Amph Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer (Now discussing: Midnight Sun partially leaked)

Yeah, I was sad that they didn't take down the Volturri, after all those guys have put them through.

I'm glad Charlie kinda knows, though. Renee, as much as sheloved Bella and raised her, has her own life. Charlie didn't (though now I guess he has Sue - what happened with Sure and Billy?)

 

I think that Meyer did a good job explaining it on her web site, and that's pretty much the conclusion I came to. If they had fought, 90% of them would be dead. Would a victory with Edward, Alice, Esme, Sam, and Leah among others all dead be worth it? The Volturri are still alive and active, yes. But so are all the good guys.

I'm guessing that off-camera Charlie was pretty angry at Billy for not telling him about what the Cullin's are. Meanwhile, they were both chasing Sue - which put another barrier between them. Bella figured that they'd get over it, and she's probably right.

 

True on both counts. I really like Charlie, always have.

 

It's also kind of funny to think of the Edward/Jacob/Bella love triangle being followed by a Bella's father/Jacob's father/Sue love triangle.

 

QFT.

I guess I have to approve of Jacob, apparently Reneesmee needs him. I was upset about that at first, but now, I guess he's okay.

 

To me it made the most sense, because Jacob was drawn to Bella from the beganning. And honestly it always felt or seemed like he should have that connection with her like the others were having in his pack. And with Nessie being born it made everything come full circle. Why he was fighting so hard to save Bella's life, when most would of stopped with all the resistance Bella was giving to him.

At least that's the way I see it.

 

*walks in with eyes covered*

I haven't read all the books yet. Just bought them all today, but must wait till after exam to read the last two so I don't want to see any Spoilers!
Just came in to let you all know i started a thread for the film in the film and tv thread. Come and check it out Click Here

 

You're in for a good read

 

And an addictive one. It's the way she writes, honestly...

Nat, I love your sig.

 

It's EF's, I just haven't completely changed out of my Halloween costume yet

I agree, it's the way she writes more than the plot (especially for New Moon and Eclipse, IMO).

 

Oh, really? I'll have to tell EF that.

Same feelings here. I'm finding I'm not too much of a fan of the plot anymore, but I'm attempting not to be too critical. I've been swamped in various plays lately and am currently analyzing Hamlet, so... yeah.

 

Last time I was home I sat down and read the first 40 or so pages of Midnight Sun. I have to be honest, it wasn't at all compelling. Even the books in the series that I didn't like I had trouble putting down. I can't put my finger on the reason, but somehow it just didn't seem like her writing. Maybe 'cause I read too much of it, but it felt like fanfic.

 

Midnight Sun was ok, but it was definitely unedited. Too much thinking, not enough doing.

Side note: I watched Twilight and my fangirl-ness is starting to leak again. Time to reread New Moon!

JF

 

Midnight Sun really depends on my mood. There are times where I can read it all and it's like wow and others it's like okay don't really feel like reading this for the 3rd time.

I'm going to try and read it in a funny way next time I feel like it. Reading a chapter of Twilight then the Midnight Sun chapter that goes with it or vice versa.

But first I need to re-read New Moon. I just don't know if I can. It was hard the first time I read it and I had to put it down I could not come back to it for a good while. So I don't know if I'm ready for that again. lol I'm so sad.

~PK~

 

~PK~, I read this etra from New Moon on Stephenie Meyer's site

Then I listened to soundtrack to the movie Twilight, and the song "Leave Out All the Rest" by Linkin Park, and the lyrics just hit me, I was so shocked that I had to re-read New Moon, and then Eclipse.

 

I got the first two books for Christmas from my best friend and my father. I initially dismissed the books as just for teenage girls, but then I remembered that I dismissed Harry Potter as just for kids, and I would have missed so much if I hadn't been talked into reading that series. So I thought I'd give Twilight a try.

I'm halfway through the first book and I cannot for the life of me understand why people like this book. Bella is annoying and unsympathetic (your father loves you and all the boys in school are dying to have your approval? How too, too wearying, Bella! You're so right to cry yourself to sleep! The pain!), everyone has weird mood swings back and forth at the drop of a hat, and it feels like every chapter covers almost identical ground:

Mary Sue -- sorry, Bella -- gets up and describes the weather, then describes what she's going to wear today. She tolerates her father at breakfast, she goes to school and rolls her eyes at the fawning boys, she either talks to Edward or dies -- dies -- when he isn't in class. If he is at school, he will get inexplicably and frighteningly angry at some point in the conversation; the instant he stops being angry, she'll start being angry at him for some unrelated and equally inexplicable reason. He tells her she "ought to be more afraid of him," an only-slightly-vague comment which, even after discovering he's a vampire, she is apparently too dense to parse, as she asks him every time what he means by that. He "smirks" and says nothing. She ignores some more fawning boys as she walks to her truck; something embarrassing happens and Edward walks by "chuckling." She goes home for the night, flips a coin as to whether or not she makes dinner for her dad, then goes to bed. And the next chapter is the same thing.

I think I really lost patience with the author -- who is definitely no J.K. Rowling -- when Bella made a sarcastic comment, and she saw fit to explain, for the reader's benefit, that she was being sarcastic. She literally followed up some quote with "Heavy sarcasm." I just put down the book and held my head in my hands for a little while.

And I've heard, even from fans, the general consensus is the series goes downhill from here. I can't even imagine.

 

Yeah, IMO it does go downhill.

But I dunno, I liked it. It wasn't as great on the rereads when I started picking stuff up, but I was drawn to the way Meyer wrote. I don't know what she does differently from others, but the series as a whole has been one of those "once I start I can't put it down, read in the halls as I grab my books, etc." Doesn't actually mean it's a good story, but I did have trouble putting it down.

 

I know this is a Twilight thread, but has anyone here read The Host?

 

The Host discussion

 

Thanks. You'd think, as long as I've been here, that I'd remember the handy dandy Search feature.

 

In the interest of fairness, I have to say that the story finally started picking up when the "others" showed up and the bit with the tracker, James, kicked in. The drudgery of the previous pages has gone away, and in her effort to make the story more tense, Meyer has finally knocked off the flowery and overblown descriptions, and in the sparseness of the prose starts to make it feel like a grown-up book at last.

(I would have liked to give Meyer the benefit of a doubt that the churlish style of most of the book was taking Bella's point of view as a whiny teenager perhaps farther than necessary, and that the writing would grow out of it as Bella did. But with so many people saying that the books go downhill from here, I'm not sure that's a hope I can hold on to very long.)

Bella has redeemed herself slightly by finally showing some thought for people other than herself, in protecting Charlie, not wanting to displace the Cullens, and going after her mom although it is likely to mean certain death for her.

I still roll my eyes when every couple pages someone tells Bella how damn special she is, can't she see? And I can't help feeling, despite how the author-via-Edward keeps protesting otherwise, that it was Bella's selfish actions, at least in part, that got everyone into this mess (I don't like that she won't learn anything with everyone telling her she has no culpability).

I'm also morbidly amused that in Meyer's sexually-repressed world, vampirism aka sexuality is likely to lead the vampire (penetrating male figure) into an uncontrollable, unquenchable lustful craving, while the victim (penetrating female figure) suffers the worst possible pain in the whole wide world, after which -- even if they manage to survive -- the victim's heart has ceased to beat. (Contrast with the Anne Rice vampirism, which is ecstasy for both the vampire and the "victim.")

So the book is still misogynistic and anti-female empowerment (Bella is a pawn being moved around by all of these other vampires, bending to the will of the most dominant male at any given time). But at least it started being entertaining and suspenseful. I just wonder if it needed to take 400 out of 500 pages to get there.

EDIT: Okay, finished within the edit window.

I don't like that James referred to her as having "no sense of her own self-interest" without it being ironic. If the story had picked up on Bella's shift from being selfish to selfless, then that would have been one thing. But I get the impression we're supposed to have been thinking that about Bella all along.

Anyway, I'll admit that the book ended much better than it started. Still not a book I would recommend to anyone else, personally. Since I already own New Moon, I'll also read that one. Whether I continue from there will remain to be seen, but I'm dubious of that given all I've read and heard.

 

Bella's selfish actions, at least in part, that got everyone into this mess

Eh, I saw it as an accident. The Cullens happened to take BElla out when James happened to be nearby and heard them.

 

Does anyone know when Breaking Dawn will be released in paperback in the UK?

 

Sorry, no idea. You might ask your local bookstore or check out the publisher's website.

 

I've just checked the website and it said:

So it was published last year which doesn't make sense as I can't find it anywhere.