All together, the books are mediocre, but they definitely blow the movie out of the water. What I saw of the movie, anyway.
I wouldn't recommend for anyone to read them but I wouldn't try to discourage anyone from reading them either. I started reading and liking the series before it got famous, but with the pre-teen hype explosion, steady decrease in quality of storytelling, and horrible finale the series has turned into pure meh, effectively killing all of my love for it. If you are merely curious about the series, and would prefer not to DL the e-book, you could just check it out at your local library instead of buying it. I'm sure it has like 20 copies of Twilight. IMO a quick skim of the first 35 pages or so would give you a clear idea of if you would be interested in the novels or not.
Meyer's other book The Host is definitely worth reading though.. I won't get too into details but it is a science fiction tale that is aimed towards a more adult audience. The setting is earth, and it has been invaded by aliens who basically take over the minds of humans and inhabit their bodies. It is from the point of view of one of the aliens and follows her revelations and experiences with "humanity". The book won major points for me because of the character development and the emotions. It's a bit dissapointing that Twilight gets so much hype merely because of fangirls and most people don't know about her book that actually deserves literary merit. If you're going to read anything by Meyer, you should read The Host.
PS - Or perhaps I just have a soft spot for epic tales about humanity. I am in love with Neal Shusterman's novels such as Unwind and Scorpion Shards, as well as House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer and Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials...
PPS - I might be eggagerating. The first three quarters of the series isn't that bad, but I'd like to note that an immense amount of my enjoyment from the second book on was derived from seeing Bella suffer, as I considered her to be one of the most whiney and weak characters on the face of the planet. Most of her problems arose from her self inflicted emotional turmoil. She was and is incredibly emo, moping around waiting for her boyfriend who ditched her to come back, or to die slowly because she's a mortal human. The fourth book really was a disaster though.
Reply With Quote