Twilight

In case you hadn't heard the release of the latest Harry Potter movie has been postponed until next July and the movie of this book, Twilight, is being released in its place. I'd not heard of the Twilight books, but having heard that this series is 'the next Harry Potter' I thought I would investigate.

I love vampire stories, yes I am a Buffy and Angel fan, but I am not really a fan of romantic fiction and that caused me problems in reading this book as its essentially an overblown romance peppered with the kind of language I would expect from a Mills and Boon, but without the sex, apparently Mills and Boon allow their characters to have sex now! As tortured lovers Bella and Edward mentioned in the text, Edward has no problems touching or kissing Bella - he can carry her for miles - and his 'family' accept her role in his life very readily.

If you want tortured romance done with depth and emotion watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Angel and Buffy, as vampire and human, had more depth and emotion in their little fingers than Bella and Edward have in this entire book. As I'm not a fan of romantic fiction all the 'I love yous' got a bit wearisome, but I can see why that for certain teenagers and women this novel (and the sequels) have been so successful. But its derivative, Bella and Edward are a younger, less tortured version of Buffy and Angel and the vampire collective of Edward and his family is reminiscent of Lestat, Louis and their little family from Interview with a Vampire, but without the homo-eroticism, or any eroticism for that matter. Also I have to say that J.K. Rowling is a much better writer than Stephanie Meyer, who just doesn't have the finesse to have fun with her characters, in the way that Rowling sometimes does and that Charlaine Harris has with her Southern Vampire series.