Twilight
Stephanie Meyer
Twilight is the first of a book series by author Stephanie Meyer. The novel is centered around a teenage romance between a vampire named Edward Cullen and the shy Bella Swan. Bella leaves her hometown to live with her father in a small, misty and rainy town named Fork, where Bella is forced to make a whole new set of friends. Bella sees Edward Cullen, a stunning, good-looking teenage boy sitting with his friends in the cafeteria and is immediately intrigued. Even though he lived with his family in Fork for over two years, he was still somewhat of an outsider. Bella attempts to become his friend, but Edward at first seems put off by her. However the two soon become good friends, and eventually Bella falls hopelessly in love. But there’s a problem. She can’t seem to figure out what is it that makes Edward so different.
One day Bella learns of a legend about the “cold ones,” a group of vampires that only feed off the bare minimal animal blood, not human blood. Even though they do not hunt human blood, these vampires are not welcome. Bella realizes Edward is one of those ‘vegetarian’ vampires, but this knowledge of his not being human changes nothing for her. She is still irrevocably in love with him.
Twilight is told in first person from Bella’s perspective with a very sarcastic inner voice. Since we only read what’s going on in Bella’s head, Edward and his family remain a mystery for most of the novel. But slowly his back story is revealed.
Twilight starts out slow, but once you get into it, you will not be able to put it down. There are plenty of scary moments in this book to keep you on the edge of your seat, especially the scene where Bella is running away from threatening vampires that want to kill her; and even though she has Edward and his coven protecting her, there is a time in the story where she is defenseless and has to fight off her adversaries on her own. There is no shortage of bone-chilling, hair-raising moments. Twilight is a special book that’s easily relatable and surprisingly universal, crossing all age barriers. Bella herself is a well developed, realistic character. Twilight is beautifully written, full of descriptive details. There are touching moments when you feel the urgency of the two main characters refusing to give up on their impossible love but desperately trying to make it work. You are taken to extreme moments of passion to the frantic will to survival. Even if you don’t care for vampire stories, I guarantee you’ll really like Twilight .
ISBN: 978-0316160179, Little, Brown, October, 2005
Check out the other books in the series: The Host , Eclipse , and newly released Breaking Dawn .
Reviewed by Nicole Mouser and Kaylene Peoples
