The Proudfoot Review - Because Opinions Matter...
Although I'm pretty sure there's not a 12-step program for Twilight addiction, I must say that this series was a true page-turner. Stephenie Meyer has bitten into a genre that I would have said was pretty drained of potential, the "supernatural romance", and produced what will probably (and rightfully) be seen as its preeminent work.
Vampire fiction has been popular since Bram Stoker's Dracula, and there's always been an element of forbidden lusts and sensual temptations involved from the outset. Modern writers such as Anne Rice and Laurel K. Hamilton have tended to deal with the supernatural primarily as it relates to itself ? Rice's internecine feuds and vampiric politics, Hamilton's disturbing soft-core forays into werewolf/vampire/necromancer ménage à trois, the secret wars of the Underworld movies and the World of Darkness RPGs, etc. Humans figure in these works primarily as food, fools, or foils ? seldom anything more.
Meyer takes us back to a more Bram Stoker-ish approach in the first novel of this series, Twilight. Isabella Swan, or "Bella", as she prefers to be called, has just moved to Forks, Washington, to live with her father Charlie. She decided to do this, despite the fact that she hates Forks, because her flighty mother has decided to run off and tour with a minor-league baseball player and practical, independent Bella didn't want to be the one to stand in her way. She's dubious and angsty about this decision partly because she's sure she won't fit in, partly because it means moving from a big city to a small town, and partly because Forks is one of the rainiest, most perpetually-overcast places in the country.
All this changes, though, when she first visits the lunchroom at Forks High, and encounters the five enigmatic Cullen kids. They're movie-star gorgeous, filthy rich, and impossibly aloof. Aloof, that is, until Bella locks eyes with the unattached Edward, who happens to sit next to her in Biology and who seems simultaneously enraptured with and repelled by Bella in a way that is unique in her (and everyone else's) experience. Of course, she falls madly in love.
I'm kind of in a tough spot here; I don't want to blow any significant plot details, but I also want to review the whole series. It's not really a secret that Edward and his family turn out to be vampires, or that his issues with Bella arise from a heady mix of fascination and desire, both for her self and her blood. The Cullens have to balance their lifestyle and their need for secrecy against Edward's growing romance with Bella, and the first three books do a good job of exploring the complexities of this relationship as Edward masters himself and Bella learns more about the supernatural world she yearns to join. Of course, there are other factors that keep this from turning into an unopposed love story, and vampires aren't the only monsters lurking in the dark.
And then there's the fourth book, Breaking Dawn. I found this last book to be by far the best of the four in terms of sheer addictiveness. Meyer has grown a lot as a writer over the five short years it took her to get these books published. However, it's the one of the four that leaves the concerns of the human world far behind, so it's somewhat of a shift from the earlier novels. And although it weighs in as the longest of the four novels, it probably should have been longer still; she left a lot of loose ends untied and there were some sections of the book that could probably have used more explanation. Ideally she would have split it into two volumes; there was a really good breakpoint in the middle that would have served well for this purpose.
Of course, she might be holding back on us for possible sequels or spinoffs, as would be her right.
Meyer's greatest strength, in my opinion, is her excellent use of dialogue and her vivid characterization. There are a lot of characters in these books, yet they are all distinct, with clear motivations and well-realized personalities. The supernatural itself doesn't do the heavy lifting in these stories ? the characters' human (or inhuman) motivations and feelings are the real drivers, which gives these books a subtlety that other supernatural fiction lacks.
She also does a solid job with setting, plot and pacing, there really aren't any significant weaknesses in her writing, although I wouldn't put her in the top tier as a stylist. Her research, on the other hand, has a hole or two, there are some passages about genetics where I think she was confused about the differences between genes and chromosomes, but that's a very small speedbump in an otherwise excellent novel series. All in all, I am very sanguine about recommending these books to anyone who enjoys strong character-based fiction, well-realized female protagonists, and/or supernatural novels.
Reviewed by Matt Wigdahl
