Twilight and New Moon are the first two books in a 'young-adult' series by Stephenie Meyer. Arabella is the teen-aged child of divorced parents - a flighty mother who takes up new projects and causes as quickly as she loses interest in them and a thoroughly grounded father, the local sheriff of a small town in Washington state called Forks. When her mother remarries, 'Bella leaves sunny Phoenix and moves back to terminally overcast Forks, to give her mother the freedom to travel with her new husband, a minor-league baseball player. There's nothing to do in Forks, and 'Bella knows she's going to hate it... until she meets the Cullens, the strange and exceedingly attractive family of a local doctor in town. They're rich, they're eerily graceful, and the most beautiful of them all is a boy named Edward who appears to be about the same age as 'Bella. They're also always absent on the few sunny days that Forks gets. 'Bella finds herself strangely drawn to Edward, although he can't seem to stand her. Then BAM! he miraculously rescues her from a near-death situation involving a skidding van, and 'Bella has a mystery to solve. Eventually, she figures out that the Cullens are vampires, but despite this, 'Bella falls head over heels in love with Edward, and amazing to her - he with her.
I nearly put Twilight down and didn't finish reading it. The writing was very well done, and the story was moving along well enough, but 'Bella's love is full of the typical selfishness and shallowness of a teen-aged girl. Lie to your family? Deliberately hurt anyone else you love for the sake of 'the one?' No problem. And why does she love Edward? He's controlling, is dangerous to her, and constantly mocks her clumsiness and assumes she's incapable to doing anything for herself. But he's beautiful... every page of the story, which is told in first-person, drips with descriptions of Edward's heart-stopping beauty and grace. 'Bella finds herself constantly amazed that someone as gorgeous as Edward would be interested in her. At that point, 'Bella was just pissing me off, and I wanted to reach through the pages of the book and smack some sense into her, or at least lend her a little backbone. Big danger appears - which, I might add, the Cullens are directly responsible for - and Edward rescues 'Bella, and the tale ends with 'Bella and Edward vowing to be together for ever and ever... and 'Bella hoping that eventually Edward will make her a vampire too.
New Moon was a vast improvement, largely, I think, due to the prominent absence of Edward for the majority of the book. For someone who had just declared his undying love (ha ha, get it?), he sure was quick to dump her ass and leave town, leaving 'Bella shell-shocked and in a zombie-like state while she tries to pick up the pieces of her life... something that might not have been so difficult if she hadn't gleefully alienated anyone else she had a relationship with for the sake of Edward. Gradually, 'Bella begins to recover. She finds a best friend in Jacob, who brings some sunshine and fun into her life. Unlike the exceedingly paternal Edward, Jacob gives 'Bella a chance to bloom. His sunny personality helps draw her out and 'Bella finds herself wondering if maybe loving someone who is also your best friend might be better than spending the rest of your life pining after someone who is so obviously bad for you. It was nice to see 'Bella starting to grow up a little bit. Of course in a tale revolving around supernatural creatures, things can't stay that way, and Jacob's puberty hits him way harder than most. And Edward returns, and 'Bella finds herself faced with having to choose between her best friend and her first love, who happen to be mortal enemies.
The writing was great throughout. It's not Meyer's fault that I can't stand the sort of woman who will devote her entire existence to pleasing and appeasing one controlling bastard, without recognizing that a relationship where only one side is making any compromises is a sure way to end up beaten down and abused. In fact, I think that was my biggest problem with Edward throughout - his profile is that of the classic abuser - isolate the woman from her friends and family, belittle her abilities, make her entirely dependent on you, and then when the belt comes out, she can't just leave you - she has no where else to go. Thankfully, by the end of New Moon, 'Bella is starting to show some glimmers of maturity and backbone, and is not just happily going along with whatever Edward suggests. The writing, Jacob's character, and the hope that 'Bella will continue to grow up some more, is enough to make me pick up the third book to see what happens. Since it's marketed to the 'young-adult' audience, you also don't risk stumbling into any LKH-style S&M scenes. I'm curious to see how Eclipse (book 3) turns out.
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Yeah...I read Twilight when it first came out about a year ago. I thought the same things you did Celeste. It was a good enough story and pretty well written, but the love story was overly dramatic/sentimental to the point where I was just fed up and developing a lack of interest in both 'Bella's and Edward's characters. I found myself constantly skipping ahead, desperately trying to get past it. Unfortunately this is a common theme in most YA fiction exploring boy/girl relationships, but normally I enjoy it because I think it hits pretty close to home as far as the typical teen romance goes. It's just that Meyer's went overboard with it to the point where I was getting bored with the story. She explains she did that on purpose and that in future novels we'd see 'Bella mature, but despite all that I was still wary of reading the next book in the series. So, I haven't read New Moon yet, but maybe I will if you say it's an improvement to Twilight.
Also, I thought the following YA books by Sharon Shinn were very good:
-The Safe-Keeper's Secret
-The Truth-Teller's Tale
-The Dream-Maker's Magic
-Wintermoon Wish (I haven't read this one as it's new)
No vampires or werewolves in these. In fact, I would classify them as more folkloric or pastoral. Anyhow, they are just nice little tales that maybe you could read to Roy when he is a bit older :).
Interesting comments. I didn't get the same out of the books as you. I enjoyed them a lot. But then again, Stepeheie is one of my good friends and I'm partial. I think there were a few boring parts but mostly I felt it was exciting enough. I look forward to reading "The Host" that will be in stores next year.
Yes, I thought that "New Moon" was a definite improvement over "Twilight". Meyer really does an excellent job of starting to grow 'Bella into a real person as opposed to a teen-aged fan-girl, and I really liked Jacob, and the relationship that they develop in "New Moon". As far as I'm concerned, "New Moon" was enough to save the series from my blacklist, and I've ordered Eclipse and will read that next. Damn authors... always making me want to know what happens next! :)
I think I have just read too many books in this particular genre and am overly critical is all :).
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