Twilighting

The Twilight saga is kind of something you can't ignore at this point. The fan response to the book series and the movie is unbelievably overwhelming. And I try to stay away from things that garner such a huge fan following. It is my experience that those things (books, television series, etc) usually end up hurting the fans, whether intentional or not. Therefore, I had decided not to read the books.

But I became curious as to what the books were like. I mean, I'd heard people declare the books to be literary masterpieces. And while I was sure that they couldn't be masterpieces, I thought it was prudent for me to read the books. When I started the first book, I hoped that I would not like the series. I knew that I wouldn't like the series.

However, I found out that Twilight wasn't bad. I actually liked it. It was not a literary masterpiece by any means, but it wasn't horrible. It was highly entertaining and I really enjoyed some of the characters. The writing bothered me stylistically in places, but it wasn't unbearable. The relationship between Bella and Edward reminded me a lot of the relationship between Max and Liz from the television series Roswell. I found myself very interested in the Cullen family and not a giant fan of Bella. She was okay, but I really found her to be irritating at times. I wanted to know more about the Cullens.

I eagerly tore into New Moon, only to face disappointment. I must clarify that the book wasn't horrible. It just... without going into too much detail, my favorite part of the series wasn't around enough for my liking. This made the book kind of tedious and boring for me. The end of the book was much better.

Eclipse was good from start to finish. It ended well and I was very pleased with the book. I have no complaints with book three.

And then, Breaking Dawn happened. For me, Stephenie Meyer's highly anticipated finale to the saga left much to be desired. Now, to be fair, the book started out okay. But things got pretty ridiculous incredibly fast. It was like reading some kind of crazy fan-fiction that was written by someone in the midst of an acid trip. Every page increased the level of absurdity and I came close to giving up the book altogether. But it killed me to stop reading a book after I'd fought my way through 370 pages. So, I kept reading. The book got a bit better, but it never reached the greatness of Twilight or Eclipse. In my opinion, I really think Meyer dropped the ball with Breaking Dawn. She should have ended the series with book three. The fourth book ruined the series for me.

This snippet from Entertainment Weekly's review of Breaking Dawn really sums up my feelings:

Here's a third possibility: You whip through Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, then abruptly lose all patience with the franchise midway through Breaking Dawn, when Meyer takes her supernatural love story several bizarre steps too far.

I suppose I'm glad that I read the series because now I understand the appeal. I just really wish that I had stopped reading at the end of Eclipse. The last book was just too much for me.

I realize that many do not share my views on the series and that is okay. These views are just my opinion and are not meant to deter people from reading the books. But I would recommend stopping after Eclipse. Of course, that decision is entirely up to the reader.

I have read the rough draft of Midnight Sun that Stephenie Meyer has posted on her website. It's good. In fact, I think I might like it better than Twilight because I like Edward and the Cullen family in general. They're very interesting. I hope that she decides to continue Midnight Sun soon.