she appears to be clumsy. Bella and Edward progress through the book trying to decide if they like each other and then decide that they are incredibly in love, but Edward must stay away from her to keep her safe. End of Book 1. The entire book is plagued with trite dialogue and horrible description. In fact, if I never read the world alabaster skin again, it would be too soon. The vampires are not scary. In fact they seem like pleasant people who simply like to eat freshly killed animals and happen to sparkle in the sunlight. They also skip school a lot when it's sunny, because I guess sparkling too often would become passe and might let people onto the fact that they're vampires.

Some spoilers, if you really care....
The rest of the books: Once again we are plagued with horrible dialogue, I don't think any of the character "said" anything, I think that "breathe" or "murmur" or "whisper" everything. Edward left and only shows up when Bella seems like she might kill herself due to her clumsiness. She spends the entire book curled up in despair because Edward has left. She can't imagine life going on without him. Her reason for living is gone, and I think this is what bothers me most about the entire series. I am tired of reading about girls who can't go on when a man leaves them. Come on, Bella. An equally cute werewolf named Jacob wants to take you out and doesn't talk down to you, but you are stuck on a guy who left you for your own good. It's a supernatural take on "it's not you, it's me." When Edward comes back, because Bella just can't live without him, Bella decides to not go to college and get married as soon as she graduated from high school. She quickly gets pregnant (I don't know how that happens, because Edward is dead..you know...no blood flow and all that) and has a baby (with a horrible, horrible name-Renesmee) who almost kills her (which allows Edward to finally make Bella a vampire) and then is totally perfect and matures super fast so we can hear all her thoughts on life. And it's kind of gross that Jacob, the werewolf, falls in love with a baby.

I get forbidden love, I really do. I read Romeo and Juliet. I get the bad boy thing, I read Wuthering Heights. I don't get Twilight, and I don't see how grown women are fawning over Edward who displays stalker like and control freak personality traits through the entire series. Don't bother, unless who want to torture yourself. show less

Twilight: After reading the first book in the series, I'm not that impressed. Yes, I realize that as a 36-year-old male I am not the target audience for this series, but I like to read a wide variety of genres and wanted to see what all of the fuss was about. The actual storyline and characters are fairly well thought out and developed (I could have done with a lot less teenage angst, but it was not at all unexpected.) My main problem was that I did not find this to be very well written at all. The pacing left little to be desired and the writing style itself I found to be rather dull. I will most probably be blasted for this comparison, but I picked this up likening it to the Harry Potter series in that it was very highly hyped and show more everyone had to read it. However, Harry Potter is very well written and entertaining, and while I've read much worse, Twilight so far has not impressed. Hopefully the series gets better as I go.

New Moon: Man, talk about teenage angst!! I thought that the first book was a little over the top, but this one gets a little ridiculous. More than two thirds of the book deals with almost nothing but Bella's moping. When things finally started happening, it did get a little better. I've heard that Book 4 really makes the whole thing worthwhile, so I guess I may have one more stinker to wade through, I certainly hope not!

Eclipse:

Breaking Dawn: show less

Ok, before I even begin to review this, let's be real here. People are completely crazy over the series, be it crazy in love, or crazy hate. But after watching the first movie that came out, I bought the first book. Necrophilia and beastality aside, I actually thought the first book was not bad. Plus I'm sure all girls dream of having an almost illegally handsome boy fall for you, the nerd/nobody.

So I bought the entire collection.

And then I found myself actually TRYING to finish all 4 books. I would read, then get a bit bored, so I'd close it. After a few days/weeks of not touching it, I would make myself open it to continue reading, and I can say that I was actually glad when I finished it. I liked the first book, but sadly, my show more interest increasingly faded as I read books 2-4. show less

First of all: I know this is not great literature, but I still enjoyed reading these book so much! They are sappy, cheesy, at times creepy, but still so good and slightly addictive. I compare this series to triple chocolate ice-cream: it tastes good, but you know it's bad for you in a few ways. However, if you know that it's bad, you can still enjoy it with moderation.

Not for everyone.

I will not make any comment on the quality of the writing but I will say this,
I am like one of those people that can go into a cluttered home up for sale and strip back everything visually to see myself living there. Many people, the majority really just cannot do that. Imagine that when you contemplate reading these books with your sneer permanently etched on your face.
They transported me and that was good enough.

I have to admit that I love this series. Initially I had my reservations because this isn't the type of book/series I enjoy. But a friend insisted I at least watch the first movie. I did and have now read all the books and have seen all the movies! Being a little older, it took me a while to get past Bella being so naïve, but as my friend reminded me, I was a teenager once myself and did some silly things that probably made my parents wonder about me. The whole story of vampires and werewolves secretly living among us and the feud they had in the past and how Bella came to love Edward and spark the feud I found captivating. I also enjoyed the differences in the characters. Sometimes with a large cast there can be some crossover, but show more Meyer did a good job of keeping them distinct. And how could anyone not love Alice? What a doll she is. I found Jasper intriguing too, especially in the first episode when he was so fighting the urge taste human blood. Just a fun series to read and watch. show less

I have read them all twice! Never expected to be a Twihard, but...GUILTY! I am an adult with almost grown children, so I really shouldn't be in love with these characters, but I AM! I have always been a vampire fan, but thanks to Stephenie and the Twilight gang, I have become almost rabid in my lust for supernatural fiction. Thanks for opening my eyes...or maybe not! :-)