Book Review: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Guess who’s back from Mars to write another biased review? Yep. Me. So, the book I'm going to be reviewing right now is a bit of an acquired taste. Not everyone likes Twilight. And some people like it solely for Vampire Rob Pattinson. (It's me. I'm some people.) Twilight by Stephenie Meyer was one of the first books I've ever read. I didn’t know I liked the beauty and the beast trope until I read this. Twilight was the starting point of my Wattpad phase. (Where I was thoroughly disappointed cause Wattpad did not have sparkly vampires.)

The book begins with a prologue where the narrator, AKA Bella, who’s dying. She talks about everything that has led her to this point and doesn’t regret her choices. You know, the noble and icky stuff. The story moves on. Bella comes to stay with her father in the dreary old town of Forks from the sunny and bright atmosphere of Phoenix. She goes to school and makes friends quickly. Receives more than usual attention from the boys. A normal day in a normal school. She should be happy. But that wouldn’t make a good story so here we introduce the other main character.

Five people. Three boys and two girls. The inhumanly beautiful Cullens. Siblings, Bella is told even though they look nothing like each other, save for the pale skin and golden eyes. Bella is immediately drawn to the youngest. Edward Cullen. The way she's obsessed with him is no joke. Even when he regards her with complete hostility. I mean, come on. She’s made to sit next to him in Biology and the boy disappears for an entire week!

Bella slowly adapts and goes on about her life slowly in Forks. It's all going smooth until the day Edward returns and she's walking down the parking lot with her earphones plugged in, music on full blast. Obviously, she can't hear it coming. Edward shields her from is using his body. (This is why you shouldn’t listen to music walking down the road kids. Keep it in mind. There won't be a sparkly vampire to save you.) Bella is confused and completely baffled by Edward’s strength, but he won't give her an explanation.

There are more incidents that hint towards Edward’s vampiric nature and Bella only puts the pieces together after her visit to La Push, where she meets Jacob Black. Jacob tells her about the cold ones and the word around the reservations is that the Cullens are vampires. A couple of weeks later, Bella goes to Port Angeles with a few friends where she gets lost in search of a bookstore. She's harassed by a group of thugs but Edward drives up in his shiny Volvo and saves her. (The rest of you, keep a pepper spray. You don’t have an Edward. If you do, then he’s definitely not a vampire with superhuman senses.)

They have dinner together and on their way back to Forks, Edwards admits to being a vampire. He says he doesn’t want to be a monster, so he drinks only animal blood but her blood makes him extra thirsty. Despite knowing that, Bella concludes that she’s in love with him. Edward warns her to stay away from him and be afraid but obviously, she refuses. (Find me a dumber person, I’ll wait)

The next day, Bella and Edward take a mini field trip to a meadow where he reveals his sparkly skin. Then he spends the night watching over her in her room without her dad knowing. Then she visits his family and learns more about what a vampire is, and how they don’t drink human blood. That night, Jacob and his father Billy, who happens to be her Dad’s friend, pay a little visit to her house. Billy knows the Cullens’ secret and warns her to stay away. After the Blacks leave, Edward shows up in a jeep to take her to a baseball game which happens to be a Cullen family bonding ritual.

The game is too fast-paced for Bella to keep track, so Esme (Edward’s ‘mother’) gives her a rundown of what is happening.

Halfway through the game, three other vampires show up. One named James takes an instant liking to Bella (in the i-want-to-drain-you-dry kind of way). Though the Cullens take Bella away to a safe hiding place in Phoenix, James lures her out by telling her he’s captured her mom. Bella, being the foolish and dumb human, falls for his trap and goes out to meet him in her old ballet studio, where he attacks her. (This is where the prologue takes place.) The Cullens arrive just in time to rip James apart (literally) but the problem was, James had already bitten Bella. If someone didn’t suck out the venom-infected blood out of her, she would turn into a vampire. Edward somehow manages and she’s saved and completely human.

They take Bella to a hospital and the analysis is that she's completely banged up but will live. And she and Edward are hopelessly in love with each other. They argue cause Bella wants to turn but Edward refuses. But they get past that and Edward surprises her by taking her to prom. (She cries in frustration because he’s taking her. SMH, can’t relate.) Jacob turns up to say that Billy wants her to dump Edward and that they ‘will be watching’. Bella refuses and you have a happy ending for Book One. 

Overall, the series is not much interesting. It intrigued my thirteen-year-old self and I read it back then. But the sole reason why I wrote this summary/review is that there are so many people who want to know the story shortly and nicely without having to Wikipedia or read the book. If you are one of those, then you’re welcome for this. Meyer’s writing style is very teenager-ish and catchy but personally, this made reading the later books very stressful. I had to force myself through the last half of Breaking Dawn, ngl. But if you're into the cliché weak and self-righteous main female lead and a sparkly male vampire, this is the book for you. I won't stop you from reading it but you’ve been warned.