== Twilight – Stephenie Meyer ==
Introduction
I had heard lots of my friends on Facebook going on about this book, Twilight. I hadn’t heard of it, but had been a sign with the word Twilight on it, advertising the film, so I assumed this was what they were all obsessed with and personally I found it quite sad that these girls, in their twenties were so obsessed with this film and the characters. I then found out that it was actually the book that they were all obsessed with, and soon realised the story was about Vampires. I hate Sci-Fi, so for months it was never something that I wanted to read. But all these girls were swooning over the main male character, Edward Cullen, and were raving about how amazing this book was. So when I was in HMV I saw the book for £3, and thought I would give it a go, coming to the end of another book, I had to choose another book to read anyway, and at £3, this was a cheap book, which I could try. So I popped it in my basket and took it home with me. At first I was scared to read it, as I am home alone at night most nights, I was scared that the book would be very scary and would terrify me, but I decided to start reading it and if it did get too scary I’d just put it down and only read it when my husband was home! Luckily I didn’t have to do this, and I have just finished the book, and although not sitting on Facebook going on about how much I was in love with the main character, I will definitely be reading the sequels.
Stephenie Meyer
The book Twilight launched Stephenie Meyer into the limelight, when she awoke from a dream, which contained the characters of the book, and she just had to write it all down as a story. It was the first time she had written anything of that kind, and did so whilst juggling a young family, writing at night when the children were in bed.
The book was quickly snapped up by Little Brown publishing, and in 2005 was released onto our shelves. The sequel to Twilight, New Moon (which you may have heard of as the new film out in the cinema this month), was released a year later with much awaited anticipation.
With huge raving reviews of the books, she continued to write the books about vampires for young adults, with the second sequel to the books, Eclipse.
The fourth book that Meyer wrote was actually a book for adults, called The Host, which zoomed to #1 of the New York best sellers list.
The final book she has written in the Twilight saga is Breaking Dawn.
All of the sequels continue the story of the characters in the first book, Isabella and Edward (along with their friends and families), and are books which I am definitely going to be buying, just because I want to know what will happen in the end!
The Twilight saga has now been made into films, the first of which was released late 2008, and the New Moon film which as I said has been released this month.
Eclipse is post production and is due to be released on 9th July 2010, and Breaking Dawn which is still in development is set for release some time in 2011.
Giving us all plenty of time to read the books first!
Meyer lives with her husband and three sons in Phoenix, Arizona USA.
Plot
I can’t really say all that much on the plot without giving too much away, so this might be a little short and sweet!
Isabella (Bella) Swan has moved to Forks from Phoenix to live with her father, the Chief, Charlie Swan. She doesn’t want to be there, it’s cold and the sun never shines. Her childhood memories of the town were that of boredom and loneliness when she stayed with her dad. But now her mother has re-married and is going travelling with her new husband Phil, she has no choice.
Upon starting at the local High School, she is the subject on everybody’s lips, but she soon finds friendship with the girls in the school Jessica and Angela. And proves popular with the boys! But, there is one person who seems to hate her for no reason. Edward Cullen. He is the most beautiful boy she has ever seen, with his golden hair, and his dark brooding eyes, his toned body, even his voice. But the way he looks at her, the way he seems to hate her for no reason scares yet fascinates Bella.
Soon he starts to talk to her, and seems to warm to her, but there is something not quite right about the Cullen’s, their porcelain skin, their icy touch, and their changing eye colour. When Bella is nearly killed by a speeding truck, Edward saves her life, with incredible speed and force, and did he actually lift that van up?!
Bella soon gets a theory that he is superhuman, until she hears a story which both scares and excites her, that the Cullen’s are vampires. But surely not?! There’s no such thing as vampires, they are the work of myths and ghost stories!
She broods over this, and eventually asks Edward outright…and is shocked by his honest and affirmative response.
Bella and Edward soon start to get too close, Edward constantly telling Bella he is dangerous, and she should stay away from him, he thirsts for her blood, her smell entices him, he wants to drink her in, and although he is trying to curb his addiction, it is hard, and the danger is growing for Bella and those around her.
Opinion on Plot
The plot, though Sci-Fi in its approach is nothing like I expected. It grips you from the word go, from the second I opened the book and read the first page, I was hooked on the book. The plot is believable even though it’s not real and makes us think that Vampires really do live among us, even if that is ridiculous! The story is dominantly a love story between two people who can never be together, Edward could kill Bella with one stroke completely unintentionally, just with the sheer force of his strength. They can never be intimate, and even a kiss sends them both into a frenzy.
The plot kind of brushes over the fact that it is about vampires, making them seem nothing strange nothing extraordinary, and I like this about the book. Although it is made to sound as though they are not widely known in the world of Twilight, and that there aren’t all that many of them, it doesn’t make them seem this weird phenomena which are monsters.
The book gives the Vampires a heart, a soul and a real life beyond the blood drinking monsters that live in the sewers.
The plot really is encapsulating, and grips you into the story, which I love in a book, but it is bad as I lose a hell of a lot of sleep when reading them as I tend to stay up until the small hours reading and reading!
The story is more for young adults than older people, I don’t think my mum would enjoy this book if I am honest, and I would put the age range of it between 18 and 35, depending on what type of book you like to read. As you will establish by reading any other of my book reviews, I am a chick lit fan, and most of my books are chick lit, rarely reading books like this!
The only other book I have read which I can compare this book to is The Time Traveller’s Wife, which is very much like this in that it is about a misunderstood character (Henry in the Time Traveller’s Wife, Edward in Twilight), and a love which although so strong is always going to end in a bad way and there is always a danger. This is much more the “teen” version of the Time Traveller’s Wife.
Characters
The story is written in the first person, in the view point of Bella, so we hear all of her thoughts and feelings, and the way she portrays Edward and his family.
Bella is a young girl, she is 17 and has always been an outcast in school in Phoenix, so when she is thrown into the centre of everything in Forks, and is the subject of everybody’s conversations, the one all the boys want to go out with, she is in demand, and not particularly liking it all that much!
She is a very likeable character who most people can relate to, she feels she is no good for the popularity she has in Forks, she just wants to be on her own, and she wants her privacy. And when she meets Edward she is fascinated by him, she falls head over heels in love with him, and it is the typical falling for the bad guy thing which most young girls go through. She doesn’t understand or feel the danger she is under by been around Edward, and even in the face of death, her heart is only beating fast because he is close to her and she can smell his enticing smell.
Edward Cullen is a sweetie, although he is a Vampire and his body wants to drink Bella’s blood, he can’t stay away from her and he cannot get her out of his head, she is something he has never come across before, but he too is falling in love with her. He keeps on trying to warn Bella that he is a danger that she shouldn’t be alone with him, but he can’t keep away from her. He tries to be “good”, he hunts wild animals for their blood and tries to fit in with humans. Edward is very likeable and even as a reader, you feel a strong connection with him, you feel that beauty come to life on the page in front of your eyes and in your mind. I can see why the girls on Facebook fell for him! He has so much character, everything about him is enticing and makes us want to know more about him, he is also a “young” man, at 17, although of course as a Vampire he isn’t 17 in actual years!
All in all, the two main protagonists are amazingly well written, they are both very strong and very likeable. You fall in love with the story because of these characters, they’re gripping in the demeanour and everything about them drags you into the story. It is hard to believe they came from a dream!
Readability
The books is very easy to read, without using difficult language, the only thing I find hard about the book is that it is American so the language used is Americanised, which as an English person, can be a little off-putting at times. Other than this though, the book is very easy to read, I thought it would be very difficult to read, and I don’t really know why I thought this!
The chapters are quite long which isn’t good for me as I have to finish a chapter before putting the book down, meaning the last 3 nights I haven’t got to sleep until gone 4am!
The book is nice and simple to read which makes the book perfect for bedtime reading!
Price & Availability
As I said earlier, I got my book from HMV for £3, but you can get the book from most Supermarkets.
Asda- £3.86
Tesco- £3.49
And is also available online at Amazon.co.uk:
£3.45 (new) with Free UK P&P
£2.22 (used) with £2.49 P&P
Perfect book for young adults, if you liked Time Traveller’s Wife you will love Twilight!
For one thing I was certain: Edward is a Vampire. 
I am glad you think these books are great too! I can't get enought of them.