Twilight: Final Thoughts

I finally finished Twilight on Saturday. I am so relieved to finish it! I know I've mentioned this before, but 498 pages really is too long for this book. I understand the fleshing out of characters and how important it is to a story, especially a series, but this was overkill.

I find Bella's character to be quite whiny and too absorbed in Edward. The author tries to make her seem brave by her continued association with Edward but it ends up feeling like she is obsessed with him, not in love with him.

Edward, though charming about midway through the book, also bothers me. His transformation is too quick. I know that sounds weird when I just said the book was too long, but it feels like his human-like emotions come out too quickly and easily. He should have more conflict about these new emotions.

The last third of the book was the best because the pace was a bit faster and you got to know more about the Cullen family and how they came to be. The first two thirds of the book dragged this out. It wasn't a shock that the family were vampires, heck it's in the summary of the book, but the author decided to drag out the obvious for far too long.

I can see why this book has legions of teen fans. Edward is handsome, charming, and dangerous as well. Everything a young woman could want. But what frustrates me is how he seems to possess Bella like she is his property. He always has to rescue her, even from the tiny things that she should be able to manage on her own.

To sum up, Twilight is good for those days when you want to read something easy with a happy ending. Not so good if you want to read about the inevitable conflict that should arise when a human dates a vampire.