Review: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Oh to be a teenage girl, new in town, somehow making friends easily in your new school, and finding out that your teenage crush is actually a 100 year old vampire stuck in his 17-year-old body and is especially infatuated with the scent of your blood (translation, he wants to suck your blood dry if he could). Hm, if the vampire is anything like Bram Stoker's Dracula, the story will have a Van Helsing trying to kill Dracula to save the heroine. Stephenie Meyer's version however, is a romance, and yes, the girl, Bella is in love with Edward, the vampire, and the vampire also loves her back, all while trying very very hard not to accidentally kill her. Not your typical teenage romance at all. This bestselling teenage vampire fantasy by Stephenie Meyer has met with an almost "Harry Potter" level of fan-dom, although its not without its critics. But who cares about critics if you have the best selling book of 2008 and a blockbuster movie.

Bella's life seemed like a typical teenager trying to fit in after moving back in with her divorced dad, until Edward stopped a van from hitting Bella by pushing it away with his hands. She tried to figure out how Edward managed to save her life, and finally discovered the local legend about a family of vampires that only drink animals blood. After Edward saved Bella yet again, they became close and fell in love and Edward even brought Bella home to meet his vampire family, the Cullens. Bella amazingly was not afraid at all of being close with vampires, even when kissing or hugging, the typical human couples stuff, something that Edward finds uncomfortable at times, because he had to struggle hard to not hurt her. It seemed that they would be able to overcome the risks of a vampire-human romance, until a trio of vampires came into town, and they don't particularly care for animals blood.

Twilight is written from Bella's point of view, with her thoughts and even dreams detailed to help you further imagine that you yourself is living Bella's life. Bella's awkwardness in her relationship with her dad, her unhappiness when she first arrived in the cloudy and rainy Forks from the sunny Arizona, her clumsiness, and her uneasiness with the attention of several boys in school, is one of the attractiveness of the book. All typical teenage life. With a twist, a twist with sharp pointy fangs.

If you like Twilight, do read its sequels; New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn; the action and plot becomes more interesting, an exasperating, with a love triangle and more scary villains. I was not a fan of the Anne Rice vampire series, but after reading Twilight and its sequels (reviews to come), I somehow discovered a new love for what is called urban fantasies, fantasy (vampire/supernatural) series set in an urban environment. Among new excellent series I've discovered is the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, a vampire and shapeshifters series set in an alternate world where vampires live openly among us by drinking synthetic blood. If you are an adult and liked Twilight, your should definitely read the Sookie Stackhouse series too. They're currently on my reading list and will be reviewed soon.