Twilight Saga

Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga seems to be getting a good deal of press lately. I was introduced to the books by a friend before I'd heard any of the hype.

I read New Moon and Eclipse just this week, though I'd read Twilight in September.

Twilight has a very different feeling than the other books in the series so far. Maybe that's because Meyer didn't set out to write a series. In any case, when I read Twilight I liked the relationship between Bella and Edward, its slow build-up and all the difficulties inherent in it, but wasn't crazy about the violent, action-packed ending of the book. I had no strong feelings about the series, but I knew I'd read the other books when my friend got around to loaning them to me.

I became much more invested in the series with the second book, New Moon. Part of it is because I knew - to some extent - what to expect. Of course, I was blindsided by the big thing that happens early on in that story, but I liked how things proceeded from there and I became much more interested in Bella herself.

The books are compelling despite the fact that it is sometimes hard to relate to Bella. The cast of characters (mortal and immortal alike) is interesting, as is Meyer's take on vampires.*

Though some fans might consider this sacrilege, I am not a member of the Edward fan club. Personally, I prefer Bella's other option. I find Edward too domineering (though, I'll admit that he is beginning to mellow) and think that if this was a chick lit storyline we'd have a very different sense of Edward and would be convinced that Bella was in a horribly unhealthy relationship and rooting for her to kick him to the curb. I think the memory of the romance of the Twilight tends to blind readers to the implications of some of his actions later in the books.


* This isn't really a spoiler because it's alluded to in the first book, but I've put it down here just in case: actually Meyer's take on werewolves and her incorporation of them into Native American mythology is much more interesting.