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A review by dominiqueisageek
Twilight / Life and Death by Stephenie Meyer
3.0
I'm not going to lie. I actually kind of enjoyed this, but I have some problems with it - hence 3 stars.
1. I liked Beau. I found him to be an interesting character, and Meyer manages to make him believable. I was glad to see a distinct lack of fart jokes. Beau is very likeable, although he says some stupid stuff sometimes - which is acceptable for a teenager. I also like how he thought about Edythe (as weird as that sounds...) and his mental attitude towards her.
2. Not sure how I feel about Edythe. She's an interesting character, but I think that she may be filled with even more self-loathing than Edward. I didn't feel like I got to know her very well in this story at all.
3. The relationship. It felt a little insta-lovey to me. And I guess the same thing happened in the original Twilight, but this felt too fast. It was like Beau was thinking about her and BAM! they're willing to die for each other.
4. Everyone else. I liked that each character was new, and self-contained. It wasn't like each gender-bent character was the mirror copy of the original. They had their own stories and mannerisms and characteristics, which I really enjoyed. You can see the similarities and inspiration, but each character is new and unique. Eventually I stopped thinking Jeremy = Jessica and started embracing the characters for themselves.
5. The pace. This book went way too fast for the story that it was trying to tell. WAY TOO FAST. I may have raced through this in a day, but it did feel very rushed - especially after the halfway point. Meyer was trying to include all of the crucial stories that are introduced in the later stories in ONE chapter (such as Rosalie/Royal, Jasper/Jessamine and Alice/Archie).
6. THE ENDING. I didn't enjoy the ending at all. It kind of felt like a cop-out. I know that Meyer was playing around with what would have happened if Bella had been turned, but I don't feel like it works for these particular characters. It felt way too easy. Bella and Edward's love story works because it isn't perfect, especially because they manage to overcome werewolves, the Volturi, Victoria, and their own natures in order to reach their happily ever after. I feel like Beau and Edythe got their happily ever after too easily. (that sounds so bad... Don't judge me..) I also understand that she couldn't continue the story, especially because of the Jake/Jules situation. It wouldn't have really worked.
Over-all, I think that Meyer should have spent a little more time on this, and made it into its own book. That way she could have explored and clarified everything without worrying about time/space constraints of having two books in one. I'm glad that I read this on Kindle, because I can only imagine how heavy and bulky this must be in hard-cover or paper-back...
So - I'm glad that I read this, but it wasn't mind-blowing.
1. I liked Beau. I found him to be an interesting character, and Meyer manages to make him believable. I was glad to see a distinct lack of fart jokes. Beau is very likeable, although he says some stupid stuff sometimes - which is acceptable for a teenager. I also like how he thought about Edythe (as weird as that sounds...) and his mental attitude towards her.
2. Not sure how I feel about Edythe. She's an interesting character, but I think that she may be filled with even more self-loathing than Edward. I didn't feel like I got to know her very well in this story at all.
3. The relationship. It felt a little insta-lovey to me. And I guess the same thing happened in the original Twilight, but this felt too fast. It was like Beau was thinking about her and BAM! they're willing to die for each other.
4. Everyone else. I liked that each character was new, and self-contained. It wasn't like each gender-bent character was the mirror copy of the original. They had their own stories and mannerisms and characteristics, which I really enjoyed. You can see the similarities and inspiration, but each character is new and unique. Eventually I stopped thinking Jeremy = Jessica and started embracing the characters for themselves.
5. The pace. This book went way too fast for the story that it was trying to tell. WAY TOO FAST. I may have raced through this in a day, but it did feel very rushed - especially after the halfway point. Meyer was trying to include all of the crucial stories that are introduced in the later stories in ONE chapter (such as Rosalie/Royal, Jasper/Jessamine and Alice/Archie).
6. THE ENDING. I didn't enjoy the ending at all. It kind of felt like a cop-out. I know that Meyer was playing around with what would have happened if Bella had been turned, but I don't feel like it works for these particular characters. It felt way too easy. Bella and Edward's love story works because it isn't perfect, especially because they manage to overcome werewolves, the Volturi, Victoria, and their own natures in order to reach their happily ever after. I feel like Beau and Edythe got their happily ever after too easily. (that sounds so bad... Don't judge me..) I also understand that she couldn't continue the story, especially because of the Jake/Jules situation. It wouldn't have really worked.
Over-all, I think that Meyer should have spent a little more time on this, and made it into its own book. That way she could have explored and clarified everything without worrying about time/space constraints of having two books in one. I'm glad that I read this on Kindle, because I can only imagine how heavy and bulky this must be in hard-cover or paper-back...
So - I'm glad that I read this, but it wasn't mind-blowing.