Twilight Saga: Book Reviews

I want to say from the start that I’m not big on change.  When I get into a story, whether it be one told in books or on TV, I really get into it. If told right, I can imagine what it feels like to be in the various settings and they all feel like home. When things change I often get nostalgic for “the good old days.” Take the TV show Angel for instance. Even though I watched, and loved, it till the day it went off the air, I never did get over the change in the settings. I missed “the good old days” or Cordelia, Doyle, and Angel hanging out at, and working in, Angel Investigations. Then just when the hotel began to feel like home, they spent their last season at Wolfram & Heart.

I did not take to the changes within the Twilight series. I think if I had read all four books as they were released instead of in less than two weeks it would have been easier to tolerate the changes. But, that’s not to say that I didn’t love each book in their own way. I think it only fair to talk about each book separately and then discuss the saga as a whole. This will help with those of you not yet done with the series. You can only read about the books you’ve finished without worrying about spoilers. So, here we go.

Twilight

I didn’t know what to expect from this series. All I knew was that it was about vampires. I didn’t know that it was about a teenage girl falling in love with one. I thought the series was more…adult. I was pleasantly surprised because it didn’t feel like I was reading a teen book. Though it did strike me as just the type of story I would have delved into in my teens since I always read things a bit above my level anyway.

I did find myself having quite the teenage reaction to the story though. I was drawn to Bella in all of her awkwardness. The first interaction between she and Edward had me intrigued. Of course we knew that his outward hostility towards her was his way of trying control his desire, but little did we know it was his desire to kill her.

I loved the interaction between them as she struggled to figure out his hot and cold behavior. The rescue scene was both exciting and romantic.  I thought it set up nicely the fact that once she put the pieces together it wasn’t that much of a stretch for her to get to the whole he’s a vampire thing. Stephenie Meyer didn’t waste a lot of time having Bella try to convince herself, which was good. That would have been boring and annoying.

Though the story was about a teenage romance, it was surprisingly relatable.  I remember what it was like to feel completely disappointed when your school crush didn’t come to school and how you felt the day would just drag because of it… and then you considered ditching. Once the secret was out and the mutual attraction admitted, I enjoyed the back and forth between them and the days spent asking each other everything there was to know about each other. I thought Edward was charming and it was easy to see how she could quickly fall for him and so deeply.

Then the book took a turn. Just as it was accepted that he would allow her into his world and that they would try to be together, Meyer introduced a ridiculous threat. Everything that happened after the baseball game seemed really forced. It was as if she felt she needed some action and haphazardly tossed in James. Next thing you know Bella is spending days in a hotel room in Seattle with Jasper and Alice and I’m like, “Huh?”

Her rushing to sacrifice herself was sweet, but also kind of dumb. It just seemed like Meyer was at a loss for how to wrap up the book.

New Moon

This book did in the beginning (and the end) what each book seems to do at the end – introduce this ridiculous “problem” that sends everything you know into a tailspin. I thought the birthday party scene was great and I could feel the tension and “oh shitness” of Bella cutting her finger open and almost being attacked by Jasper. I could understand it setting into motion doubts that Edward wouldn’t be able to protect her, but to have all the Cullens leave town was just too jarring and didn’t make complete sense.

As a result, the whole book wasn’t as… exciting as the first… but it was interesting. It was almost like a new book in a new serious. I liked the easy nature of Bella’s relationship with Jacob, though I never really saw him as a true threat to her love with Edward. Therefore, at times, it seemed like a waste.

I did enjoy the moments when Bella would hear Edward’s voice warning her against doing something dumb. I thought it would have been more interesting to find out that he really was able to talk to her mentally especially in the scene where she contemplates kissing Jacob while hugging him. She wonders how easy it would be to just let herself be loved by him, even though she knows she would never truly love him back the way he wanted, when suddenly she hears Edward’s voice telling her, “Be happy.” That brought tears to my eyes.

But just like in Twilight, Meyer creates an “emergency” that jarringly takes the story to a new place. Alice assumes Bella is dead and Rosalie (who I love) tells Edward. Spitefully, perhaps? Next thing you know, Alice returns to Forks (yeah, Alice! I love her!) and she and Bella are off to Italy to save Edward from suicide by homicide. Again, I felt like the ending was a bit rushed and hard to get into because it took me out of everything I knew of the series both literally and figuratively.

Then we get to…

Eclipse

This was probably my least favorite of the four. Bella is trying to juggle her relationships with Edward and Jacob while a series of murders end up being tied to Bella and a vampire’s revenge from actions that took place in Twilight. The whole plot was confusing and in the end, really didn’t make much sense.

BUT, because I love these characters (though I found myself getting more annoyed with Bella with each book), I remainded committed. Because I enjoyed Rosalie, Alice, Charlie, and Edward, and even Jacob, I stuck it out.

The part where Jasper is explaining to the vamps and the wolves how to best fight a newborn vampire was some laugh out loud bad writing. And much like in the next book, I felt like it took too long to get to the meat, to the battle.

I really enjoyed getting more backstory on Jasper and Rosalie. Especially Rosalie’s story which was both heartbreaking and scary.

But overall, I thought the plot of Eclipse was all over the place. So much so that I don’t even remember the purpose of some of the things like the vampire sneaking into Bella’s house and stealing her clothes for her scent.

If I’m not mistaken this was the first book where we learn that it’s possible for a wolf to imprint on an infant which comes into play later in…

Breaking Dawn

By this book Bella was just plain getting on my damn nerves. I know some have offered up explanations as to why it was easy for Bella to committ to being a vampire and possibly never seeing her family again and spending eternity with Edward, but have an outright aversion to marriage. Still, it didn’t make sense to me.

I called the pregnancy almost from the beginning of the book, but I didn’t see the next “twist” coming. I thought book one ended perfectly with Bella’s frantic call to Rosalie, a most unlikely ally. It left me wanting more, and at first I was annoyed with the sudden shift to Jacob’s story, but it later proved to be perfectly paced. His attitude toward the pack as he struggled to accept that he was about to lose his best friend as she became a bloodsucker was understandable and I felt sorry for him.

Everything in this book was wonderfully told from his reaction to Bella’s pregnancy and his leaving the pack, to Seth and Leah joining him (I looove Seth), to Bella’s protectiveness over the baby and Rosalie’s protectiveness over them both. I also really enjoyed the animosity between Jacob (dog, mongrel) and Rosalie (blondie.) I thought that was a nice balance to Seth’s affection for the vampire family.

Everything in the part of the book where Bella goes into labor was great.  Even when Meyer felt the need to point out several times that Jacob refused to look at the baby as she was born, I still didn’t see the next twist coming.

But, I would like to take this time to give a big ole, “What the fuck!?” to the name Renesmee. That’s just hideous.

This was some of the best stuff of the whole series…

Everything inside me came undone as I stared at the tiny porcelain face of the half-vampire, half-human baby. All the lines tha held me to life were sliced apart in swift cuts, like clipping the strings to a bunch of balloons. Everything that made me who I was – my love for the dead girl upstairs, my love for my father, my loyalty to my new pack, the love for my other brothers, my hatred for my enemies, my home, my name, my self – disconnected from me in that second – snip, snip, snip – and floated up into space.

I was not left drifting. A new string held me where I was.

Then…

It was the baby girl in the blond vampire’s arms that held me here now.

Renesmee.

Then…

From upstairs, there was a new sound. The only sound that could touch me in this endless instant.

A frantic pounding, a racing beat…
A changing heart.

Then Book Three started and the book went to shit.

1. I felt it was a total cop-out to make Bella be almost exactly as she was as a human when she became a vampire. Was it because Meyer knew the series was ending (though she could totally milk more money with a new series follwoing an older Renesmee and Jacob) and she didn’t have time to explore a true adjustment to Bella’s new life?

2. Remember the part where Bella goes to the J. Jenks guy to get new identities for Renesmee and Jacob? Why the hell was she talking like she’d been around for hundreds of years? It’s like Meyer forgot that it made sense for the others to speak differently (they were centuries old!), and just made Bella speak like all the other vampires because that’s how she was used to writing their dialogue. But Bella should have spoken like a 17 year old alive in 2008, which she was just a few short months ago.

3. I didn’t like the rush over the part of how the old pack came to accept what happened to Bella and Renesmee’s existance. Again, it felt like Meyer crammed in important events just to get to the ultra boring and drawn out ending. I also didn’t like how cavalier Charlie finding out about Jacob was treated.

4. It took way too long to get to the part where the Volturi show up and it took way too long for them to get to the killing once they got there and then… there was little to no killing! It’s like having a bunch of foreplay only to find that once the sex starts, your partner orgasms and rolls over leaving you wanting more. (Donny wants me to point out here that he totally doesn’t do that.)

5. There were way too many vampires introduced at the end of the book and I didn’t give a damn if any of them lived. If your last name wasn’t Cullen, or you weren’t a werewolf, screw you! And you know you’ve introduced way too many characters if you have to include a Who’s Who in The Vamp World style guide at the back of the damn book!

Like I said, the ending was a little sloppy and I feel like we were set up for a bigger ending than we got. Even with all of that, I’d love to read a three or four book series set in the future where Renesmee and Jacob are together, living as two dating teenagers. Perhaps Bella and Edward have to pretend to be her older siblings. Charlie, Billy, Sue, and all the other true parents are dead. Perhaps the other half-vamp child (the boy from the end of BD… too lazy to look his name up) poses a threat to Jacob and Renesmee’s relationship as he feels her rightful place is with him, someone of his kind. Yeah, I’d read that.

Oh, and another problem I had with BD is that, like I said earlier, it was too much change too quickly. Again, people who read the books as they first came out probably don’t feel the same way. I found that I missed the other residents of Forks. I missed them attending high school. I found that the whole damn book took place in the Cullen’s house and it was kind of… boring.

So to sum up…

- The best parts of Twilight was anything regarding the courtship of Bella and Edward

- Alice is awesome

- Rosalie rocks

- Bella was annoying towards the end and I think Meyer went overboard with her insecurities. OK, we get it, she’s clumsy!

- A lot of the conflict in all the books felt forced and came on way too quickly.

- Jacob imprinting on Renesmee was the best bit of plot in the whole series. Didn’t see it coming, and it made perfect sense. As soon as I read it I thought back to something Bella had said to him about them belonging in each other’s lives but somehow, somewhere, they got off track from where they were supposed to be. To what they were supposed to mean to one another. I was happy to see that Jacob later referenced that when he was trying to defend it to a newborn vampire Bella.

I’m sure I have more swimming around in my head, but I’ll let you guys talk now.

What did you think?

If a new series were to develop based on this one, what should it be about? Who should be the major players? The narrator?

Deathly Hallows Book Review

Am I the only one profoundly sad?

I realized three or four books ago that Harry’s existence was a sad one. An existence filled with death and loss. As the books went on we were given a taste of minor catastrophes upon peripheral characters; like the death of Amelia Bones and Bill Weasley being horribly scarred by Greyback in H.B.P, and major ones; the deaths of Cedric Diggory, Sirius Black, and Albus Dumbledore in G.O.F, O.O.T.P., and H.B.P, respectively. The rumblings of war had been slowly growing louder.

As Deathly Hallows begins Harry knows there is no turning back. With the two people he cared for the most, aside from the parents he never knew, dead and the knowledge now common that Lord Voldemort has not only returned, but is building an army to take over as he failed to do before, he knows there is no going back to the life he once lived. If the readers were not aware of this, we’re definitely hip to the game by the end of chapter five, Fallen Warrior, as we’ve said goodbye to the Dursleys, 4 Privet Drive, Hedwig, Mad-Eye Moody, and George’s ear.

The primary focus of Deathly Hallows was set up in the final chapters of Half-Blood Prince. Harry would not be returning to Hogwarts for his final year of education. Instead, he will try to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes; items magically containing bits of Voldemort’s soul as tasked to him by Dumbledore, with the help of his trusted and courageous friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

J.K. Rowling could have easily left it at that, but instead readers are treated to a 759-page journey through history. Characters we thought we knew were revealed to have layers beyond any we imagined. Motives behind actions taken as far back as Sorcerer’s Stone are made clear. Whether we like them or not. Peculiar items left to Harry, Ron, and Hermione in Dumbledore’s will prove vital in the three heroes uncovering the legend behind The Deathly Hallows; three magical items said to provide the power to defeat death once possessed.

With very little to go on, and those they love left behind to live in constant mortal danger, Harry and his friends go on the run faced with a decision. Do they try and uncover The Deathly Hallows and are they the key to Harry defeating Voldemort? The words of the prophecy, “neither can live while the other survives,” ring in Harry’s head. Or should Harry soldier on, fulfilling Dumbledore’s wishes, and destroy the remaining Horcruxes, wherever they are and whatever they may be?

At times, that struggle became a bit too much for me to swallow. Harry’s willingness to mistrust what he knew of Albus Dumbledore because of the poison quill biography of him written by Rita Skeeter, of all people, seemed unrealistic. Hadn’t we been through this before with his refusal to open himself up to the Dumbledore suggested occlumency lessons with Snape in O.O.T.P. (which led to Sirius’ death), and his reluctance to work on Slughorn as Dumbledore asked, but rather worry about what Draco Malfoy was up to in H.B.P? That last one was especially frustrating as we know now Dumbledore had that well under control.

Harry’s tendency to react as a hothead and assume he knew better was frustrating through much of the middle portion of the book, but one could suppose it further goes to prove that he was, after all, his father’s son and still just a boy. When it counted though, Harry ultimately makes the right decision having had a sense of clarity after burying Dobby the house-elf (three-hanky moment 20) and realizes that in order to defeat Voldemort he must finish what he started; destroying the Horcruxes.

It is a testament to Rowling’s great talent that a tale so full of death, loss, and sorrow can still find ways to rally the heart. I’ve always found some of Ron’s lines, usually delivered out of his living in the shadow of louder, funnier, and smarter brothers the funniest. Deathly Hallows did not disappoint on that score.

“Why the hell,” panted Ron, holding up the Horcrux, which swung backward and forward on its shortened chain in some parody of hypnosis, “didn’t you take this thing off before you dived?”

And after Harry dreams about Gregorovitich for the first time…

“I think Voldemort’s looking for him.”

“Poor bloke,” said Ron fervently.

However, as much as it is a tale of good versus evil, at its heart the Harry Potter series is about friendship, trust, loyalty, bravery, and family. Which is why I found myself with a funny feeling in my stomach when I thought, “Hedwig won’t make it till the end of the book,” while reading chapter two, and teary-eyed when the owl didn’t make it past chapter four. It’s also why I cried when Fred Weasley, Lavender Brown, Colin Creevey, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, and Dobby died. (Though I didn’t shed a tear when Crabbe bit it.)

It is, too, why the story of Snape touched me so deeply. Over seven books we came to love, hate, loathe, and care about, the people in this world and the reasons behind their actions. How tragic, how brave, that Snape would live a life where everyone thought him to be a traitor because his misguided beliefs helped kill the woman he loved. How sad that he devoted himself to help protect the life of her son who had her eyes. How truly remorseful must he have been to allow the world to believe he had killed the only man to really trust, believe in, and know him, in malice.

I read once, either in some how-to book on being a fiction writer or during some writing class, that you never introduce a loaded gun in act one if you don’t plan on firing it by act three. Maybe Rowling read the same book for she definitely addressed every plot point, every landmark, and damn near every character, ever introduced in the Potterverse in this final installment. Even better, one never gets the feeling that she was just making stuff up as she went along. It was evident that each character, even the evil ones, were carefully crafted, loved, and respected, for they were each given history and some even life after death. Albus Severus Potter? That would be three-hanky moment 40, thank you very much.

Some might say that Deathly Hallows was a bit heavy on the message of tolerance. No one can say they didn’t immediately think of concentration camps when reading about the Muggle-Born Registration Commission. Though, there was a lovely moment during a scene in which Harry, Hermione, and Ron gather around to listen to a pirate radio show aimed at getting the truth out while Voldemort has taken over the Ministry of Magic and all media. Kingsley Shacklebot suggests that those in the magical world also protect the unsuspecting Muggles (non-magical folk) by placing protective charms around their homes.

“And what would you say, Royal (Kingsley), to those listeners who reply that in these dangerous times, it should be ‘Wizards first’?” asked Lee.

“I’d say that it’s one short step from ‘Wizards first’ to ‘Purebloods first,’ and then to ‘Death Eaters,’” replied Kingsley. “We’re all human, aren’t we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.”

Let’s face it, there is no perfect ending to a story you never want to end. And there’s no mistaking that it had to end. I mean, how menacing could Voldemort continue to prove to be if he never succeeds in killing Harry, or how impressive is it to be The Chosen One and The Boy Who Lived if you never vanquish the bad guy? It would become comical.

No, no ending would be perfect. But Rowling gets it damn near perfect in Deathly Hallows. Sure, in the epilogue I would have loved to have learned more about what happened to Luna (I imagine her off running The Quibbler married to Dean Thomas), how the Weasley’s coped with Fred’s death, how was the revelation that Snape was a hero received, did the Dursleys ever see Harry again, and more, but I don’t mind having some of it left to my imagination either.

I’m happy with where these beloved characters were left. I called it after seeing the movie, Order of the Phoenix, that you’d never see Harry performing Avada Kedavra on Voldemort. That’s not his style. Everything was left as it should be. But that’s not to say that if five years from now Rowling ever has the desire to pick up a new tale in the halls of Hogwarts, the streets of Hogsmeade, the lanes of The Burrow, the cobblestone paths of Diagon Alley, I’d be complaining.

Wicked Book Review

“Well,” said the Head, “I will give you my answer. You have no right to expect me to send you back to Kansas unless you do something for me in return. In this country everyone must pay for everything he gets. If you wish me to use my magic power to send you home again you must do something for me first. Help me and I will help you.”

“What must I do?” asked the girl.

“Kill the wicked Witch of the West,” answered Oz.

L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Upon reading the passage at the beginning of the book I was immediately put into a different mindset on a familiar tale. Those of us who have seen the movie, but not read the book, remember the tale as a courageous young girl taking on an evil witch so she could return home to her precious Aunt and Uncle. At the core though, the story is really about an old man who sends this young girl on a homicidal mission against a woman she doesn’t even know.

Right from the prologue, as the Witch hides in a tree listening to her assassins, you realize that when reading Wicked you are definitely no longer in Kansas. Hell, you’re not even in the Oz you came to know as a child.

“She was castrated at birth, ” replied the Tin Woodsman calmly. “She was born hermaphroditic, or maybe entirely male.”

“She’s a woman who prefers the company of other women,” said the Scarecrow, sitting up.

“She’s the spurned lover of a married man.”

“She is a married man.”

The Witch was so stunned that she nearly lost her grip on the branch.

That exchange, the homosexual undertones between the Lion and the Tin Woodsman, and the Witch’s reaction to the ruby slippers on Dorothy’s feet (let’s not forget that this tale is also about a slain sister) all made me eagerly continue reading the book and I literally didn’t put it down for three days.

The first two sections of the book, Munchkinlanders and Gillikin, which deal with the birth of the Witch (Elphaba) and her time away at school respectively, were my favorites. From the start there was mystery surrounding Elphaba. Born with green skin, razor sharp teeth (she bit off a woman’s finger just a few moments old), and a nasty disposition, you wonder not only where she came from, but why. Born to a minister and his unfaithful wife, Elphaba’s life seemed doomed from the start.

Here are some of my thoughts/observations/questions by section:

Munchkinlanders
I

- Thank God for Nanny. From the moment she arrived to help Melena and Frex take care of baby Elphaba she cracked me up. “Come to Nanny, you horrid little thing.”

- In the beginning, when you’re trying to figure out how Elphaba came to be born the way she was – was she a punishment for her mother’s infidelity? a punishment for her father’s failure as a minister? the Devil’s spawn? – I think Nanny’s observation was the best.

Perhaps, thought Nanny, little green Elphaba chose her own sex, and her own color, and to hell with her parents.

- The arrival of Turtle Heart showed that Melena did not learn her lesson. Carrying on an affair with him right under the noses of her husband and Nanny. His constant referring to himself in the third person was quite annoying, but his arrival did begin the thought process of the politics of Oz and its different cities.

- Did we ever get an explanation of why water was like acid to Elphaba?

Gillikin
II

I loved, loved, loved, this section. Who woulda thunk it? The Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch were college roommates? And friends no less?! And best of all…Glinda, excuse me, Galinda was a bitch.

- I found it interesting that Galinda was all about appearances. Even when she engaged in conversation she didn’t give much thought to what she said, but rather how she said it. It was important to her to use the right words to give the impression that she was smart and a deeper thinker than she actually wa