Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

[katekintailbc]

Twilight
by Stephanie Meyer
(Audio)

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this book. It was highly recommended to me, but I've read a lot of vamp fiction and this was also clearly labeled Young Adult (and lots of pre-teens get so squeey over it). However, with the movie coming out soon (I'll admit my love for Robert Pattinson helped push me) I figured I should at least give it a good try.

I really liked most of it. The Cullens are a fascinating type of vampires and their differences within a family environment makes for some great dynamics. Bella was also pretty easy to like, considering I am very like her when it comes to sports and dancing- except that she kept spelling out her thoughts constantly and she's a teenager so it got a bit repetitive and obvious. The "adventure/drama" part of the plot got going eventually and finished quite simply and too quickly for my tastes. And I'm soooooooo over the humans wanting to become vamps because it's such a romantic thing.

Still, I was impressed at how the author made sure Edward (can I just say I LOVED Edward?) didn't paint it as romantic. Meyer didn't shy away from the blood and killing, and she didn't tone down certain thing because they might not be politically correct (i.e. teens spending the night together). She definitely gets points for that in my book, though I would certainly think twice before giving it to my pre-pre-teen girl to read... if I had a daughter of that age. The teenage love was a bit too realistic (intense and desperate).

The best thing I can say about it, though, is that I kept thinking about it when I was away from the book, wanting to read more and more. It's always a mark of a good book for me to want to drop everything to finish or for my thoughts to be stuck in its universe.

I've already put the second book on hold at the library.