Read Twilight, can't find anything better!

[Nick B]

I havn't read any of thetTwilight series (vampires, like zombies have been incredibly overdone for so long now) but I have read, and very much enjoyed The Host. Its pretty much just a take on invasion of the body snatchers, but an easy, enjoyable read that doesnt tax or challenge the reader.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I picked up four of the series for 67cent (EU) each out of curiosity last month in Charity shop. I might read one at least to see what the fuss is about.

 

[VKALFIERI]

The only reason anyone ever needs to hate Twilight is: Sparkly Vampires. Completely ruins vampires. They're meant to shrivel up and die in the sun, not sparkle!

 

[Beamer01]

It was a readable set of books. And if a new book were to come out I would provably read it, but I do not consider them to be great books. They did help make urban fantasy more popular though which I consider good, because I enjoy the genre. There are a lots of better books and series in the urban fantasy category. But for what its worth I have seen a lot of worse movies made, from books I liked better.

 

[Bashfull]

I had a pupil who was an avid reader. She loved the Twilight series. I recommended Tales of the Otori. She read it and said she preferred it. Maybe she was just polite but she read them all.

 

[Danny McG]

I havn't read any of thetTwilight series (vampires, like zombies have been incredibly overdone for so long now) but I have read, and very much enjoyed The Host. Its pretty much just a take on invasion of the body snatchers, but an easy, enjoyable read that doesnt tax or challenge the reader.

I read that and quite enjoyed it. Watched twenty minutes of the film and my brain switched off - followed by my television

 

[Alexa]

I read the saga a while ago, but I watch the movies from time to time. I have a question that really bothers me and maybe you can help me. Anyone knows how Alice joins Carlisle ?

 

[doris.ehcd]

Depending on how old you are, you may wish to try 'A Discovery of Witches'. It's been dubbed 'an adult version of Twilight', but I wouldn't let that put you off if your a good reader!

I'm yet to get into it myself, it's starting to collect dust on my shelf, but I will get round to it. Got far too many books to get through just now. Going by reviews from a couple of my friends and a work colleague, it's really worth it! :]

I second this recommendation of Discovery of Witches - it's a more mature (in the sense of older characters, not explicit content) and semi-historical trilogy that Twilight readers will love if they don't mind the relatively slower pacing. It's well worth a read!

 

[Danny Creasy]

The only reason anyone ever needs to hate Twilight is: Sparkly Vampires.

 

[olive]

The problem is not the sparkling vampires. It is the vocabulary, it is the way it is written; it is the text itself. It's bad literature that lets us peek into a very unhealthy vision of life, the dark side of popular culture. I don't mean 'oh, it gives the wrong message', it is not that, we don't read to get messages. I mean, it revealed something very unhealthy in a massive scale. Ironically the bad writing revealed that. From the writing point, "It's not what you write about, it is how you write it." You can write about the most ridiculous, absurd, even vague theme on earth and if you do it 'right', it could become a Metamorphosis or Ulysses.

The writer cannot convince anyone who has enjoyed a text with a vocabulary more than 5000 words -not the word count, the vocabulary- about the world and the characters she created. They don't have personalities, let alone depth. Characters are like manifactured plastic objects with a label on it in a 1 dollar store. Events and phenomena are just thrown out there an imposed; 'because it happens that way'.

The only thing we are convinced is how obsessive the protagonist becomes with a 17 year old looking vampire, without any reason or rhyme other than teenage angst and hormonal crisis, because he is so unbelievably, indescribably, divinely, heavenly handsome and filthy rich. And we are reminded of this over and over again, because that is the only thing about Bella Swan. Ironically, she is described as a mature, even an old soul for his age, but you know he is so unbelievably, indescribably, divinely, heavenly handsome and not to mention, filthy rich. That's what defines her.

Meanwhile, the vampire is extra thirsty for her blood, because he just is, and it is so unbearable for him, he even thinks about leaving that side of the world. So if he eats her, it is a big problem. Being a vampire he is physically so superior, he can run to Brazil. So he literaly can carry her to another continent, eat her there get rid of the problem and then come back, noone would be the wiser. Because she is a threat to the existence of his own species and family in the tiny tiny town -where the general iq is around 70- he lives in without growing old for decades without noone noticing, while he continues to attend high school with his heavenly, divinely beautiful siblings over and over again all over the place.

He is a good character, because he doesn't drink human blood and doesn't believe in sex before marriage. We can over look his hobbies of reading people's minds and watching a girl sleeping in her bed in her bedroom. Why is he interested in this girl? Apparently, because he can't read her thoughts. Why on earth the thoughts of an ordinary 17 year old girl -another point that is overemphasized; she is ordinary, plain- in high school is so interesting to a 100 something years old, immortal being is not given to us, but we are also expected to be convinced that he is in madly love with her and ready to do burn the world down and a girl is with a so powerful death wish, it borders on sheer stupidity.

Why? How? When? Which character developed when? Because of what? What is going on? It's this: because he is so unbelievably, indescribably, divinely, heavenly handsome, but she is so ordinary, plain and he can't read her thoughts while he wants to drink her blood oh so badly.

I reiterate, all these points I counted above randomly, can be written in a different, convincing way. But the writer so awfully fails to convince the reader about the plot, events, characters and the entire world she created, naturally, majority of the people step back and read the story from every other point possible, but its own. The story over all doesn't give you anything to evaluate itself. Two dimensional, empty, no room for anything it attempts to impose... It pushes you to the real world to make socological assumptions and leave you cold in the dark.

Forget teenagers, they are teenagers. This series have an enormous adult female fandom. All you can think is 'this is the female culture we created'. Empty, plastic, shiny things to obsess over with a deadly 6 year old entitlement, while demanding absolute security. This is what this story tells when you step out of it.

This is why most people hate these books. It's bad literature reflecting on the dark side of the popular culture. And it is far more complicated than 'it is just a book...' or 'each to its own'... or 'the matter of taste'. It's not literature, but a mindless material created to satisfy a certain vision of life.