Twilight

I must admit, I was rather biased when I started to read Twilight. I had heard a lot about it and almost everything I’d heard was negative. In the beginning I felt like the book was dragging on, but once the action started I couldn’t get my eyes off it.

The language used is not fairly difficult and the topic can be understood from quite a young age, therefore I would recommend it to children from the ages of 12 to 14. I think children from around this age will feel connected with the main characters because they will also find or be searching for their first love. It also provides the insight that you don’t have to find your love early on, because Bella is 17 and Edward is almost a century old and hadn’t found his first love until now.

Another confession I have to make; I am actually enjoying having to read so much. At first I was a bit reluctant, for I thought I would never be able to keep reading that much and being convinced I wouldn’t like having to read obligatory. The outcome is the exact opposite and I think - without wanting to sound too cheesy - I have renewed my love for reading by reading books that are ‘easy to read’.

I liked the fact that it is about kind of a whirlwind romance, even though some of it sounds a little too romanticized, it is still fun to read. The book also made me curious; why is Edward able to read everyone’s thoughts but not Bella’s? Why is Bella not shocked when she finds out he is a vampire? And so on, this keeps the reader, or at least me, interested and willing to keep reading on. I think I will even read the rest of the series to find out what the innate attraction between the two of them is and whether Bella will eventually be turned or not. I think she will, but in the last book or so.

What I found less enjoyable, was the book not really finishing. I know it is one of a series, but I would have liked some sort of ending. And it leaves open what really happened to James as well as it jumps forward suddenly to the night of the prom. These jumps forward or gaps in explanation make me think too much about what happened in the ‘missing’ time, whereas I like to be drifting away in a book, not having to think about too many things.

In this book, I did not really identify with any of the characters except for the romance part; every girl likes it when she is taken care of.

After reading the book, I think a lot of the fuss is cultivated; it is nothing extreme, either good or bad. Even though I was pleasantly surprised once again, I still wouldn’t call it an amazing book, however, still fun to read. This might sound odd as I just said I was planning on reading the rest of the series, but honestly, that is just to satisfy my own feeling of curiosity and not being able to handle a book without a proper ending.