Twilight Series

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Mike
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Twilight Series

Post by Mike »

The book Twilight is very interesting, the story is good and it is an entertaining teenage romance with a bit of horror/sci-fi thrown in for good measure. I honestly hoped that she would get bitten in the first book though. There is an almost instant connection between the reader and the two principle characters, Bella and Edward. All in all 4s.

Twilight the film is entertaining and a good representation of the book. There are no particular highlights or low points and the disappointing part is the film highlights the fact there are a great number of character who are not given the opportunity to shine. Particularly Bella's friends and Edwards family. The running time was also slightly too long and needed to be 20-30 minutes shorter. 3s.

New Moon. Edward has left Bella alone (for her own good) and the first part of the book drones wearilly on about Bella's struggle to cope without her soul mate. This is a weaker story than the first but adds some nice details about people who are important in Edward and Bella's lives. All in all 3s.

Eclipse. Don't really remember the story! Shocking. I will re-read and let you know. Worryingly forgettable. 2s?

Breaking Dawn. By far my favourite story, I had a sigh of relief when I read this book as I had a sense of 'finally'! Again the story is as good as the first (but with a weaker ending - the author could not quite bring herself to kill off any of the Characters and it has a feeling of fairy tale rather than grit). You almost get the feeling of 'and they lived happilly ever after' at the end. The author has obviously left a couple of options for the next book - I almost see a spin off series about Renesme (I won't spoil the story for anyone by telling them who she is!). 4s due to the ending.
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Re: Twilight Series

Post by hazel »

sorry
Last edited by hazel on Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:36 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Twilight Series

Post by Mike »

I think she probably is a very stunning woman anyway, they are probably 'dressing her down' at the moment so it can be a revelation. I hope no one has had the story ruined there by the quick spoiler in Hazel's post!
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Re: Twilight Series

Post by mr_e »

I'm never going to read the series anyway.

But: how about spoiler tags? You know, the ones where you have to mouse-over them to reveal the text. That would be useful for allowing discussions in places like these without risking giving bits away.
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Re: Twilight Series

Post by stimpsonslostson »

I'm into the second book at the moment (when I can prize it away from Bex), and have also watched the first film :roll: .
I can't say that Hazel gave away any stunning revelations.
I spent the whole movie saying "for feck sake, you're going to do it anyway. GET IT OVER WITH!!" Hence my references to it being a parable for teenage abstinence. If they're going to drag it out for 4books I'll probably get quite annoyed.
Can't say I'm overly enamored so far, but will give it a chance and see if there's improvement. (Afterall I found the first HP book distinctly underwhelming).
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Re: Twilight Series

Post by Mike »

Since it is out in the open then I can say I was relieved what the fourth book unravelled. The phase 'just bite her already' carried me through the first four books.

The first HP book was very dull, it was written for a 12 year old, I was only caught then I started reading number 3 (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) - which is arguably still the best story. Books 6 and 7 had largly lost their charming appeal and had become victims of an increasingly difficult to manage story (for JKR that is).
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stimpsonslostson
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Re: Twilight Series

Post by stimpsonslostson »

OK. Update time...
I've read the second one, and am halfway thru the third now.
I pretty much agree with Mikes reviews.

Book 2:I got REALLY annoyed with page after page of how miserable she is... then not much happens. Pretty anticlimactic overall.
A plot summary is in blue below... should I REALLY be able to summarize a 500+ page book in two sentences?
Edward leaves, Bella mopes (interminably!), finds out Jacob is a werewolf, Edward returns. THE END


Book 3: Still nothing much going on... Im past halfway and NOTHING of note has happened! The primary source suspense is STILL something which happened in BOOK 1!!!

I'm obviously going to finish the series, but I cant say Im impressed. However, as a story to read for a couple of chapters a night before sleep it IS working OK- I'm never reading for long enough to get PROPERLY annoyed and give up!
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Re: Twilight Series

Post by stimpsonslostson »

OK, so I finally finished the Twiglet series last night... I still hold to my previous reviews.
Here's my thoughts on the last installment...

New Dawn 3s
Starts interestingly enough and progressed nicely, things we've ALL been waiting for have FINALLY started to happen! However, the course of true love never runs smooth... there are the inevitable (melo)dramas before the "exciting" finale!
Speaking of which... Damp Squib springs to mind, I've used the term anticlimactic to describe earlier books in the series, and the same holds here. I was left thoroughly disappointed.

As a Whole... 3s (I'm feeling generous).
Whilst attempting not to be too sexist, I'm willing to concede that perhaps I'm not getting as wrapped up in the emotional developments as I would if I were of the female condition (I'm a simple soul who likes explosions and fights etc.) Perhaps I'm missing something entirely, but I was just a bit underwhelmed by it all.

Big thanks to Liz for lending them to us... it'll be interesting to get Bex's opinions when she reads the rest.
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Re: Twilight Series

Post by liz.brownlloyd »

stimpsonslostson wrote:Big thanks to Liz for lending them to us... it'll be interesting to get Bex's opinions when she reads the rest.
No worries. Don't think John will read that at any time soon!
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Re: Twilight Series

Post by Andy »

liz brown wrote:No worries. Don't think John will read that at any time soon!
Tell him not to bother, it made the Da Vinci Code seem like a classic. I was forced into submission by my Y11 class of intelligent young women who all told me it was ''the greatest book ever written'' and I reluctantly agreed because I wanted to know what the big deal was about this Cullen chap. All I can state in their defense is that they obviously haven't read much and that Y11 boys must be dire at romance. Well, that figures anyway... After reading it, all I can ponder is how can women find the boy protagonist Edward Cullen attractive? Seriously, it is beyond me. The egotistical twerp sprouts so much nonsense that he would grate your souls with his words. How Bella is supposed to be a future sex-bomb was also lost on me, sure, she's cute but she's so needy and wet and she is one easy lay who submits far too easily.

The book is appalling written. Usually in my job I see exclamation marks done to death whereas in this book she proves she can use a semi-colon which I found intensely irritating after a few chapters. The storyline is horrendously predicatable and I lost count of the number of times I wanted to scream ''as if'', especially just after she finds herself down the alleyway. True, the characters are easy to ''connect'' with but they are as underdeveloped as the plot which has too much drama going on and not enough build-up.

As if that wasn't enough m'lud, Meyer is a plagarist as the whole thing is a carbon copy of Vampire diaries by L.J.Smith.

It is safe to say I am not a fan of this fangtastical shitefest.
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