Title: Twilight
Author: Stephanie Meyers
Pages: 498
Premise: Well, if you haven’t heard about the young adult phenomenon that is Stephanie Meyers Twilight series, you either live in a hole, or never talk to girls under the age of twenty-one. This series has become more then insanely popular, and once you hear the premise, you’ll understand why. Teenage protagonist Isabella Swan moves to middle of nowhere Forks, Washington to live with her dad from the big, sunny city of Phoenix. It is there that she tries to cope with her utterly boring life and the seemingly retarded new friends, and her aspiring love interest in the mysterious Edward Cullen. Oh yeah, and before I forget, Edward…. Is a vampire. No, she doesn’t know it, and half of the story is her trying to figure out what he is. But after that, the story chronicles her relationship with Edward and his also vampire family. Needless to say, drama ensues. Which is the entire reason anyone will be reading the book.
Favorite character(s): Edward (the "dreamy" vampire love interest), Alice (his equally dreamy vampire sister), Mike (one of Bella’s retarded human friends)
Least favorite character(s): Bella (the protagonist), Jessica (another retarded human friend)
Review: Before I get out of hand on this review, I will say that I liked this book a lot more then I should. It managed to pleasantly surprise me when I was geared up for a book about sparkly vampires (which I hate). That being said, it was far from perfect, and even though I am going to say quite a few nasty things about Bella in this paragraph, I will still be reading book two in this series, if only out of the hope that she will die and become vastly more interesting in the process. To put it bluntly, Bella is stupid. She just is. All signs in the novel point to death, and she keeps walking forward blindly. Even when she finds out that Edward thinks she smells tasty… She still thinks he won’t hurt her. It’s like she’s beating a nuclear warhead with a hammer, oblivious to the fact that it could explode at any moment. And yes, she is in love. Or “love”. I don’t really take that as an excuse though, especially when all the vampires around her are like “You’re a moron, run away and never return”. The vampires, on the other hand, are much more interesting, but you don’t get to hear from most of them until the last hundred pages, and it’s during those pages where the story moves from a disgusting love-fest to an adrenaline rush. Thank God. Those last few pages had me on the end of my seat until… Dues ex machina? Say it isn’t so! The ending (or at least the conflict resolution) happens so fast, and makes no sense at all. In short, it was a real kill-joy. Overall, Meyers has an awesome style, but a stupid protagonist. Also, she lacks the ability to correctly structure paragraphs, but that’s just me being nit-picky.
To long, Didn’t read?: The romance was painful at times, but worth the read simply for the new look at vampires. Enjoy the ride while it lasts and all your fun has been killed.
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Check out the Sequel?: I’m more interested in the fate of Edward and his family then Bella’s… I’m holding out for paperback, but yeah, I’ll read on.

mood: cynical