Rating: - Don't Bother
In the midst of Harry Potter withdrawal, I began my search for a new YA saga worthy of the pedestal JK Rowling managed to build up. Along with a slew of others that managed to muster some semblance of a cult fan following (Spiderwick and Eragon among them), I was recommended the Twilight series.

I wanted to like this book; I really tried. And I thought that the hoards of obsessed teen girls who clog up these review sites had to be onto something. But then I started reading it. And I thought Eragon was bad...

If you're looking for an heir-apparent to Harry Potter, you might want to look elsewhere; Twilight is a pretender to the throne if there ever was one. The minimal plot revolves around Bella Swan, the newest inhabitant of Forks, which is apparently the rainiest little town in Washington State (I've never been to the real town, but I have lived in the vicinity of Seattle, and here's a little secret: it's nowhere near as rainy and dreary as most people think, and certainly not as much as Twilight's author seems to think). Bella, having decided to spend the summer in Forks with her police chief father instead of going to Florida with her mom and new step-dad, paints herself as the atypical Mary Sue: she's clumsy, brunette and apparently plain and unattractive, despite the fact that she has two boys drooling over her by the end of her first week in school. But Bella's too preoccupied with the resident A-crowd: the Cullen family, particularly Edward.

Ah, Edward; he's perhaps an even more wooden and one-dimensional character than Bella. He's beautiful and smart and perfect, and every plain, seldom-noticed teen girl's fantasy. Did I mention he's a vampire? But don't worry, he and his family don't drink human blood. See, they're the vampiric equivalent of vegetarians.

At first Bella is convinced Edward can't stand her, but it turns out he's just totally intoxicated by her smell, and wants to eat her. And so begins the long, entirely-too-drawn-out, tale of Romeo and Juliet- I mean, Edward and Bella. Apparently there's some action scenes at the end; I must admit, I never actually got there. And before anyone starts complaining about reviewers who never even finished the book, I honestly don't think I needed to finish it to get the gist of what happens. And in any case, once I got to the part where Edward explains to Bella why he and his siblings can't come to school when it's sunny out, I lost all ability to tolerate the idiocy. Aren't vampires supposed to be dangerous predators? Really, what possible survival advantage does sparkiliness serve? I don't think a vampire that dazzles in the sunlight would ever scare me, even as it's ripping out my throat.

But let's forget the dubious excuse for a plot and bizarre lack of research for a moment; for an author who professes to be so dedicated to her characters, they are rushed, undeveloped and shockingly-flat. Bella is a study in the good old fashioned damsel-in-distress; I can't, in good consciousness, call her a heroine, since she never actually seems to show any characteristics of one. (This is one thing I really like about the Harry Potter series: almost every female character in HP, be her good or bad, major or minor character is strong, intelligent, courageous, loyal and totally adamant in her beliefs, whichever side they happen to run towards). Bella likes to think of herself as the lonely outcast who has no friends, yet there are plenty of human kids in Forks who are eager to be her posse. She says she's shy, but she isn't. She thinks she's plain and undesirable, but clearly, that's not the case at all (by the time I stopped reading, she had a grand total of four boys fighting over her, and apparently the big bad vampire at the end joins the ranks). She may be able to ramble on about Shakespeare and cell division, but she's so ditzy and clumsy I'm glad she's not blonde (we have a bad enough rep as it is). She criticizes her mother for her neediness and naiveté, yet she herself can't seem to do anything on her own. Edward is constantly following her around, diving in just in time to save her from whatever distress she's found herself in.

As for the other characters, Meyers didn't seem to have taken a lot of time to elaborate on any of her secondary characters at all. Even the other Cullens weren't particularly interesting, just a mob of moody teenage vampires glaring around the school cafeteria disdainfully. The only character that I wanted to learn anything else about was Jacob, Bella's childhood friend who turns out to be a werewolf.

And then there's the writing; yes, this might not be full-fledged literature, but kids and YA fiction has come a long way. There are countless well-written, interesting kids fantasy series out there (and I'm not just talking about Harry Potter).

Twilight, on the other hand, is fanfiction, and it's not even good fanfiction. It reads like many of the stories Meyer's own fans write. The writing is juvenile, there weren't any plot twists to speak of, unless the arrival of the villain counts (as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't), and her multi-paragraph, adjective-laden descriptions of Edward every-other chapter are ridiculous and distracting.

At the risk of the wrath of a legion or seven of rabid fangirls, I am of the firmest opinion that there are far better alternatives to this badly-written garbage out there. This is fanfiction that someone decided should be published. And while they have certainly made a killing on the profits from this obsession, I don't believe the praise is at all deserved. Maybe if Meyers would take a writing class or two and spent more than a year writing her books, her future work might be tolerable. Until then, I'll pass on this saga.

Rating: - twighlight
my sister read this book and she said it was the best book she ever read.

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Rating: - Twilight
This book was for my daughter and she said that is was great and had me order the other 3 in the series.

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Rating: - A compelling Romance with Sci-Fi Flavor
I'm not part of the Teenage crowd (31year old mother of triplets), but to be fair Sci-Fi is my genre of choice, and that being said, this book fits in nicely with my tastes. I'm a sucker for a bit of the unusual mixed in with a nice Romance, and this book delivers.

Twilight is the compelling tale told from the perspective of an unlikely heroine, Isabella Swan, who moves to the rainy town of Fork in the Pacific Northwest to live with her father. Bella was never something special, she's akward, clumsy, always getting herself into 'sticky' situations. She can't see in herself what all of the boys were so interested in about her. (Like the majority of us, her self-esteem isn't fantastic).

But her sharp wit and biting sarcasm make her a character I can identify with. There's alot of humor in the book. Unlike most teenagers, she has no interest in the school dance, is annoyed by boys asking her out, and hates presents, parties and being the center of attention.

As the first book is set mostly at a highschool, and obviously the lead character thinks much as a highschoooler does (though her brain is wired a little differently), this story would be pegged as a teen book, but I know people from 16-55 who thoroughly enjoyed the ENTIRE series.

The writing could be a bit better, but the plot line is engaging, and I couldn't put the book down. The font is large, and the book though thick was an easy read and I was able to finish it in about 16 hours all together.

Stephanie Meyer's approach to vampire mythology is different, but *shrug* who are we to say what myths about vampires are true and which aren't. I was glad that we weren't burdened with the traditional definitions of vampirism, and that they're not very much at all as they're painted to be.

What's very entertaining is the story of an intense budding romance between a vampire, and what should be by all accounts 'prey'.

Here's a taste of some of what you can expect from Twilight

[I could feel his cool breath on my neck, feel his nose sliding along my jaw, inhaling.

'I thought you were desensitized.'

"Just because I'm resisting the wine doesn't mean i can't appreciate the bouquet," he whispered. "you have a very floral smell like lavendar... or freesia," he noted "it's mouth watering"

'yeah it's an off day when I don't get somebody telling me how edible I smell'.

He chuckled and then sighed.]

The story of Twilight drew me in and always held my interest. Every time Bella's heart raced, mine did too. By the end of the first book, Stephenie Meyer had me eating out of her hand, and the 'peak' at the next book had me lining up to buy the next as soon as i was through with the first.

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Rating: - Good Read if You're a 13 yo Girl.
Very easy read. The story moves along at a fairly good pace. I only read this book because I wanted to see what all the "hype" was about for myself, but was a bit disappointed. Readers of the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice will find this (for the lack of a better word) "weak".