It was brought to my attention that there were some discrepancies with my ratings of Twilight on Goodreads (it does not exist any more so don't worry about it...I fixed it.) I was called a hypocrite by someone in Spain or somewhere who read my review on Maximum Ride by James Patterson (terrible stuff, btw) and so I thought I would set the record straight.
I got into Twilight long before the hype it is now. I loved it then. The first book is really good actually. Bella is a likable character, Edward is great, yada yada yada. I have no real qualms with the first book. The following books get worse and worse until Meyer drops the ball on the last book.
The thing is: My feelings about this series changed over time as I got to thinking about the themes behind it. Yes, I used to defend Twilight. I still do to some degree. Stephenie Meyer took vampires and made them even more enticing than Anne Rice did. I actually love the story line. The writing is terrible. Usually it gets better as you go along in a series but this one it gets worse.
I don't know. I have a serious love-hate relationship with this series. Bella is one of the weakest heroines in contemporary literature when she is sold as being some strong-willed and defiant hot young thing. I just don't see what Edward sees in her. Well, ok, in the first book, yes, she has an appeal. As she gets more and more clingy and whiny, I don't see what an immortal vampire would want with her.
Meyer has built this amazing relationship between Edward and Bella. Ever since New Moon, she has created a love triangle between Bella and Jacob and Edward. By the time you read Eclipse it is a very tense relationship between the three. At the end of Eclipse, Bella realizes she does love Jacob and the reader is left with the question "WHO WILL SHE CHOOSE?"
That is never even brought up in Breaking Dawn. I felt like I was totally let down with this one. Suddenly Bella and Edward are getting married and Jacob is out of the picture basically. Meyer dropped the ball on one of the most intense parts of her story: the love triangle. Instead we get a weird honeymoon, a crazy vampire pregnancy, a random section of the book from Jacob's perspective (which doesn't make sense because the whole series has been from Bella's perspective, the switch just doesn't feel cohesive), and then a battle at the end that just falls flat.
And to top it off, Jacob falls for Bella's baby. Sick. And Bella has no motherly instincts whatsoever that kick in.
I honestly think the movies ruined the books for me. Mostly Kristen Stewart's poor portrayal of Bella. Really? I don't remember reading Bella sputtering and twitching as much as Kristen Stewart must have read into the character. Blech.
Anyway...I may get lots of hate mail for this review. And I plan on re-reading the series in the future so I can see if my opinion changes. For now...Book 1 is the best then it is all downhill from there. And that is my opinion.
There ya go, Shagiya or whatever the hell your name is. Satisfied?
Is Shigaya, by the way, and Yes, pretty much satisfied.
ReplyDelete^.^
Lovely Blogg also! See you!
I have to agree with you on Kristen Stewart's poor portrayal, and the sputtering and twitching comment just made me laugh. I thought I was the only one who found that extremely annoying!
ReplyDeleteI knew I loved you for a reason! I feel the same way about the writing. Poor, poor, poor. Cut out the FAT, will you? By the time I was half way through Breaking Dawn, I called my SIL and asked her to just tell me what happened because I couldn't take the torture anymore! I know Meyer felt the crunch from her publishers (or whatever it was), but c'mon! She had a broad spectrum audience with the first book and then began squishing it little by little throughout the rest of the series by pumping out shallow directives. If the so-called devoted fans of Twilight really THOUGHT about the story line, I think there would be a lot less hype. Plus, I think I have a little beef about the whole thing because I was TEAM JACOB all the way! As you so cleverly pointed out, what does a mature vampire want with such a ninny? Plus, as much as I liked Edward, having to cuddle with a blanket between you just so you can be close is just not that appealing to me. Give me a warm body please.
ReplyDeleteWhew!
I'm done now. :)
Anne B.: I was Team Jacob too. And not just because he has a great name.
ReplyDeleteShigaya: Thanks for stopping by and commenting. :)
Rebecca: Yeah. I am definitely not a Kristen Stewart fan. She's terrible. And she always looks greasy to me outside of the movies. Ughh. She needs to take a bath.