Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

First in the Twilight series

2 stars

Twilight… what to say about it that you haven’t heard a thousand times before; well I know you’ve heard the general summary before, probably more than once, but I’m going to give it to you again. Twilight follows Isabella “Bella” Swan, a teenage girl, who moves to Forks, Washington to live with her father. Forks is a dreary little town with a small population and is constantly experiencing rain and other crappy kinds of weather. Bella meets Edward Cullen, who turns out to be a vampire. Bella knows she should stay away, but she just can’t resist him. That’s this story in a nutshell. I could go on, but let’s leave some for the review. There will be spoilers, but I don’t see how you can spoil something that’s been made into a movie, talked about constantly, and I’m pretty sure most people reading this review have read Twilight.

The main female character is Bella. Bella is known as the most hated Mary Sue protagonist in YA fiction. I totally agree with this. Bella is klutzy and thinks of herself as ugly, but everyone just lurves her. She is completely stupid and I’m surprised she has any brain cells. She is saved by Edward from a car that’s about to run over her. More thoughts on that in Edward’s section. If I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a guy from my school standing in my room I would scream, run the hell away, and call the cops.



Bella lacks this knowledge of the fact Edward could’ve been a serial killer there to slice her open for his own amusement. Her choice to go meet James at the ballet studio (How Bella was able to even dance when she is little is beyond me and plus she couldn’t even dance at prom granted she did have a cast, but she’s klutzy she would’ve done a chaine off the stage. Chaine’s are turns by the way) was a stupid, typical heroine move. Why couldn’t she have done something admirable like I don’t know sneak people into the studio? She got lucky when the Cullens were able to find her. She then tells Edward at prom that she wants to be a vampire and her dream man says no. If I remember correctly he laughed or smiled at her when she said that. My brain is fuzzy. Time to look this up. So he didn’t laugh at her. I think I just hoped he had to look like a jerk, but Bella proved her idiocy. She thought Edward was actually going to bite her under a gazebo… at prom! PROM! In front of a bunch of people. My question to you Bella is: Do you really think Edward would’ve turned you in front of a bunch of high school kids, that also happen to be your fellow classmates? They have a secret to protect you shouldn’t be so eager to have your life taken.

Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 2

The main male character in Twilight is Edward. Edward Cullen is not a sexy vampire. He’s not attractive and I personally think he’s unstable. Edward acts repulsed by Bella the minute she takes a seat next to him in Biology because they are now officially Biology partners. *rolls eyes and shakes fist in air for giving us one of the most overused clichés in YA paranormal* He listens in on people’s thoughts for crying out loud. I personally don’t want a vampire… at least one like Edward reading my thoughts and knowing my secrets. Of course the only person whose thoughts he can’t hear are Bella’s. For this he thinks Bella is special and intriguing. He goes from hating her guts and looking repulsed, to wanting to scare by revealing he’s a vampire, and then wanting to be with her forever after only a couple of conversations. The whole save Bella from getting hit by a car was a contradiction to Edward’s feelings from the beginning. He acted all repulsed by her and then jumps in front of a car and stops a guy from running Bella’s dumb self over. I’m pretty sure he wanted her to go away and yet he jumps in front of cars saving her life. He also likes to stand in Bella’s room and watch her sleep. This is disturbing and Bella’s reaction to that was unsettling even for me in the fifth grade. Edward is a contradiction to his feelings for most of the novel and I wasn’t even reading from his POV and I knew he was contradicting himself.

Swoon Worthy Scale: 1.5

The Villain- James, Laurent, and Victoria are the villains. James is a tracker and when he meets the Cullens while they are playing a game of vampire baseball and he picks up Bella’s scent realizing she’s a human. When the Cullens refuse to let him have her she becomes a target. Laurent is a friend (if consider crazy vampires able to have friends) of James and he takes part in hunting with them. Victoria is James mate and by the end she poses to be a threat to the Cullens. To be honest these villains aren’t all that bad, but they are more intimidating then terrifying. I’ve come across some pretty brutal vampires and James seems like a newbie compared to them.


Villain Scale: 7

The Cullens are a huge clan of vampires in Forks. They are a family, but not by blood. Carlisle is the head of the Cullens and a doctor and Esme is his mate and seen as the mother of the Cullens. Emmet is one of the “brothers” and is known as a skilled hunter and Rosalie is his mate. Rosalie is considered somewhat of a bully to Bella since she shows a dislike and distrusts her from the start. There’s also Alice and Jasper another pair of mates, but they play an important role. Alice is able to see the future and she quickly befriends Bella. Jasper is able to sense and manipulate emotions, which can come in handy. Alice is my favorite of the Cullens in this novel.

Character Scale: 5

The mythology of vampires is somewhat laughable. We learn that the Cullens are considered vegan vampires. These are vampires that only drink from animals instead of humans. They also sparkle in sunlight.

Attractive isn't it?
Bella claims that Edward looks like a thousand sparkling diamonds on his skin or some cheesy line resembling that. They are also able to breathe underwater from long periods of time and don’t ever sleep. They can see their selves in mirrors and have shadows. They aren’t harmed by garlic or holy items or even wooden stakes, which makes no sense because a wooden stake would kill a human and I think it should be able to kill these vampires too.
 

They are obviously good lucking, but I don’t consider Edward to be all that great looking but more of somewhat attractive. Their eyes change colors according to bloodlust. They have keen sense of smell, great hearing, agile bodies which make from fast running, and well most normal vampire stuff. They have to be dismembered and then burned immediately after dismemberment. I don’t get the point of vampire baseball and it doesn’t seem like it’s all that different from regular baseball. Aside from their supernatural abilities it’s a pretty unremarkable game.


I used to love Twilight, I did, and for that it will always have a special place in my heart. Is it an amazing series? No, but it did help introduce me to the world of YA. For that I thank Twilight, but I no longer have a deep appreciation for the characters in thinking they are amazing and well written. I’ve learned that sometimes the books you love the most as a child can become books you wouldn’t like as you grow older, but I will always love Twilight. I think it’s one of the best written book of the series and I definitely want kids and other teens to read someday because it may not be amazing, but it deserves credit for being entertaining. I’m re-reviewing all of the Twilight books because Breaking Dawn Part 2 came out in theatres, but I read these books when I was in the fifth grade and I read this right before the movie came out. I remember making my mom run all over town with me in a hunt to find this book. I don’t regret it.

Cover Thoughts: I actually like the apple cover, but it’s not the cover I had when I bought the book. I have the one with Bella and Edward on the front. I like the apple a little bit more, but I do actually like the cover I have, which is surprising.