Twilight: Bella moves to Forks, Washington to live with her dad. There, she meets Edward, who at first acts like he hates her, but then falls in love with her. She follows suit. It doesn't freak her out that he's a vampire. There's some drama with some vampires who drink human blood (unlike Edward's family, who all drink animal blood), but Edward saves Bella, and then convinces her to go to the prom.
New Moon: Edward decides that he doesn't want Bella going to hell like he's going to do because he has no soul; he leaves. She spends a lot of time comatose. Jacob steps in. Bella and Jacob start doing risky things, like riding motorcycles. Bella breaks a lot of bones. Turns out, Jacob and a bunch of his friends are really werewolves. Edward thinks Bella is trying to kill herself and has succeeded; he tries to kill himself. Bella saves him. They get back together. Jacob is not happy.
Eclipse: Bella tries to convince Edward to change her into a vampire. He says, after graduation and they have to get married first. She eventually agrees. There's some drama with one of the vampires that tries to kill her in Twilight, who has created an army of newborn vampires. Bella realizes it might not be so awesome to be a vampire. Jacob tries to convince her to leave Edward and be with him. Bella says no. Jacob runs away.
Breaking Dawn: Edward and Bella get married. Bella gets pregnant, which no one thought could happen. Turns out, half-vampires grow super fast and in a month she has the baby, which breaks her spine--so Edward now has to turn Bella into a vampire. Miraculously, she has no ill effects, and is in control immediately. Jacob finds out Bella's daughter, Renesmee, is his soul mate. No more Edward-Jacob awkwardness. The Volturi, the vampire police, use Renesemee as an excuse to destroy the Cullens & friends, but they convince them not to. Happily ever after.
That done, I'll say that I think Stephanie Meyer's writing style is very amateurish-her plot lines are never fully developed and her settings are barely there. And she takes up a ton of space recounting really mundane occurrences, making all her books 700ish pages long. It bothers me that these are the books that have of the US is addicted to--they're so unsophisticated, what does this say about us? However, despite my criticism, I do think she has a strong literary voice in Bella, and her books are very readable, if barebones and generally just kind of silly.
If you like vampire books but didn't like Twilight, I suggest Sunshine by Robin McKinley--the settings are much more established and the characters are stronger (plus, less silly romance).
1 comment:
hey Sarah! ok, though i had to skip over your summaries of the books (i've only read the first!) i agree with what you said about the writing style--i was actually thinking the same thing earlier this week as I was reading. isn't it interesting how we can get sucked in? i wondered if it were not the pop culture appeal and general "buzz" around the novel that made me want to read it? hmm. or i guess every now and then we all can use a little nonsense, brainless, escapism lit. i do plan to finish the series though...
Post a Comment