sav_22's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Blood, Mental illness, and Stalking
cryptidofcreation's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Like many, I have a complicated relationship with the Twilight saga. It is so bad but so good.
It is a terrible book, but it's unintentionally so unhinged and funny.
It also really puts me in the mood for fall! Especially when having the movie soundtrack play in the background while reading.
When I read it for the first time when the books first came out I read Twilight in Dutch.
This was my first read through in English and I have to say I was surprised to find out that Stephenie Meyer isn't a bad writer! The writing style is easy and enjoyable to read in my opinion. However, I will forever be convinced Stephanie was meant to be a thriller/horror author who for some reason stumbled into the romance genre.
All and all, I had fun rereading Twilight and will be rereading the rest of the series.
When the book first came out I read a bit of midnight sun. I was told it justifies a lot of Edwards actions when you read the story from his perspective. It did not. It made it worse. I love this dumpster fire of a book series.
Read at your own risk. You will never be the same.
Ps: Alice is and always will be the BEST character
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Torture, and Physical abuse
Minor: Death, Car accident, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexism, Suicide attempt, and Grief
lonely_tardigrade's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Graphic: Car accident, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Stalking, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Confinement, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture
Minor: Sexual content, Death of parent, Cannibalism, Death, and Rape
warlockdorian's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Medical content, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Stalking, and Gaslighting
macliffe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Stalking
Moderate: Gore, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Blood
Minor: Torture, Pedophilia, Medical content, Mental illness, and Kidnapping
xaidar_05's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Spoiler
:This was the first series I ever read in the beginning of my reading journey. I first picked it up in the 6th grade because the movies had such a place in my heart, and I started to enjoy reading, so why not pick up the series, right?
Anyway, I’m about to start my first semester of college so I picked up this book again because I wanted to see if it was as weird as I remembered. Let’s just say past me was right. The characters are bland no depth at all. There is really no motivation in these characters, they’re so flat and the plot is none existent, except at the VERY end.
Bella, our main character, is a carbon copy of all main protagonist of the time. Brown hair, brown eyes, and paper white skin. She has no back story at all. All you get is that her mom left her sweet dad and moved across the country with no thought with Bella, who was a newborn baby. That’s it and that she hates Forks, the place her dad lives.
Then you find out Bella has no respect to her father at all. Even though he’s a sweet awkward man who is taking her into his home, exited to finally see and live with Bella again. She is the most ungrateful person too. She monologues how she calls him “Charlie” regularly and only in front of him calls him “dad” which is the most wtf moment in the beginning for me. Through some back story you learn that Charlie loves and tries to connect to Bella and make an effort while this fool, Bella, disrespects and alienates him to her. Charlie did try.
Anyway, something that really worries me is Bella and Edwards “relationship”.
Spoiler
First off Edward is first introduce at lunch from afar. Then we truly meet him in Biology where Edweird covers his mouth and nose like Bella stinks and when Bella meets his eyes she sees that he is glaring at her and looking all creepy and making her uncomfortable. But this doesn’t stop Bella from FALLING IN LOVE WITH HIM. Her first impression is, “He makes me feel uncomfortable and prey like” then she goes and falls for the guy without a care.Now, Edward, it turns out is a creepy, stalker, pervert, gaslighter. We learn through a conversation that he watches her sleep and follows her around like a STALKER. Bella sees no issue she just thinks it’s qUiRkY and so cUtE.
Girl, no it is not. It is some predatory abusive behavior, you are 17 you should know some of this by now. </Spoiler>
So to conclude this rant of a review, I feel this is a weird book, to put it lightly. In my opinion young impressionable girls or boys should take in mind when reading this that relationships are not supposed to look like this. A man who wants you because of one thing, like Edweird with Bella’s blood, is not healthy. And if they try to control you or your actions and try to make you sound insane, like Edweird with gaslighting Bella in the hospital, that it’s not normal or a healthy standard to have. I hope young kids don’t think that it’s right.
However, if you enjoy these books that okay. I’m not bashing your opinion in anyway. This is just mine and what I see when reading this book. I won’t lie this series is a guilty pleasure to me. However I can still see and understand the flaws in this series.
I can’t with the books but the movies will always be my preference, I just enjoy them more and get nostalgia when watching. If you enjoy these books keep enjoying them, don’t mind my opinion, just do you.
Moderate: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, and Adult/minor relationship
lisa_m's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I was so ready to be done with it I listened to the last half of the audiobook at 2,55x speed.
Giving Twilight a 1star rating somehow feels so incredibly misogynistic..? I promise I'm not just shitting on something teenage girls love. It is not a good book and I won't fully get into why exactly here, because I just can't be bothered. I already wasted too much time reading this book...
If you like Twilight, maybe do not read this review. I don't want to make you mad, but I really did not have a good time reading it.
It's quite similar to the movie but so much less entertaining. It's just really irritating.
I know I'm not the target audience but I honestly do not think I would have liked it if I read it when I was younger.
I still hate Edward and Bella is boring. We got some more backstory for Alice which was interesting. Besides that though nothing much is new.
The kind of obsession portrayed in this book is ridiculous and honestly not warranted. I don't understand WHY Edward and Bella like each other, except for the fact that they are both 💫different💫...? Bella is so obsessed with Edward pretty much from the first time she sees him and I do not understand it!
I was quite surprised that reading this book actually felt like reading any other mediocre fantasy book. It is truly nothing special. I thought it would at least make me angry, if not make me laugh. It did neither. I got annoyed and bored and sometimes disgusted. That's it.
If you haven't read this book yet, don't. The movie shows you everything you need to know. I promise you're not missing out on anything.
I honestly feel like this was a waste of my time, but at least now I can brag (?) about having read Twilight?
Definitely won't be continuing the series though or reading anything else by Stephenie Meyer. I assume it's only going to get worse.
I feel like Twilight deserves 1.5 stars simply for being such a cult classic that I felt like I missed out on a great experience by not having read it. I thought I could hate-love this like I do the Twilight movies,... but I don't.
Moderate: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Addiction, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Cultural appropriation, Physical abuse, Stalking, and Violence
grboph's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Car accident, Confinement, Violence, Medical content, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Death, and Abandonment
nevadagrrl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Beyond that, your immortal, what do you do? Keep going to high school for eternity. Mkay.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Stalking, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping
soundlysmitten's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I think I was ten or eleven when a friend let me borrow her copy of Twilight. The suspense kept me turning pages through church, lmao. Putting myself in Bella’s place, I remember feeling really frustrated at times, but also like the swoon worthy moments absolutely made up for all the unfairness.
This time around, I felt more detached. Which is to be expected, lol. But while I still found Edward’s patronizing chuckle irritating, I was unimpressed by his “musical voice”, and did not so much as sigh. I couldn’t overlook how controlling he is in every little matter or how he talks down to Bella like she’s completely incompetent when she got by just fine on her own before she met him. Moreover, I couldn’t make allowances for how various other characters also take away Bella’s agency at his discretion (i.e. Emmett restraining her, Jasper manipulating her emotions, all of them keeping her in the dark/making decisions without her). And I couldn’t deny the fact that Bella often responds to toxic behavior in unhealthy ways (i.e. being flattered when Edward spies on her and stalks her, feeling like it’s a commendable thing for him to give her the occasional choice in a matter, not breaking up with him when he threatens to get her nurses to drug her into unconsciousness...)
Basically, Edward is obsessed with Bella in the scary sense and Bella’s got major blinders on. He watches her sleep and wants to drink her blood, and she thinks it’s a romantic display of trust not to let anyone know when she plans to be alone with him. In my opinion, she isn’t a great heroine, nor he a great hero. I get that the danger, intensity, and singularity of their love is supposed to make their story epic, but as an adult, insta love can be hard to find compelling regardless. And the way it plays out in this saga seems a bit foolish to me. Of course forgetting about the rest of the world and valuing your relationship over your wellbeing is not unheard of. But the concept in and of itself is obviously not something to celebrate, and most people would hopefully draw a line before sacrificing their humanity to bank on forever with somebody they met at seventeen 😅
Despite everything mentioned above, I’d say the writing style is alright for a YA novel meant to be accessible to younger audiences. It’s not exactly gorgeous prose, and there is some annoying and inconsistent characterization as well as a few nonsensical lines of reasoning, but everything that made me cringe had to do with content rather than delivery. In general, the language flows pretty well. The pacing seems odd at times, though. And I’m not sure whether the little twists pull any weight cause I’m too familiar with the story at this point to fairly evaluate.
However, something I haven’t considered since my first read through is the novel’s misrepresentation of Native American culture and the author’s appropriation of the Quileute tribe. The number of problematic attempts at humor—which include Bella saying she’s so clumsy she’s “almost disabled” and trying to make a joke out of albinism—also previously went over my head. And there’s a stupid part I didn’t recall in which Bella takes “unnecessary cold medicine” cause she’s too hyped on Edward to sleep. Like, I know a kid could get into a lot worse both drug and activity wise... but really?
Okay, that’s all from me.
Just kidding—back to pose a question on the incident in Port Angeles. Bella almost gets snatched and Edward tells her: “Only you could get into trouble in a town this small. You would have devastated their crime rate statistics for a decade, you know.” Anyone else think his comment is a little blame-the-victim, and that it’s messed up to fabricate attempted assault just to support the notion that a woman is incapable of taking care of herself?
Yes, fiction is fiction. But the media we consume plays a role in shaping our culture, and we consume a lot of it, so I’d personally like to see better standards set in fictional works. Especially when a piece is marketed towards young readers. I think books with controversial content should be examined and discussed, though, rather than put on a black list. And I don’t think it’s right to judge anyone for the way a story resonates with them. So if you like Twilight cause nostalgia or cause fiction is fiction and the story just gives you the feels—I hope you do so shamelessly. (Fuck misogynistic hate).
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Blood, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Stalking, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Violence