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Another Writer: Cricket: 30-something, married, educated, kitty mom, fairy lover, writer, daydreamer, child of God, and so much more. Subscribe to AnotherWriter.net
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Series Review: The Twilight Saga13 January 2009 | 3 Comments | Archive/Search
So let me start by saying that I have always been a horror genre reader, but that I have also always been willing to explore books from other areas. Romance is probably the one genre that I have the least experience reading, and mostly because I just find all the mushy innuendo and constant descriptions of emotion to be distracting. I prefer action over introspection. The Twilight series, originally marketed for “young adults” (does that mean teen??), is actually romance. Vampire romance, but still romance. But I took a chance, simply because of the vampire element. I am glad that I did. Overall the series was good. At least through the third book. Stephenie Meyer’s writing style is very easy to read and I was able to carve through the books quite easily despite them being 500-700 pages each. The print in the books I got seemed a little large to me, which might have also contributed to the fast read. But overall, good. Not the best ever, but enough to keep me wanting more. ****CAUTION: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD**** I really liked the first book. Twilight did a great job of introducing us to life in Forks, and the dismal existence of Bella, the leading lady in the series. The author’s take on the vampire world was interesting, but nothing that I couldn’t accept. I was on board. The back and forth, love-hate relationship that developed between Bella and Edward was intoxicating, and kept the pages turning. Of course, my love for vampires also kept the pages turning, too! I really got into the 2nd book (New Moon), especially with the reveal of Jacob’s werewolf pack. I wasn’t expecting wolves in my vampire love story, but it really ramped up the story for me. The book was rather heartbreaking for the first half, but by the end of it, I was nearly happy again. I liked Bella’s relationship/friendship with Jacob, and I was almost disappointed when it didn’t work out. The third book (Eclipse) was really great, but I sort of wished the series had ended there. When I got to the end of it I was sad, but not really needing to read more like I had at the end of the first two books. I almost wanted to just end the story in my mind with Edward and Bella being together and Jacob running away forever in his wolf form. The end. Not a happy ending, but one I accepted. The last book (Breaking Dawn) bothered me. A lot. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to read more about the relationship that was developing between Edward and Bella, that I didn’t want to find out whether Bella ever became a vampire, or that I didn’t want to know if Jacob ever came back. It was more that the author took some weird liberties with the vampire world that I didn’t like. Half vampire-half human babies? Bella’s ability to control herself as a newborn vampire? Jacob’s imprinting on Renessme. It was all WRONG for me. Once I started reading this last book, I did not have a problem putting it down like the others before it. In fact, I had no trouble putting it down. My husband thought I was crazy while I was reading it, because for the first half of the book, I would stop after each chapter, close the book and pound on the cover, hollering, “I hate this book! It isn’t supposed to be like this!” But, it isn’t my story. So, I got over it. As a series, the Twilight saga is good. Regardless of how I feel about the fourth book, I think Stephenie Meyer did a great job twisting the romance between Bella and Edward (and even Bella and Jacob) into a workable storyline involving the vampire and werewolf worlds. I do have some nitpicks though. My first issue cropped up early in the first book when I noticed that the author’s writing style left something to be desired for me. It wasn’t that she wrote badly. It was more that she wrote carelessly. I can understand the need to create conversational writing, but some of her grammar structures were a little out of whack for my tastes. She also tended to use weird contractions throughout all four books that bothered me. It might be okay to say, “Charlie’d done the dishes” when you’re speaking, but when I am reading it, it makes me stumble. And in one case (wish I could find the page!) she even used two contractions in one word! WEIRD!!! Another issue is pretty minor, but I found some of her descriptions to be lacking. Not that they were incomplete, just not original. A lot of the descriptions of Bella, Edward, Jacob, or any of the other characters were similar each time a character was revisited. I understand there are only so many ways to say that Edward is beautiful, perfect, etc…but it got a little much by the end. Lastly, I was a bit concerned that these books were billed as “young adult”. I don’t know the exact age ranges that these books originally targetted, but pre-teen girls don’t seem like the best market to me. I mean, obviously older women (and men, too!) read the books, but some of the content seems a little too mature for younger girls. Edward and Bella do nothing over the line until they are married in the last book, but there is definite sexual tension and lots of kissing. Not to mention all the emotional back and forth along the way. And once they are married, well…we have vampire-human sex as well as follow up vampire-vampire sex. Of course, it was all written very discreetly and nothing was too overt in the scene, but still….for young adults? I am not so sure. But again, let me restate: I liked the Twilight Saga. I had some issues with the direction the story line went, and some concerns about the intended audience, but I will probably read the books again when I have more time. I did really enjoy the vampire world she created (except Renessme), and even enjoyed the romance side of the stories, too. I left the first book with my Mom when I left for the holidays, so I look forward to hearing what she thinks. For now, I have to decide when to see the movie. I wonder what I will think? 3 Comments |
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If you paid any attention to the world of writing or movie making in 2008, then you have surely heard of the 
Nice review, but now I’m not sure if I will be rushing to read book 4.
I probably wouldn’t suggest this book for a young teenager but by the time they are in high school I think they can probably handle it.
I really struggled with the last book, but in the end, I had to read it, whether I liked the direction it went or not. I think high school students, most of them, could probably handle the story…I think.
Charity, I think something you might be missing when categorizing who should be the intended audience of the book, is that young people are growing up much faster than they used to. Granted, I do not like the fact that they do, but still, it is a happening phenomenon. Many teenagers have already been desensitized to the idea of sex.. just think of all the unwanted teenage pregnancies that you hear about these days. But thats besides the point.
I would have to mostly agree with your assessment! I loved the first three (although I wasnt too fond of the relationship between Bella and Jacob. In fact, every time theyd get closer, I fond myself screaming inside my head “NO!! THIS IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HOW IT WORKS OUT!”), and I completely connected with the romance side of the story. While I enjoyed the 4th book, I would have to agree that much of it was extremely farfetched, and just odd. All in all, though, I was satisfied with the series.
I find it interesting how you had the problem with the writing style. I agree that it was quite easy to read, and some of the contractions did throw me for a loop at first because I didnt expect them to be in the book, but I accepted it pretty easily. I actually found it quite hard to get back into my favorite author after reading her because the writing styles were so incredibly different. I remember it being just a week after I put down Breaking Dawn, and I picked up a new book by Dekker, and it took me a day or two before I was able to immerse myself in his world just because he wrote in different tenses. Shrugs. Was that the same for you?