Breaking Dawn / Stephenie Meyer

Breaking Dawn

category: romance, author:

Stephenie Meyer

book 4 of Twilight
original copyright 2008,
read in May 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 8 out of 10

At last (for me) the final chapter in the Twilight saga! And what a saga it has been... Oh! the suffering! Oh! the drama! Oh! the romance...!

Yes, I have enjoyed Breaking Dawn just as much as I enjoyed books one, two and three in the Twilight series. There is, however, one major strength which is also a weakness, in this final book of the series.

Typically enough -- as the fourth book -- you expect that the weakness is to do with unfamiliarity with the characters. Unfamiliarity for the reader who starts at book four, that is. Well, no...

Aside: Category: romance? Yes, definitely. Romance is the main theme of the entire series. Fantasy? Yes, there are plenty of fantasy elements. And I don't just mean that true love is a fantasy! Horror? Hardly! Still... there are vampires, there are werewolves, there is sudden death and threat of sudden death. So, okay, add the horror label... Really, though, this is pure romance set in a world of fantasy.

This book is a conclusion. A wrap-up. In fact, I only started reading the Twilight series because of a book review which said that this book was a good conclusion... So I started reading only because I had been promised a satisfactory ending. (In general I tend to avoid books which become instant cult fiction. On the unsubstantiated grounds that cult means rubbish and that a cult series means never-ending rubbish.)

So, this book is definitely a conclusion.

Eclipse / Stephenie Meyer

Eclipse

category: romance, fantasy, author:

Stephenie Meyer

book 3 of Twilight
original copyright 2007,
read in October 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 9 out of 10

Okay, I'm just a sucker for a great romance! And by "great" I mean, where the girl is kissing the guy -- so she forgets to breathe... Aaaaaahhhhh shucks :-)

I had delayed reading Eclipse for a couple of months. I had the book, just didn't pick it up. The feeling was, How much sap could I handle in one year?

I picked up Eclipse. Started reading... And just could not stop. I finished the book in a day. And enjoyed every minute of it!

About half-way through you realise, there is going to be a big battle, very soon, with vampires, werewolves and one human in the middle...

Another 200 pages of breaking hearts, anguished romantic suffering, despair, guilt and forgiveness -- and the battle is still to come...

More pages of love and (controlled) lust and longing, then one very individual battle... The heroine prepares to sacrifice herself for the cause of good (and the hero is heard to give yet another exasperated sigh at the heroine's silliness -- truly!)... Oh, and the big battle just happened, off-screen...

And all that's left is unresolved heartbreak for the odd member of the romantic triangle. "All"?! The ghastliness of the loser's fate is an entire, heart-wrenching epilogue!

Absolutely brilliant! I am really, really looking forward to reading the final book of Twilight!

Sigh...

The overall Twilight plot has also gained some depth.

Why don't they just stop sighing, get married, get vampired and enjoy life? Now I have a better understanding of why not. Where did all those werewolves come from, just at the right time? Now we know. Is "cuddling" just a euphemism for what is really going on? Well...

This book really hits the deep patches of teenage sexuality. "Don't worry Dad," says our heroine, "I'm still a... [mutter] virgin ... and I [blush] intend to remain that way until ... married." And that's it. Just for those who did not really follow the story...

This is a book for "young adults". I am not "young". (There are those who would say I am not "adult", either, but that's by the bye.) No mixed messages, no forcing adult ideas onto unwilling or too-willing teenagers.

A great book, for all ages. Just be prepared for a lot of heart-wrenching angst and anguish.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

New Moon / Stephenie Meyer

New Moon

(category: fantasy, romance)
book 2 of Twilight by

Stephenie Meyer

published by Atom in 2006
Nick read a new book, in March 2010

Nick's rating: 8 out of 10

Nick's opinion:

Another great romance! Okay, I've also labelled it as a fantasy but romance is the main theme: Bella still has to remind herself to breathe when she is kissing Edward. There are hints that this love may be even more; that Bella and Edward are linked at some mystic level of conjoined souls; that there is some physical requirement for proximity, that the two will physically collapse if their love is not requited.

Still, any reader of romances knows that that is all true of any pair of true lovers.

I did feel that New Moon was shading into "horror" but it's a relatively light touch. It is, however, definitely "fantasy". Twilight could almost have been pure romance: tweak here, minor rewrite there, make Edward an innocent member of a Mafia family, the fantasy could have been downplayed even further. New Moon depends on the fantasy element: if Jacob was able to put on a suit and tie and become an FBI agent, the book would just not be the same.

You could almost see these first two Twilight volumes as being chapters one through four of a single novel: first, introduce Bella and Edward, then introduce Jacob and the Volturi. Next volume will -- I hope -- build up the conflict, to be resolved in volume four. I look forward to it!

An aside on the Volturi: They live in a castle, in the walled Italian town of Volterra. Top of a mountain, cramped town with narrow streets, car park outside... Is this the same town that was visited -- at great peril -- by the hero of The Genesis Code? Or is Italy just littered with these closed-in, closed-off towns of mystery...

I was surprised, in New Moon, at how small a role was played by vampires. My mistake: I had understood the books to be about vampires but the fantasy scope is much broader than that. I enjoyed meeting Jacob and his friends; I appreciated the heartbreak of his one-sided love -- with no expectation (for the reader) that Bella would ever love him in return. His brave acceptance that he is suddenly no good for Bella -- then he is dropped, without ceremony, when Edward returns to Bella's life. Ah! young love! Oh! the pain!

New Moon is every bit as good as Twilight. Perhaps even better... I had been wondering just where the author could go with the human/vampire love story. My wondering has been more than satisfied. I look forward to reading books three and four... but not immediately. There is, after all, a limit -- be still, my beating heart! -- to the level of tormented romance which I can handle at any one time.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes & documents, email nick leth at gmail dot com.

Twilight / Stephenie Meyer

Twilight

by

Stephenie Meyer

published by Atom in 2005
read by Agamedes in July 2009
fantasy (romance)
book 1 of Twilight

What a great book! Teen angst, smouldering good looks, love at first sight -- and I do mean love, not lust... The angst is not, should we have sex, but should I rip out her throat and drink her blood. The morality is pure Biggles: I gave my word therefore that is what I shall do. When the heroine kisses the hero she faints -- because she forgot to breathe! Wow! Hey, it’s all over the top -- but a lot of fun. The only dislikeable character is so two-dimensional that he barely registers except as a threat, soon resolved. I also like -- and fully support -- the idea that a vampire can choose to suck blood or not. I’m looking forward to reading the next Twilight book. But I will read some unrelated books first; there’s a limit to how much teenage love I can handle in one sitting. Speaking of which, a good solution to a teenage girl’s yearnings: the boyfriend is both a fellow teenager and an experienced, older man...

Agamedes' rating: 7 out of 10