So, I finally broke down and read Twilight the other day
It wasn't bad. And I did have to run down to Target to buy the next three books. I read New Moon yesterday. I will warn other Twilight readers though, my impressions behind the cut aren't all positive. And there is a bit of a rant. No real spoilers, though I am going to mention some small aspects of the first two books.
Perhaps all of this will make me sound like a disgruntled HP fan, and maybe initially, I resisted Twilight because I felt like my fandom was betraying something special, but that's not the case now. Because, well ... I'm sort of looking for a new fandom. I'm not happy with where the HP fandom is going and I need out before I start to hate it. I want something to spark my interest and make me love it.
Twilight isn't it.
As I said, Meyer's books aren't bad stories, exactly. But in all honesty, I can't say for sure why I'm reading them - or continuing to read them, anyway. I definitely started them because I was curious - Harry Potter fans must have good taste, after all? Besides, God knows how much I love a vampire.
It's just that they are very teeny-boppery. Lots of silly, angsty stuff and rather thin on plot. The descriptions of the emotions are good; I can relate to Bella's pain. Unfortunately, what I mean is that I remember being a seventeen year-old girl. (Blood-sucking monsters aside, obviously.) The only word that comes to mind is melodrama. Not to say the feelings aren't real, they're just ... well, the 40 year-olds on my list will know what I mean. The eighteen year-olds won't.
Maybe it's partly my own personal experiences that keep me reading since I almost feel like I share a bit of a kinship with Bella. My own dad was the chief of police in a small town when I was growing up, AND later, as a young mother, I lived right next to a reservation in the Rocky Mountains. My next-door neighbor's last name was Clearwater! Because of these things some of the little details are made more real to me; I can accurately conjure detailed images in my mind of places like those described in the books. I feel like I've been to La Push before.
The descriptions of the surroundings are quite vivid, but mostly though, they aren't really all that purposeful. The details are often just that; details. The books lack cohesiveness and subtlety that make those things mean something; they do nothing to create mood or to advance the plot. As it stands, I'd say that Twilight and New Moon are at least 15% filler. At least.
I can say that it is nice to be back on the inside of some of the jokes and comments that have been working their way into my fandom. Still, Sparkly vampires indeed. Sorry, but that has to be the single most absurd thing I think I've read in a vampire fic in my entire life - and I'm old enough to: 1) remember the original Salem's Lot and 2) have had a mad teen-crush on Frank Langella. (It means I'm old and have seen a lot of vampire fic and film.) I'm also schooled enough in "vampire" to think of Lon Cheney before I think of Tom Cruise or Gary Oldman.
There are a couple of really good points though; that Edward's breath is almost an intoxicant to Bella is quite interesting and it works nicely with the romantic-vampire notion. I do agree with the premise of how vampirism is spread according to these books as well. That's a HUGE plus in the good column. I'm not much of a fan of the the premise seen in all the fanfic in which the vampire slices open a wrist and feeds the nearly-dead victim.
In New Moon, the description of 'exploding' into werewolves and the torn apart tennis shoes are really, really clever ideas. Werewolves being very hot-blooded is an excellent contrast to the ice-cold stone of a vampire, so kudos to that bit, too.
So, those aren't strictly vampire parts of the books, but I liked them lots. Overall though, I rather felt that this second book went off-track. I'm no editor, but I would like these first two books better if all the unnecessary bullshit was cut out and the storylines in one and two were somewhat condensed and combined into one really good novel.
At first, I'd no idea the Twilight series wasn't complete. See, I don't read WIP's. Waiting two years for Deathly Hallows was hard enough, but at least I went into that knowing that it was the end. I've a feeling that my whole aversion to WIP is also part of the reason I felt the need to read past Twilight - I couldn't stand not knowing what was going to happen. After all, it's not like fanfic where writers can simply stop writing because they don't feel the magic anymore. I should be safe reading a published series of books.
Apparently not.
Today, there is a note on my flist mentioning that the fifth book has been delayed. Indefinitely. I am really, really, REALLY pissed off about that. AND I'VE BEEN EXPOSED TO A SLIGHTLY SPOILER-Y COMMENT. THIS ISN'T EVEN MY FANDOM AND I'M BEING SPOILED!
I have to say I'm not sure who to be more angry with right now; my semi-spoiler (who shouldn't be faulted for being the messenger, but should at least be admonished for not labeling a potential spoiler), the filthy, thieving, fucking selfish idiot bastard who circulated the manuscript, or the author who would begin a published series and drop it for any reason. It's the 21st century, Ms. Meyer. The internet is at least 75% responsible for your success, you can't possibly have known that something like this couldn't happen. I get that you are upset and disappointed; I certainly would be as well. But you should have taken adequate precautions and now you just need to get the hell over it. Fanfic authors can talk about how the muse has left them, but this type of behavior from a published author is absolutely unprofessional and unacceptable. To write about and for teens and then bitch when they act their age isn't exactly mature behavior.
To probably go over the top a bit with this bitching, I kind of feel like 'it figures'. The flaws in the books feel like the author is an amateur; that the story was originally a fanfic with a bit of a following. There doesn't seem to be an overarching plot, just sort of a theme. It also appears that series wasn't well-plotted out to begin with; it's sort of becoming whatever it becomes. That it now gets dropped just like a bit of fic by an author who holds chapters hostage because they received a bad review or not enough good reviews almost doesn't surprise me.
And since I'm ranting, I have totally lost all respect for the New York Times. All. Respect. Lost. Twilight qualifies for the Best-Seller list, but the Harry Potter series has to be shoved over to a special 'childrens' list? Puh-leas. I'd love a good, accurate, honest poll of the average age of the HP reader and the Twilight reader. Less nine year-olds reading Twilight, I'm sure. But probably not as many forty year-olds reading it, either. Butt-hurt publishers and editors aren't much better than butt-hurt authors. Grow the hell up the lot of you.
We've got company coming this weekend, so I wouldn't have time to read Eclipse and Breaking Dawn until next week, anyway. But now I'm not certain I'm going to read them at all.
Perhaps all of this will make me sound like a disgruntled HP fan, and maybe initially, I resisted Twilight because I felt like my fandom was betraying something special, but that's not the case now. Because, well ... I'm sort of looking for a new fandom. I'm not happy with where the HP fandom is going and I need out before I start to hate it. I want something to spark my interest and make me love it.
Twilight isn't it.
As I said, Meyer's books aren't bad stories, exactly. But in all honesty, I can't say for sure why I'm reading them - or continuing to read them, anyway. I definitely started them because I was curious - Harry Potter fans must have good taste, after all? Besides, God knows how much I love a vampire.
It's just that they are very teeny-boppery. Lots of silly, angsty stuff and rather thin on plot. The descriptions of the emotions are good; I can relate to Bella's pain. Unfortunately, what I mean is that I remember being a seventeen year-old girl. (Blood-sucking monsters aside, obviously.) The only word that comes to mind is melodrama. Not to say the feelings aren't real, they're just ... well, the 40 year-olds on my list will know what I mean. The eighteen year-olds won't.
Maybe it's partly my own personal experiences that keep me reading since I almost feel like I share a bit of a kinship with Bella. My own dad was the chief of police in a small town when I was growing up, AND later, as a young mother, I lived right next to a reservation in the Rocky Mountains. My next-door neighbor's last name was Clearwater! Because of these things some of the little details are made more real to me; I can accurately conjure detailed images in my mind of places like those described in the books. I feel like I've been to La Push before.
The descriptions of the surroundings are quite vivid, but mostly though, they aren't really all that purposeful. The details are often just that; details. The books lack cohesiveness and subtlety that make those things mean something; they do nothing to create mood or to advance the plot. As it stands, I'd say that Twilight and New Moon are at least 15% filler. At least.
I can say that it is nice to be back on the inside of some of the jokes and comments that have been working their way into my fandom. Still, Sparkly vampires indeed. Sorry, but that has to be the single most absurd thing I think I've read in a vampire fic in my entire life - and I'm old enough to: 1) remember the original Salem's Lot and 2) have had a mad teen-crush on Frank Langella. (It means I'm old and have seen a lot of vampire fic and film.) I'm also schooled enough in "vampire" to think of Lon Cheney before I think of Tom Cruise or Gary Oldman.
There are a couple of really good points though; that Edward's breath is almost an intoxicant to Bella is quite interesting and it works nicely with the romantic-vampire notion. I do agree with the premise of how vampirism is spread according to these books as well. That's a HUGE plus in the good column. I'm not much of a fan of the the premise seen in all the fanfic in which the vampire slices open a wrist and feeds the nearly-dead victim.
In New Moon, the description of 'exploding' into werewolves and the torn apart tennis shoes are really, really clever ideas. Werewolves being very hot-blooded is an excellent contrast to the ice-cold stone of a vampire, so kudos to that bit, too.
So, those aren't strictly vampire parts of the books, but I liked them lots. Overall though, I rather felt that this second book went off-track. I'm no editor, but I would like these first two books better if all the unnecessary bullshit was cut out and the storylines in one and two were somewhat condensed and combined into one really good novel.
At first, I'd no idea the Twilight series wasn't complete. See, I don't read WIP's. Waiting two years for Deathly Hallows was hard enough, but at least I went into that knowing that it was the end. I've a feeling that my whole aversion to WIP is also part of the reason I felt the need to read past Twilight - I couldn't stand not knowing what was going to happen. After all, it's not like fanfic where writers can simply stop writing because they don't feel the magic anymore. I should be safe reading a published series of books.
Apparently not.
Today, there is a note on my flist mentioning that the fifth book has been delayed. Indefinitely. I am really, really, REALLY pissed off about that. AND I'VE BEEN EXPOSED TO A SLIGHTLY SPOILER-Y COMMENT. THIS ISN'T EVEN MY FANDOM AND I'M BEING SPOILED!
I have to say I'm not sure who to be more angry with right now; my semi-spoiler (who shouldn't be faulted for being the messenger, but should at least be admonished for not labeling a potential spoiler), the filthy, thieving, fucking selfish idiot bastard who circulated the manuscript, or the author who would begin a published series and drop it for any reason. It's the 21st century, Ms. Meyer. The internet is at least 75% responsible for your success, you can't possibly have known that something like this couldn't happen. I get that you are upset and disappointed; I certainly would be as well. But you should have taken adequate precautions and now you just need to get the hell over it. Fanfic authors can talk about how the muse has left them, but this type of behavior from a published author is absolutely unprofessional and unacceptable. To write about and for teens and then bitch when they act their age isn't exactly mature behavior.
To probably go over the top a bit with this bitching, I kind of feel like 'it figures'. The flaws in the books feel like the author is an amateur; that the story was originally a fanfic with a bit of a following. There doesn't seem to be an overarching plot, just sort of a theme. It also appears that series wasn't well-plotted out to begin with; it's sort of becoming whatever it becomes. That it now gets dropped just like a bit of fic by an author who holds chapters hostage because they received a bad review or not enough good reviews almost doesn't surprise me.
And since I'm ranting, I have totally lost all respect for the New York Times. All. Respect. Lost. Twilight qualifies for the Best-Seller list, but the Harry Potter series has to be shoved over to a special 'childrens' list? Puh-leas. I'd love a good, accurate, honest poll of the average age of the HP reader and the Twilight reader. Less nine year-olds reading Twilight, I'm sure. But probably not as many forty year-olds reading it, either. Butt-hurt publishers and editors aren't much better than butt-hurt authors. Grow the hell up the lot of you.
We've got company coming this weekend, so I wouldn't have time to read Eclipse and Breaking Dawn until next week, anyway. But now I'm not certain I'm going to read them at all.