Wherein I review Twilight
Certain things started getting to me about this book. First, people I respected and liked HATED it, and second, people I respected and liked LOVED it. So you can understand where I was confused.
I don't like forming an opinion on anything without a clear picture of it. For example, I read the health care bill before I decided whether or not it was good or bad, and while the premise of Twilight had me rolling my eyes every time I thought of it, I had to read it before I judged it.
To summarize my views, it is neither as bad as people say it is, nor is it as wonderful as people say it is.
It is a decent series, though. I wouldn't hold it up to the standards of, say, To Kill a Mockingbird, because it's Just Not That Type of Book. I would still say that there are certain important rules of writing that Meyer failed to meet, which I will attempt to describe in more detail under the cut.
I had really only heard bad things about the book when I picked it up the first time. Despite that, I attempted to look at it objectively. This book has excellent qualities, and I can see why people like it so much. It's an engrossing read, for one. You want to continue reading to figure out what happens. Things are set up purposely in the first novel in order for actions in the last - very little happens without reason, though when it does, it really does stand out in an unfortunate way.
Meyer's first hurdle was the fact that she wrote this series entirely in first-person. She pulled it off well, except for the fact that, when it came to later in the series, she simply could not explore her own mythology with Bella, and so she switched perspectives to Jacob. Generally, first-person is fine for an introspective book, or a childrens' series - say, Animorphs by K.A. Applegate - but for a series like Twilight, where an entirely new world is being written across hundreds of pages, I would have preferred a third-person perspective, varying by chapter. It also would have taken a good deal of the self-insert feel off of Bella, though that, in itself, wasn't horrible.
The very worst part of this series is that the main character, Bella, is a flat character compared to every single major and minor character around her. She is unaffected by everything. She is both new and old, nervous and brave, friendly and cold. Her mood shifts depending on circumstance, and she has very few negative convictions. Nothing about her HAS to change through the novel in order for her to move to a new level of being. She meets Edward. Edward is a vampire. She could be reviled, come to terms with this through the pages of the first novel. Be conflicted, despite her draw to him. Jacob is a werewolf. She doesn't care. Renesmee is breaking her bones and tearing her apart inside of her, and she doesn't care. The Volturi are coming. She doesn't care. There are steadfast personalities, but there is very little conflict within Bella, even faced with the fact that she has to become a vampire in order to live, she neither maniacally gung-ho or fearfully terrified. She just accepts this, pesters Edward about it now and then, and never falters from her rather bland worldview.
And while she works, she only works when faced with the fact that every other character evolves around her. Edward finds he CAN love. Jacob and his pack learn that they CAN trust vampires. There is conflict. They waver, they betray, they are afraid and resentful, colorful and dark. Even one of the most minor characters in the book, Irina, who is mostly only mentioned and only appears on a few pages in the last book, changes more than Bella does.
I can't give an objective review without mentioning the fact that Bella is good at just about everything. She's popular, she's pretty (though she doesn't think so) she has a good family life, people want to be her friend from the moment she arrives, she's special in that she can block the powers of vampires, and when she finally does become a vampire, she doesn't even have to face the Newborn bloodlust that ALL Newborns have to go through for years. She's just GOOD at it. She's herself. No conflict at all. So much potential could have been gained from this single character; while the book was dynamic because of all the people revolving around Bella, it could have been much more so if she'd had some of that roundness to her character, as well.
And the fact is, there's no steady main character antagonist in Bella's life. There's Rosalie, but in the end, for no real explainable reason, Rosalie is Bella's BFF. Rosalie protects Renesmee. And despite hints that Rosalie's motives are mostly for her own benefit, in the end, it just turns out that, darn it all, Bella's just an awesome person, and they should all be friends! Why not draw some more attention to the antagonistic relationship? Those are fun! Don't be afraid to make some of your main Saint Vampires unlikable, Meyer. Our faults make us who we are. We already know that Rose is essentially a good person, because she is a 'vegetarian' vampire. You don't have to make her buddy-buddy with Bella, too! And, if you really had to, then give a more concrete reason than she was jealous about Edward's relationship. Because:
A) Rose is old. She has a mate. The reason is flimsy and too petty for the character.
B) Come on. Why the hell is everyone jealous because of Bella!?
As for the writing style itself, it was very lackluster in the first novel, and progressively got better. The dialogue was stilted at times, the odd decisions of the characters didn't quite suspend disbelief. There were so many references to teeth on the pages of these books that I wished someone would just punch them all out. Meyer finds a symbol and then proceeds to use it so much, she runs it right into the ground. Teeth, amber eyes, crimson eyes, etcetcetc. Red is bad, yellow is good.
Despite this, the story is intriguing. It's interesting, well-thought out, and presented in an excellent manner that both hides future secrets from the reader (and from Bella) and allows the reader to explore this world without confusion. It's a very clear, concise story, and doesn't purposely confuse the reader with too many misleading bits of information. There are parts that do get boring to read (Mostly in book two, where I skipped a few chapters and only went back and read them later) but on the whole, it was decently paced. Reasons are given for various events, and the reasons make sense in the context of the story.
As I mentioned before, some things crop up that could use a bit more explanation (For example, it's randomly noted in the last book - for convenience's sake - that the 'werewolves' are not real werewolves, but shapeshifters. This is never explored and never hinted toward, and other 'real' werewolves are never mentioned. One would think that because the existence of 'real' werewolves (Children of the Moon) is common knowledge to the vampires, one of them, at one point, would have said, 'look. They're not really werewolves. Here's why.'
I have heard that many fans of the series don't like the last book. I argue that it was, hands-down, the best in the series. Despite the shortcomings of the entire set, this one held my attention the longest. I didn't want to put the book down. I had to keep reading to see what would happen next, despite the fact that I'd already spoiled myself on it just to get up the desire to read it. It was gory. The birth scene was disturbing. The way Bella became a vampire was terrifying. But this suspense is what made this book great, and if there is any book in the series that I will gladly read again, it is Breaking Dawn.
I can't really accurately summarize the books for anyone who hasn't read them. Despite the glaring faults - for which the series has been endlessly criticised - I would recommend at least borrowing the books from the library. There were a few pleasant surprises within.
I don't like forming an opinion on anything without a clear picture of it. For example, I read the health care bill before I decided whether or not it was good or bad, and while the premise of Twilight had me rolling my eyes every time I thought of it, I had to read it before I judged it.
To summarize my views, it is neither as bad as people say it is, nor is it as wonderful as people say it is.
It is a decent series, though. I wouldn't hold it up to the standards of, say, To Kill a Mockingbird, because it's Just Not That Type of Book. I would still say that there are certain important rules of writing that Meyer failed to meet, which I will attempt to describe in more detail under the cut.
I had really only heard bad things about the book when I picked it up the first time. Despite that, I attempted to look at it objectively. This book has excellent qualities, and I can see why people like it so much. It's an engrossing read, for one. You want to continue reading to figure out what happens. Things are set up purposely in the first novel in order for actions in the last - very little happens without reason, though when it does, it really does stand out in an unfortunate way.
Meyer's first hurdle was the fact that she wrote this series entirely in first-person. She pulled it off well, except for the fact that, when it came to later in the series, she simply could not explore her own mythology with Bella, and so she switched perspectives to Jacob. Generally, first-person is fine for an introspective book, or a childrens' series - say, Animorphs by K.A. Applegate - but for a series like Twilight, where an entirely new world is being written across hundreds of pages, I would have preferred a third-person perspective, varying by chapter. It also would have taken a good deal of the self-insert feel off of Bella, though that, in itself, wasn't horrible.
The very worst part of this series is that the main character, Bella, is a flat character compared to every single major and minor character around her. She is unaffected by everything. She is both new and old, nervous and brave, friendly and cold. Her mood shifts depending on circumstance, and she has very few negative convictions. Nothing about her HAS to change through the novel in order for her to move to a new level of being. She meets Edward. Edward is a vampire. She could be reviled, come to terms with this through the pages of the first novel. Be conflicted, despite her draw to him. Jacob is a werewolf. She doesn't care. Renesmee is breaking her bones and tearing her apart inside of her, and she doesn't care. The Volturi are coming. She doesn't care. There are steadfast personalities, but there is very little conflict within Bella, even faced with the fact that she has to become a vampire in order to live, she neither maniacally gung-ho or fearfully terrified. She just accepts this, pesters Edward about it now and then, and never falters from her rather bland worldview.
And while she works, she only works when faced with the fact that every other character evolves around her. Edward finds he CAN love. Jacob and his pack learn that they CAN trust vampires. There is conflict. They waver, they betray, they are afraid and resentful, colorful and dark. Even one of the most minor characters in the book, Irina, who is mostly only mentioned and only appears on a few pages in the last book, changes more than Bella does.
I can't give an objective review without mentioning the fact that Bella is good at just about everything. She's popular, she's pretty (though she doesn't think so) she has a good family life, people want to be her friend from the moment she arrives, she's special in that she can block the powers of vampires, and when she finally does become a vampire, she doesn't even have to face the Newborn bloodlust that ALL Newborns have to go through for years. She's just GOOD at it. She's herself. No conflict at all. So much potential could have been gained from this single character; while the book was dynamic because of all the people revolving around Bella, it could have been much more so if she'd had some of that roundness to her character, as well.
And the fact is, there's no steady main character antagonist in Bella's life. There's Rosalie, but in the end, for no real explainable reason, Rosalie is Bella's BFF. Rosalie protects Renesmee. And despite hints that Rosalie's motives are mostly for her own benefit, in the end, it just turns out that, darn it all, Bella's just an awesome person, and they should all be friends! Why not draw some more attention to the antagonistic relationship? Those are fun! Don't be afraid to make some of your main Saint Vampires unlikable, Meyer. Our faults make us who we are. We already know that Rose is essentially a good person, because she is a 'vegetarian' vampire. You don't have to make her buddy-buddy with Bella, too! And, if you really had to, then give a more concrete reason than she was jealous about Edward's relationship. Because:
A) Rose is old. She has a mate. The reason is flimsy and too petty for the character.
B) Come on. Why the hell is everyone jealous because of Bella!?
As for the writing style itself, it was very lackluster in the first novel, and progressively got better. The dialogue was stilted at times, the odd decisions of the characters didn't quite suspend disbelief. There were so many references to teeth on the pages of these books that I wished someone would just punch them all out. Meyer finds a symbol and then proceeds to use it so much, she runs it right into the ground. Teeth, amber eyes, crimson eyes, etcetcetc. Red is bad, yellow is good.
Despite this, the story is intriguing. It's interesting, well-thought out, and presented in an excellent manner that both hides future secrets from the reader (and from Bella) and allows the reader to explore this world without confusion. It's a very clear, concise story, and doesn't purposely confuse the reader with too many misleading bits of information. There are parts that do get boring to read (Mostly in book two, where I skipped a few chapters and only went back and read them later) but on the whole, it was decently paced. Reasons are given for various events, and the reasons make sense in the context of the story.
As I mentioned before, some things crop up that could use a bit more explanation (For example, it's randomly noted in the last book - for convenience's sake - that the 'werewolves' are not real werewolves, but shapeshifters. This is never explored and never hinted toward, and other 'real' werewolves are never mentioned. One would think that because the existence of 'real' werewolves (Children of the Moon) is common knowledge to the vampires, one of them, at one point, would have said, 'look. They're not really werewolves. Here's why.'
I have heard that many fans of the series don't like the last book. I argue that it was, hands-down, the best in the series. Despite the shortcomings of the entire set, this one held my attention the longest. I didn't want to put the book down. I had to keep reading to see what would happen next, despite the fact that I'd already spoiled myself on it just to get up the desire to read it. It was gory. The birth scene was disturbing. The way Bella became a vampire was terrifying. But this suspense is what made this book great, and if there is any book in the series that I will gladly read again, it is Breaking Dawn.
I can't really accurately summarize the books for anyone who hasn't read them. Despite the glaring faults - for which the series has been endlessly criticised - I would recommend at least borrowing the books from the library. There were a few pleasant surprises within.