My first review of 2008!
You can't be a reader of these literary blogs without hearing about Twilight. It seems that everyone read it last year, and everyone loved it. The same is true about it's sequel (New Moon), but when it came to the third book (Eclipse) reviews were mixed. Twilight is the young adult version of Anita Blake or Sookie Stackhouse. Bella moves to gloomy Forks and discovers that vampires DO exist. She falls for one of them and (not surprisingly) dangerous things happen.
Unlike every other reader, I didn't LOVE the book. It was good. I read it quickly, and my quibbles with it are minor. However, I don't feel a burning need to read the follow up. The vampire world is believable, I like her twist on it a lot. I loved Edward and all of his family. I love the humanitarian aspect of Carlisle. I liked most of the other teenagers.
What didn't I love? Bella was just ok. The clumsiness was unbelievable which meant that by the end, when her clumsiness is the Big Explanation, it was an obvious plot point. I was also annoyed by how conveniently her father (the sheriff) was always absent until the night he was suddenly home and didn't trust her AT ALL. She had an awful lot of freedom for a 17 year old girl in a new town, living with a parent she's never lived with before. The Epilogue comes out of nowhere with Jacob, clearly just there to set up the sequel. Overall, I thought I could see the plot mechanisms way to easily.
I read a good number of young adult fiction last year, and while this one was good, so much of what I read was better. I'm having a hard time deciding on a rating. It seems like I must be missing something to not want to give it a high score, but I keep coming back to a 3/5.
I haven't come across too many people willing to admit the book/series has any faults. I was fairly critical in my review of the books. In my opinion, the books just didn't deserve the unadulterated praise I saw going around blog land. That is not to say I didn't enjoy reading them though!
ReplyDeleteYou and me against them!
ReplyDeleteI have seen these books all over the place and want to pick them up, but don't want to spend the money. After reading your review, I think I'll let them pass a little longer...
ReplyDeleteAnd I saw you talking about me over on Raidergirl's site (freezer books). I was leaving her a comment and glanced over and thought--wait, that's me!! :) (I'm reading The Book Thief right now).
I was talking about you, Trish!
ReplyDeleteI thought that Twilight was good fluff-and that's about as far as it went. :) I definitely saw flaws, and I don't feel any real need to continue the series. So, now you're not alone!
ReplyDeleteI felt super-isolated by my dislike of Colleen Gleason's vampire slayer series. I still think I've only come across one other person who feels that way, and I almost decided to just not review it.
I have the first Gleason in my TBR, I'm hesitant to read it for the same reasons.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading Twilight but didn't really like New Moon. In New Moon, things just got boring to me. People say that Eclipse will be better so I'll read it for myself and see how.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I don't really like Bella. I don't know why, I just don't like her! :D Would 'annoying' suit her?