 2008-11-07 - Junk food for your brain
Addictive and yet completely unsatisfying once I finished the book. The premise is derivative--vampire falls in love with a mortal whose blood he wants to drink. Bella is an annoying narrator. Meyers have pet words she uses repeatedly throughout the book: glittering, Adonis, to name two.
 2008-11-07 - Really really liked it...
A really good read. I liked watching the awareness and love grow between the main characters. The world the author created is very different. The author did not cross every i and dot every t for us, her writing style is wonderful!
Stephanie Meyer, please, oh please, write Midnight Sun for us!!! We are really looking forward to it...
2008-11-06 - More Two-Dimensional than a Cartoon!!!
Where do I begin?
First of all the charachters seem to be laughable sterotypes.
Bella the pretty/insecure/klutzy shy girl, who doesn't think she's pretty.
Edward the geogeous absolutely perfect vampire teen.
I could go on, but it would just bore you.
The plot is thin, thin, thin. Nothing ever happens with any purpose, or rather things happen in order to give the reader information, but there is no overall narrative to speak of.
The charachters really don't have any defining charachteristics, other than, Vampires are pretty and Bella is a klutz/magnet for trouble.
They finally get to something that seems like real peril, becuase a group of other vampires comes in and one apparently becomes fixated on Bella, and Edward just knows (he can read thoughts) that he's gonna go after Bella for some completely unexplainable rational reason.
The author had a chance here to really put some twists in the plot, jealously, revenge, spite, but she doesn't. Its like the lamest chase sequence in the history of literature.
I could go on and on, but I won't.
I mean if you are willing to sit through a very 2-D book about teenage vampires, go right ahead.
If you want some good YA vampire books, try "The Vampire Diaries"
 2008-11-06 - Reviewing The Series As A Whole
First of all I'm giving this two stars only because I enjoyed the first book when I read it years ago. That being said the shine is off for me. I struggled through the next two books in the series in hopes of some character development but was sorely dissapointed and I didn't even make it through Breaking Dawn.
Bella stayed bland and spineless. Edward continued to be nothing but shiny and whiny and Jake, whom I liked, not only didn't get the girl but he ended up with a far creepier arrangment.
Edwards broodiness always annoyed me, cause really he has nothing to brood over. He's filthy rich, good looking, doesn't have to kill people to feed himself and he found the chick of his dreams, rught? So what is there for him to be miserable about for so many books. I'm a fan of the brooding guy in fiction. I adore Gabriel in the Dark Visions series by LJ Smith and I'm a big fan of the male leads in all of JR Wards books(also vamp fiction but much darker and sexually graphic, so not for the kiddies, just to let you know). Those guys have reasons to brood; guilty secrets, horrendous pasts, etc. Edward really hasn't got much to complain about for three long books.
Bella is the other big issue. Like I said, I enjoyed the first book in the series, but I was really hoping she'd become more as a character as the series went on. I wanted her develope personality, inner strength, a hobby or two. No, a female lead doesn't have to be some martial arts, ssuper powered butt-kicker to be considered strong(although those are generally the heroines I prefer). But Bella continuously makes common sense mistakes that not only put her at risk, but others as well. Her self esteem issues border on disturbing and she has no back bone when it comes to Edward. I'm all for flawed characters but half the fun is watching a character overcome those flaws or embrace them. We see none of that in this series.
I wanted to enjoy this series, but I'm off the bandwagon. For great paranormal series geared at teens I reccomend Night World by Lj Smith, it has wonderful characters, the books are short but very well developed plot lines and much more believable romances. For something sweeter and funny try Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber, the ones I've read so far a enjoyable and light. For Older readers who want a taste of something more mature(very mature, be warned), The Black Dagger Brother books By Jr Ward are awesome.
2008-11-06 - Once the Tension's Cut the Story's Over
I resisted reading this book for some time. I'm always suspicious of sudden best-sellers that have really awful critical reviews as well as word-of-mouth reviews.
That being said, I'm still a sucker for a good story. So I gave it a go.
The first half to two-thirds of this book appealed to me in a strong way. I grew up in the Seattle area, I had the ultimate first-love and subsequent heartbreak at 17. I understood Bella.
On this point, I think Ms. Meyer's writes wonderfully.
However, she forgot something...the story. There were only a handful of action scenes that got my heart racing (and I don't just me the romantic stuff). There was little other purpose than to stay trapped in Bella's mind and feel her turmoil.
And while she does a decent character analysis of Bella, Bella is motivated by nothing else but her love for Edward. In this way I like Edward because he actually encourages her to have some side pursuits, hobbies, goals (sort of).
In a way I feel like this sends a not so great message to young girls. It's not like most of them (not all) aren't already hung up on the desire to date. Seriously, how many young women nowadays KNOWS at 17 this is the person I want to spend the rest of my life with, no exceptions, and I'm done trying to do anything else.
I mean even if Bella wanted to travel with Edward, do things with him, anything, that'd be better than just lazing around and staring at his Adonis face and thinking, "I'm a lucky girl." Can we say Stepford?
By the end of the book, whatever hope I had in the beginning had completely deflated, but like any observer of a train wreck I'm compelled to read on. I'm still wondering what is it about this series.
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