The Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer

I have mixed opinions about the Twilight Series.

My review is for all the four books in the Twilight Saga: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.

A little background. I read the twilight series in December 2008, which is long before it even became the major hit that it was among teenagers in India. And unlike a lot of people who, for whatever reason, criticize the book, I have actually read each and every book and some of them even multiple times. I have thought for hours about Bella, Edward and Jacob. I have read hundreds of reviews on this book, good and bad. I've even seen the first movie (which I hated for a lot of reasons, which I won't go into here because this blog is not called 'in my dvd collection.') So before you kill me, know that I've made a pretty informed decision on this one.

Here's my verdict: I don't think Twilight sucked.

This book goes along at a fast pace. Its hard to find a place in the book where the action or drama lags (unless you hate romance, in which case - why are you even thinking about reading this book?) The plot is fairly coherent. Some of the characters (especially the more minor ones) are quite engrossing. Its hard to put down this book. In fact, I've read the second, third and fourth book of this series in practically a day each, because I didn't want to stop reading it half-way. In fact, as far as books to pass time go...this one wasn't so bad.

Here's the problem: I don't Twilight was all that good, either.

There were loads of obvious flaws in the story. The first was the author's love for purple-prose, long descriptions of the perfection of her main character, and the many other little flaws of writing Meyer unwittingly commits. Of course, since this is her first book this is easy to understand, and one can hope that she improved with her second, but the problem is how so many people have raised it to a pedestal of literary greatness where this book really doesn't belong. In style and structure there is very little to differentiate this book from a regular romance story, except that most romance stories have slightly more plausible reasons for their heroines falling in love with the main hero. The story is often let-down by clunky writing like the following example:

It seemed silly that this fact – the existence of his soul – had ever been in question, even if he was a vampire. He had the most beautiful soul, more beautiful than his brilliant mind or his incomparable face or his glorious body.

The second problem with this book is the characters. The heroine, Bella is a literary 'mary-sue' - a character who can do no wrong. Her only apparent flaw is her 'clumsiness' which is often used as no more than a plot device to move the plot forward (for example, in the first part of new moon). The problem with Bella is that she's so reactive instead of active that with time she infects the whole book with a languid aura that can be very boring to read. And she's not the only perfect character in this series. Edward (and the rest of the Cullens) are perfect just because they are vampires, as Meyer has swiftly removed every classical limitation on vampires in this book without making any new ones, thereby making them pretty much indestructible. Edward has loads of character flaws - like his extreme protectiveness and his often disturbing fixation to Bella, but because the narrative just can't acknowledge anything but how Edward is so perfect, it is very difficult to sympathize with him. Jacob, the third main lead of this book, is better. He is very sweet in New Moon, but he soon takes a 180 degree turn in books three and four to become an odd guy who is first crazy behind Bella and then her daughter. And don't get me started on Renesmee, Bella's daughter, who is perhaps the worst mary-sue example in the entire series and is one of the major reasons for me wishing that Meyer never writer a sequel.

The secondary characters, in particular Seth, Leah (both shapeshifters) and Emmett and Alice (both vampires) are much better - maybe because we don't see as much of them. Even here, by giving Alice special powers (the power to see the future) Meyer adds another super-power and risks making Alice even more god-like than she already is, which makes her highly unsympathetic towards the end of the fourth book as well. The other characters were so mono-dimensional (even when attempts were made to make them more sympathetic by telling their sob-stories) that I barely thought about them during the book.

Other problems with the book involve the often poor plot. The Twilight Saga is a romance series disguised as an action series, and that is often painfully obvious. For most of the series, the real 'action' seems to begin in the last 50 pages, where Meyer tacks on a fight with a vampire or a group of vampires. This is even worse in the last book, where no fight happens at all - the Volturi, supposedly a dangerous group of vampires, pretty much walk away from a confrontation, despite having good reasons to want a confrontation. At this point in the book I was wondering if Meyer really thought her readers were stupid and couldn't tell that she was avoiding a confrontation to avoid having a fight in which one or more of the 'good people' might die.

All in all, what with the group of mary-sues, the sparkling vampires, the purple prose and the poor writing, this story felt more like an amateur piece of fan-fiction than a real book. As far as I'm concerned, I understand people liking the book but its very hard for me to understand people loving it.

Final thoughts: This book was enjoyable. It was a great way to pass a few hours. It's just not a series I want to re-read again. Definitely not worth the praise and acclaim it has gotten. And its really, really hard for me to hear this book being compared with the Harry Potter series with a straight face.

Interesting links: Midnight Sun [I really enjoyed this...its twilight from Edward's perspective, and boy does he make a more interesting narrator than Bella.] The Movies [Which as mentioned above, I did not like, but all Twilight fans did love them - so what can I say?] Twilight Graphic Novel [A very interesting book...I flipped through it recently.] Twilight Companion [Probably a must-have for fans]

The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud

I have written many reviews about the Bartimaeus Trilogy, maybe because I love it so much.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy consists of three books : The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, and Ptolemy's Gate.

A little background on how I was introduced to the story. Like a lot of the best books I've read, this wasn't a really famous book. However, having exhausted all the books in my libraries 'teen fiction' section, I was really anxious for something new to read, and I decided to pick up this book. I think this was mainly because I'd heard of it described as similar to the Harry Potter series. As it happens, this book is nothing like the Harry Potter series. That doesn't stop it from being absolutely brilliant.

The differences begin with Nathaniel, the (would-be) hero of this story. At the onset, he's a young, in-training magician. But that is where the similarities with Harry stop, because Nathaniel has never been marked out for something special (in fact, he's an apprentice to one of the most pathetic magicians there can be), he uses magic by enslaving demons (something Harry, and of course Hermione, are sure to find highly abhorrent) and his first quest in the book, for the Amulet of Samarkand, is not at all to save the world but rather to take revenge on Simon Lovelace, a magician who humiliated him. Through the three books, Nathaniel acts like a pompous brat, going from bad to worse in the second and third books. His arrogance, his selfishness and his treatment towards Bartimaeus has caused many readers to hate him. This was not the case with me, and even the harshest of readers, I am sure, will be unable to hate Nathaniel after the third book of the series.

A direct foil to Nathaniel is Kitty, a member of anti-magician's group. The way it happens in Stroud's world, the magicians are selfish, cruel, and demeaning towards the 'commoners' or the people who do not have magic. Kitty is an introduction in the second book, and slowly becomes a heroine. She is much more likeable than Nathaniel (which appears to be the reason I don't like her) and even for people like me it is very difficult to hate her, simply because the cause that she is fighting for is so right. Also, her relationship with Nathaniel, which slowly progresses from hate, to dislike, to love, is so poignantly portrayed that it really provides an emotional background for this trilogy.

I have called Nathaniel the would-be hero, and Kitty the heroine. But none of them is the real show-stopper of this series. If someone were to ask me the one and only reason to read this story it would only be - Bartimaeus.

Bartimaeus is a 5000-year-old-djinn. He's irascible, hates Nathaniel, and will do anything to just get away from earth and back to his own world. He's also the primary narrator of this story. Most authors don't have non-human narrators because they feel that humans may be unable to connect to them. This story puts all these people to shame. Bartimaeus, even when he's describing wonderful things, like being able to see in seven planes, or changing into different shapes or building (in a classic twist) the many wonders of our modern world, is altogether enjoyable. His saucy wit (especially in his wonderful footnotes) and his loyalty to a young boy called Ptolemy (the entire implications of which are revealed in the book) make him my favorite character of this series.

But the characters (wonderful as they are) are not the only reasons to read this book. The superb writing, the great plots, and the wonderful climax are all really good reasons to read this book. This book is full of humor, action, drama, romance, murder, fantasy and a hell lot of craziness, which makes it perfect for readers of all types. Stroud breaks nearly all common fantasy stereotypes (starting with "magicians are good and demons are bad") and with quotes like the falling which will make you laugh, cry and re-read the book:

One magician demanded I show him an image of the love of his life. I rustled up a mirror.

Final words: Recommended for children of all-ages, be it five or fifty. Read for a fun experience with unexpected layers packaged with brilliant writing and a great perspective on the world.