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nevadagrrl's review
- 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
merah's review
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Stalking
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racism, Self harm, Suicide attempt, War, Violence, and Torture
theresabee's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Gaslighting, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Violence
zoe_archambault's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Jacob is barely in it, Edward is gross and manipulative, Bella is absolutely useless and super cringe to read through her perspective. But it was fun and fast and served it’s purpose as good junk food guilty pleasure of a book.
The last 3rd was really not great with the sudden threat, it didn’t flow with the rest, it felt rushed and unnecessary, I just wanted a shitty romance, I didn’t want half-assed drama.
Don’t regret reading it, I overall enjoyed it, but I won’t be reading it again nor will I be reading the others in the series.
Graphic: Blood, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Death and Emotional abuse
toadsandtales'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
2.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Cultural appropriation, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Addiction, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Car accident
Minor: Body shaming, Misogyny, Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Medical content, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
chloevienna's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Blood, Suicide attempt, Violence, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body horror, Car accident, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders
elderflower's review
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence
aysha_child's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.5
Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Physical abuse
jonsnowsmanbun's review
- 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? No
2.0
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, and Violence