Twilight Saga
Okay. Okay. Before I get a lot of crap for this. DISCLAIMER: I AM ONLY REFERRING TO THE ACTUAL BOOK SERIES NOT THE MOVIE FRANCHISE. IN ANY WAY. AT ALL.
I remember the first day I introduced myself to the Twilight series. I was in Target waiting for my friend to meet me up. He was running late so I decided to check out the books and magazines to kill time. As I was skimming through I happened to come across the first book in the series - Twilight. What first caught my eye was the cover. It was kind of dark and haunting so I liked it. Intrigued, I picked it up and read the back cover and skimmed through some pages. I'm not a romantic but I do enjoy a dark romance. Then out of no where I had a sudden impulse to want to read the book and so I bought it.
I read twilight and I fell in love with it. Usually I'd probably hate books like this. I like dark story lines. And vampires and werewolves were supposed to be so much MORE. I wanted more fights. More blood. More gore. More deaths. But I guess that's just me. Amazingly enough - I kept reading them regardless. I liked them. And once I found out there were several other books in the series at that time ( Eclipse was the latest one out). So I got them all. Those of you who know me, know I have a terrible habit of spamming things. So of course I wouldn't rest till I finished each book. Falling asleep reading them. Waking up reading them. Eventually the last book - Breaking Dawn - was released. I remember reading each page carefully - wanting to savor the last book because I knew once I finished it would all be over.
Certainly I have read mannnnnyyy other books that were much better but there's something about this series that I still enjoy. What I think I liked most about the series is the value of loyalty portrayed in each book. No matter the situation or consequence - loyalty to those you love was the most important thing. If one person was going down - everyone went down with them. The unconditional love the Cullens had for each other. The sacrifices they made for each other. Jacobs unconditional love for Bella. His sacrifices for her. His packs sacrifices for Jacob. The virtue of true friendship between Jacob and His Pack. Personally, I highly value those things - loyalty, love and friendship. So maybe that's why I loved the books so much. Each of these values was so strongly stressed in each book.
Till this day I could crack open any book in the series and re-read it. There was something charming about the books that really had me fall in love with the characters. I'll admit the story line and confrontations (or lack there of) left a lot to be desired. But the emotional conflicts between the characters had me hooked. Quite honestly, the only character I never really grew to love was Bella. Her Cathy complex was really frustrating and her obsession with Edward somewhat tiring at times. Edward, I couldn't help but love because Bella loved him so much. You read much of the books in her perspective - so when she describes how amazing Edward is - you really start believing it yourself. Some would argue Edward was too perfect. The ideal guy. But I'd disagree. Edward was far from perfect. He has a lot of issues and can be really annoying - overbearing, overprotective, selfish, high tempered, brooding, dramatic. I still love his character but Im not blind to his faults either. Jacob. Jacob, in the end, has become one of thee most beloved characters for me. Sure I liked him enough in the first 3 books but I think it was the last book that really made me fall in love with his character. I felt so much compassion for him. I'll admit I didn't like how his story ended though - stupid stupid idea IMHO. It didn't do his character justice AT ALL.
I didnt want to have to mention the movie franchise but I do remember sitting at the UMBC library reading forums when I found out that they were making a movie based on the saga. I was SCIIISSEDD. I knew I could not expect it to be as good as the books but one could hope. I didn't realize I'd be so disappointed.... I would definitely say I got caught up in all the hype and kept watching the movies. But as a real fan of the books - I was horribly disappointed. As a real fan of good movies - I was horribly disappointed. I get that the movies will NEVER be as good but MY GAWD the ACTING. UGH. If ANYTHING it was the acting that made me wanna puke in my mouth. THE AWKWARDNESS. THE CHEESE. THE MANLY BELLA. It's too much. But I digress...
Twilight: The Graphic Novel
Of course, I grew up reading graphic novels. Loved them. Have my own library of them. So when I found out that the Korean Artist, Young Kim decided to create a graphic novel version working along side Stephenie Meyer - I was definitely intrigued. So I got both from amazon, 50% off with a free 2 day shipping haha. The two volume set was an adaption of the first book in the series. Was it worth it? YEP. Unlike the movie, the graphic novel more closely matched how I imagined the characters and setting to look like. The art is absolutely beautiful. Even Edwards sparklingly meadow scene somehow came off beautiful and made me feel awe as opposed to wanting to burst out laughing.
