The Twilight Saga Collection
by Stephenie Meyer
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Book Reviews of The Twilight Saga Collection
Book Review: Story has potential but is poorly executed
Summary: 2 Stars
The box set is, unquestionably, beautiful. The cover art is probably the best part of these books. The quality of the art does not, however, match the quality of the contents in the books. It's like a hyena wearing a Vera Wang wedding gown.
The writing lacks believability, risk and depth. Meyer doesn't own her writer's voice until the very last book, when descriptions become more vivid and she ceases use of overdone vocabulary like "hiss", "beautiful", "thirst" and "perfect". In my opinion, the first three books were completely unnecessary....they were just practice for the fourth. I almost wonder if they were better before her editors got their hands on them after reading the unfinished Midnight Sun (Edwards POV of Twilight) because that version is not as bad. Or maybe my senses had been dulled to the point of apathetic acceptance by then.
Aside from the books containing subliminal religious messages (no sex before marriage, women exist to serve the needs of others and have no purpose in life until they marry and have children, "good" people are rewarded with everlasting life and love, etc.) the characters lack any real substance, struggle or depth. There is no real conflict in this work, nothing of true value to lose or invest in, and nothing that makes the reader care about, love or hate the characters. The dialogue is simply horrible. Bella is a complete lame-o; the very definition of uninteresting. Edward is a good-looking and arrogant vampire with questionable taste in mortal females. The werewolves have a sort of interesting storyline but somehow Meyer manages to destroy that plot too. The story of Edward and Bella has a lot of potential to be pretty great, but Meyer's writing is distracting because of how BAD it is. I don't know what else to have expected from a Mormon housewife from Phoenix.
The popularity of the series can be easily explained due to how simple and accessible the writing is to the majority of young teens and women in their 40's who are bored out of their minds and do not realize that the forbidden love theme has already been beaten to death. Anyone with critical thinking preferences or expectations of genuine emotional draw will be sorely disappointed. If you haven't read the books yet I highly recommend that you borrow them from a friend or library first to decide if they're really worth buying.
The movies will do well because Robert Pattinson is without question a good-looking man and he serves the fantasizing needs of the target demographic well. It is unfortunate that he will have to carry that entire franchise on this shoulders considering the fact that he's actually a pretty OK actor and now runs a very high risk of being typecast after this is all over. Kristen Stewart is a one-dimensional actress (dimension = dour) who is a good fit to play Bella because of how utterly unremarkable she is. Catherine Hardwick directed the film in the exact same jerky, incoherent, blue-tint style as "Thirteen" so the Twilight movie will definitely not go down in cinematic history. Scenes that show the actors having a conversation in a meadow rather than filming the actual conversation never bode well. "New Moon" may have more of a chance with director Chris Weitz , who can at least tell a halfway decent story through the camera lens (About a Boy, Golden Compass). But I won't hold my breath or shell out the premium to see it in the theater...I'll put in in my Netflix que.
Book Review: Book 4 Review.... Amazon will not let me leave on Book 4 because I obviously purchased the entire set....
Summary: 5 Stars
::roles eyes::
I red the entire set and loved it..... But I wrote this long review and Amazon would not let me post it because I didn't buy Book 4 solo... So cheers to book 4....
Ok.. I finally agree with the vast majority of reviewers about Jacob. I enjoyed his bonding with Edward, to an extend. I felt like he was overstaying his welcome-- moderately. Bella's desire for him was irritating. Hearing Jacob's perspective on his "Alpha" status first hand was interesting. But when he decided he'd fallen in love with Bella's child-- I was disgusted and took a break for about a day before I decided I wanted to know what happened. (I cheated a little.. flipping to the end. I wasn't going to continue reading if the entire last book was devoted to two parents condoning a pedophile).
Somewhere in the last book with Bella's narration... He eased up a bit. He stopped interfering with Bella's attempts at motherhood (and seriously.. she deserved the opportunity given the fact that her pregnancy was like 100 times worse than usual....). I wanted them to kick Jacob out and keep him away. (Although.. knowing pesty Jacob.. he probably would have attempted to steal 'Nessie' and make her hate her parents or something). -- and what is up with the name Renessie anyway? Ew?
Coime page 718-- I felt like Meyer was really trying to end the series. She spilled out all the political tinges to her book. .. Letting go of family feuds by becoming friends with an enemy that never really was (kinda like racism) ... Standing up for rights or letting your rights get taken away (kinda how protests form today.. and the big debate on the news currently in politics with womens rights... gay rights).. The biblical-like story where you have a battle, there's good versus evil and some are too afraid to fight and run in fear. Anyhow... from 718 on like.. five pages, it was filled with these sorts of analogies. I get that her book was kind of like that all along-- questioning our way of thinking.. making us understand various perspectives (even when they were annoying... like overly-sensitive-way-too-apologetic Bella). Meyer made everything make sense... but I felt like she needed more time to kind of mesh this nicely into the book. Instead, I was reading page after page of nonstop lecture-format dialogue. (Not that I didn't enjoy the subject matter... It just felt rushed).
She did a great job. I didn't mind the happy ending... although I do with they would have killed off the Volturi as opposed to anticipating getting picked off one at a time. It seems to me like the second novel where they didn't anticipate Victoria coming back to avenge her lovers death... Or Irina for that matter. Meyer left us with limitless possibilities for thinking about the "future" of the characters.
I also enjoyed the relationship Bella had with her baby... I think I read a few reviews that said otherwise when purchasing the book. I was only upset that she was allowing Jacob to take away not only HER opportunity to bond with the child, but Edwards too. I was even kinda pissed off when she had Rosalie protecting her while pregnant... like Edward would reeeally go out of his way to hurt her. She made him miss out on the moment. And in her case.. it was only happening once. ::sigh::
Book Review: All in all one of the best love stories I have read in a long time
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased the entire Twilight Saga (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn). The book series was aimed at the yound adult audience, but as a "older" adult reader I can say that I was truely captivated. I purchased the entire saga series and read all four books in under 5 days even though I work full time. And I will definately read the series again.
I am going to skip specifics, as to not spoil the books for anyone.
What did I pull from reading this series? forbidden love, wanting something you can't have or that may not be good for you, facing fears, dealing with divorce, dealing with moving to a new place/school, making friends, sacrifice, selflessness, waiting to share yourself with someone else until you are married, Losing that one person that makes your life worth living, the feeling of Love from every possible angle (mother, father, family, friends, lover, yourself), self confidence, somethings are worth fighting for, somethings are better left alone and so many more topics.
Twilight - Book 1
It is the beginning of a wonderful forbidden love, the author successfully pulls you into the book allowing to easily feel the emotions of the characters. Not as well put together as next books in the series, but still, as I said before, captivating.
*After reading this book I would suggest downloading the authors partial manuscript of Edwards version from the authors website; It really brings you into the story further... I read it after book3, but wished that I had read it after book 1. Do not read it before book 1 though, It may ruin some of the suspense of book 1.
New Moon - Book 2
Again the author brings you into the book feeling the charaters strong emotions. You get a little upset with some of the characters from the first book. You can feel what they are going through and it sets the stage for the next three books.
Eclipse - Book 3
Books 1 & 2 are pulled back together with the same intensity and some of the things previously brought out are now in perspective.
Breaking Dawn - Book 4
Although there was some switching perspective in the previous book, this book has quite a bit more of that switching going on. With that said, I think that the switching was neccessary to get the full story out in the open. The author pulls evertything from all of the prior books into one nice package in the end, yet still leaves a little bit of an opening for future books or stories to shoot off from. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the "sci-fi" feeling in the middle of the book, but all in all I was pleased.
Note: You may not appreciate the time the author put into the character building and placement until after you have read all four books. Her unique style is wonderful to read and I feel it was this attention that made the books so good.
I do wish that this book was written to the adult audience so that the scenes didn't have to be so "PG" rated. It would have made it a little more interesting in some parts. However, she left enough details to let your imagination fill in the gaps.
Book Review: a Teens review
Summary: 1 Stars
I may be one of the only teenage girl who doesn't like twilight but I don't. Alright it really deserves 1.5 stars but I didn't want to give it two stars so it got one. The first book Twilight Bella meets Edward and falls madly in love with him. He to is in love with her even though they don't seem to have very many meaningful conversations. possible spoilers from this point on. Then a vampire tracker comes and wants to kill Bella. Edward and family hide her but James [the tracker] lures her away. Right before he kills her Edward and his family show up and save the day. This was Ms. Meyers first book so some of the mistakes can be forgiven. Then New Moon. Edward leaves Bella and she sinks into this huge depression because she can't live without Edward. Really I have never had a boyfriend though plenty of my friends have and they have gone through break ups but not one of them has sunk into a depression. Any way Bella fianlly snaps out of it when she starts hearing Edward's voice in her head when ever she does anything dangerous. So she goes to her friend Jacob to have him fix up some motercycles. Then Laurent one of the killer vampires from the first book comes and Jacob saves Bella. Then because of a miscommunication Edward thinks that Bella is dead so goes to Italy to get the Vampire royalty to kill him. Alice and Bella arrive just in time to stop him but the Vampire royalty say that Bella must now be turned into a Vampire.Third book, Eclipse. Bella and Edward are back and Edward propose to Bella and she at first refuses him. This did not make sense but I ignored it. Then he forbids her to go see jacob. Excuse me since when can your boyfriend control who you see. We have rights now you know. Any way. Bella goes sees Jacob and then Victoria, James's mate comes back to kill Bella and Edward saves her. Are you noticing a pattern here? Finally Breaking Dawn Bella and Edward get married and Bella gets pregnant. The Baby nearly kills her but Edward turns her into a vampire and they name it Renesmae. Then jacob imprint [finds his soul mate] Bella's daughter. Bella doesn't even have the usual effects of vampires sh is suddenly graceful and she can still see the people she loves without trying to kill them. And they don't even notice that she's different. Then there is another misunderstanding and the Vampire royalty come to destroy them and you spend the other half of the book with set up for this and... nothing ever happens they go away without a fight nobody even dies. ANd then Bella and Edward live happily ever after. Really that's the title of the last chapter. Edward saves Bella way to much. Why can't she take care of herself? Also sombody needs to tell Ms. Meyers that you aren't supposed to give characters hard to pronounce or to many letter names. It is also very melodramatic. It seems more like a soap opera. I do understand why some girls would fall for it. However I do not find Edward appealing what so ever. He is a control freak and only seems to be pretty nothing under the surface. Most people will probably disagree with me but Twilight is not a good Saga but I do understand the other people's point of view.Book Review: I'm a believer in this great story in spite of the poor writing and teenage angst
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm a longtime reader of paranormal romance/urban fantasy like Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, J. R. Ward, and Ilona Andrews. Twilight is marketed towards a younger crowd, but I finally picked up the books to see what their popularity was all about. The plot is fully reviewed elsewhere, so I won't get into it.
Over the 4 books, the plot is fun, the characters are interesting, and I like the rainy west coast setting. Unlike some readers, I like the fact that Bella is pale skinned and clumsy, because I know people who are really like that. I also really liked the vampire families and the special powers of some vampires.
Unfortunately, in most places, the writing, descriptions and conversations are pretty banal in comparison to what I usually read.
The plot is fairly slow, as teenage Bella slowly comes to realize there's something unusual with the Cullens. There are few paranormal characters introduced and very few fight scenes overall (I guess because the series is marketed towards a general audience rather than the usual paranormal romance/urban fantasy genre reader).
The books are punctuated by moments of extreme teen angst like Bella thinking that she would rather die than not see Edward (this is before they started dating), Bella completely falling apart when Edward leaves, Bella being very self-absorbed, etc.
When I first started reading the books, I was very skeptical of any 17 year old girl falling in love forever and risking everything to be with her guy. I did find it a bit odd that Edward, who is very old, should fall in love with someone so much his junior. I finally rationalized it as his being "frozen" at 17, including his romantic preferences.
I also read the draft chapters of "Midnight Sun" posted on the author's website, in which we read the first half of Twilight from Edward's point of view. One of the fascinating things in Midnight Sun is the fact that because Edward can read minds and Alice can see the future, Edward watches Alice's visions in her mind with her.
By the end of the 3rd book, I understood the fascination with this series. Edward is the unbelievably handsome, smart, strong, talented, unattainable boy who loves you always no matter what. That's the appeal of the books. It's the dream of true love.
A lot of reviewers don't like the last book, Breaking Dawn. I think this is because the first 3 books focus on Bella the teenager and her romance with Edward. The 4th book is about Bella the woman/wife/mother, Jacob, and a new character. Edward is no longer the focus of Bella's life and Bella has grown up into a vampire. Reading the books in a full stretch, the 4th book made sense to me. It's the conclusion and beginning of the rest of Bella's life.
So I would recommend the series. For the mainstream audience, it's got the promise of young love and it's not too scary. For a genre fantasy/vampire reader, it's got enough vampires, werewolves, precognition, telepathy, and projective empathy to make the story interesting.