Twilight Critique - Twilight Series Review
I am a huge vampire lore fan. I love reading historic tales and mythology that revolve around vampires from all across the world, but when 'Twilight' was introduced in the early 2000s, I avoided it like the plague. I avoided the movies and books. I had no reason other than it was a fad that I didn't want a part of.
I have read numerous vampire series, to include books by Anne Rice and Nancy Collins, but those by Stephenie Meyer never once interested me.
Once Breaking Dawn Part 1 was released, I finally broke down and purchased the four books and the first three movies that had been released. The books were simple, and the read was easy. But, my interest in the books was merely curiosity and not true interest.
How did the 'Twilight' books captivate teens, mothers, professionals, and everyone in-between?
There is no true answer to that question, but it's nothing that anyone can deny... The fan-base for 'Twilight' is wide and varied, but I'm a vampire-critic... I am not the biggest fan.
The basic story was decent, but that doesn't have any part on the writing. Meyer is a simple author with simple words lacking any details. When she did try to use descriptions, she tended to use the same descriptions over and over again, as though her intellect was challenged and stuck on repeat.
I will admit that there are only so many ways that one can describe amber eyes, but if you can't come up with something new, don't try to throw in an adjective.
On a similar note, I recommend that Meyer work on some of her descriptions. It was hard to mentally picture the scenes and the people in the scenes and people. I get it... Alice has spiky hair; the vampires are all beautiful; and Bella is plain. But, with that, I didn't really get to imagine what anyone looks like.
The secondary characters, such as Mike and Angela were hardly attached with any adjective of their appearance. I realize that these were not main characters in the novels, but they had fairly large parts within the first few books.
I, also, found a few cases were Meyer seemed to get her story confused. In 'New Moon,' how long was Edward gone? She writes with two different time frames, and ends up sticking with the second. There were a few times where she did this, but this instance sticks out the most.
Toward the evolution of the book four, Meyer creates a certain appeal and aura about her characters, so when Reneesme is brought into the mix, it's really hard to see Bella and Edward as loving parents. She definitely forced that relationship on the characters.
'Breaking Dawn,' as a whole was entirely unbelievable and a stretch to any imagination, and it's easy to see that she rushed through writing book four. Plain and simple, there's no need for more explanation... She rushed... I found the last book the least interesting of any.
As I read through the 'Twilight' series, I lost interest as I flipped pages. By the time I made it to book four of the series, I was only reading just to finish. I found that I skimmed more in this series than I've ever skimmed in any book.
Where I am usually a big fan of non-dialogue, I found my most enjoyment when reading Meyer's dialogue sections. The main text lacked much interest, but the dialogue between characters was enough to create the story and get me through the books.
As for the plots and basic story, Meyer had something to start with, but really should have stopped after book one. Although, I will admit, there is some part of me, that wouldn't mind a fifth book, but the bulk of my being begs Meyer not to continue the series.
It's unfortunate that the series has created such hype over basic text and themes. I've definitely read other vampire tales that have been more worthy of a movie deal, than the 'Twilight' series.
