Stephenie Meyer
The Twilight Saga - 1: Twilight
SummaryIsabella Swan decides to move from sunny Phoenix, Arizona to rainy Forks, Washington to live with her father Charlie because her mother, Renée, has married Phil Dwyer, who travels a lot. The new girl in a small town, Bella attracts the attention of everyone around her, including Edward Cullen. Edward is stunningly attractive, and inhumanly beautiful, yet he is an outsider too. After a short disappearance from school he returns and talks to Bella, having seemingly forgotten their unfriendly first encounter.
On a morning like any other, Bella is nearly killed and Edward saves her. Afterwards she asks him how he got to her so fast from across the parking lot, but he replies that he was next to her. Knowing this is false she pushes for more information, lying to everyone else for him.
During a beach trip to the La Push reservation, Bella tricks a family friend, Jacob Black of the Quileute tribe, into telling her the local tribal legends. He says ages ago vampires visited their land; saying they were different than the rest of their kind the chief made a treaty: if they stayed off Quileute land then they would keep their secret. Bella asks what this has to do with the Cullens and he says it's the same people.
During a trip to Port Angeles, Edward rescues her again, this time from a band of thugs. Bella asks him if what Jacob said about his family is true. Edward admits it, but says that he and his family only drink animal blood to keep themselves from turning into the monsters that many other vampires are.
Edward and Bella's relationship grows over time, and they fall passionately in love. Their foremost problem is that to Edward, Bella's scent is a hundred times more potent than any other human's, making Edward struggle to resist his desire to kill her. However, despite this they manage to stay together safely for a time.
The seemingly perfect state of their relationship is thrown into chaos when another vampire coven sweeps into Forks and James, a tracker vampire, decides that he wants to hunt Bella for sport. Now Edward must protect what he loves from the deadliest hunter he's met.
ReviewThe first thing to remember when reading this book is that Twilight is a love story. Above all else it is a love story between Edward and Bella.
The story is told completely from Bella's perspective, so the reader understands her completely. Everyone else in the story, especially Edward, remains a mystery that the reader unravels through the books. Meyer's manages to get the reader completely involved, but still leaves them wanting to know more; more about the other Cullens, more about vampires and more of Edward and Bella.
Now I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, Meyer's writing style is very easy to read. Bella's character is a mature, believable, shy teenager who lacks confidence, but is absolutely hilarious. Now some have criticized the books, stating the teenagers don't act the way teens do, but I was a teen and one much like Bella. Her mother’s inept ability to raise her has made her a mature young woman who in no way questions her feelings for Edward.
The relationship between Edward and Bella, while sometimes a little too intense, is beautifully sincere. The two belong together despite all the odds and challenges, but at the same time they both see the doom that their relationship is quickly advancing to. Just as things seem to be going good James' coven comes roaming through and ruins it, changing everything.
Overall I think the book is definitely worth a read for all ages and genders. Don't let the fame of this book keep you from reading it (it did for me until I said "ok what's all the hype about).
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