The Twilight Saga Review | Read In-Depth Reviews Of The Books And Films

Overview Of The Plot

The first book of The Twilight Saga, sees teenage misfit Isabella Swan moving to gloomy Forks to live with her father. Her arrival in the small town causes quite a stir, but little does she know that gossip will soon be the last of her worries as she becomes tangled up in the dark world of the irresistible Edward Cullen...

The Review

I picked up this book one evening, with the intention of having a quick flick through to see what all the fuss was about.

I finished it the next day!

Now, I've read my fair share of teen romances and vampire stories, but Stephenie Meyer's compelling combination of the two had me hooked!

I found there to be the right amount of characters and descriptive passages to build up a vivid picture of what was going on, without becoming confusing or dull. The almost 'journal entry' style first person narrative made it easy to empathise with Bella as well, despite the fact that I'm sure Edward would be better off with me... *swoons*

Unfortunately, the story was quite predictable in parts, particularly as the reader knows Edward's dark secret from the beginning. It certainly starts to become tedious when it takes a third of the book (and some glaringly obvious clues) for Bella to come to the right conclusions. I'm sure I wasn't alone in thinking He's a VAMPIRE! Now get to the good parts! by this point.

The awareness of sequel New Moon also made the ultimate outcome of Twilight slightly obvious. In the most perilous scenes I did find this knowledge a relief though, which certainly shows Stephenie's skills in building suspense.

All in all, I think Twilight stands out in the heavily saturated teen romance genre, and this, to me, is impressive. I must confess that I am a bit of a sucker for a good vampire story (no pun intended), so I may have been predisposed to enjoying Twilight. Nevertheless, I consider this a must-read for anyone!

As far as film adaptations of books go, I must admit that I am often sceptical, and, more often than not, rightly so. For example, after being drawn into the Harry Potter books, I was understandably excited about the prospect of the film adaptations.

Unfortunately, I found the standard of acting to be terrible in the most part, and much of the important content was eliminated!

The Twilight film, however, did not disappoint.

As I feel is inevitable with these things, many of the characters were not as I had imagined. Nevertheless, Kirsten Stewart effortlessly carries off Bella's clumsy nature, whilst still managing to convey her inner beauty and helplessness in the face of her senseless love for Edward.

Robert Pattinson equally demonstrates great skill in his portrayal of the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen. His sky high cheek bones and intense eyes are indeed enough to make any girl melt...

Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg has done a fantastic job adapting the storyline; managing to keep it close to the plot of the book without leaving much out, which I found impressive. It was generally fast paced, with a few 'jumpy moments' thrown in to keep the audience on the edge of their seats.

The romantic scenes were suitably swoon-inducing, whilst maintaining the ever present undercurrent of angst and restraint, which made it easy to relate to for its 'young adult' audience (and for me to slot myself nicely into Bella's place)

In general, I found the film to be well made and a welcome relief from the High School Musical-esque cheesiness, which is certainly NOT typical of teen life.

Whilst I would still choose to read the book over watching the film, I will certainly be buying the DVD as soon as it comes out and am in high anticipation of the New Moon film.

Overview Of The Plot

New Moon, the much anticipated sequel to bestseller Twilight, sees the return of passionate teenagers Isabella Swan and Edward Cullen in true riveting form.

Following the dramatic events of previous months, Edward is convinced that his presence in Bella's life causes too much of a risk and decides to leave her for good...

Cue a tear jerking chain of events, which lead to a truly suspense filled conclusion.

Oh the angst! Oh the romance! Oh the drama!

The Review

After finishing Twilight in a day, I moved on to New Moon immediately - desperate to find out what happened next. This time it took three days, and a fair few tissues, before I read the final page, and I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I enjoyed it more than Twilight!

Admittedly, some of the more emotional scenes were a little melodramatic for my liking, as Bella's despair became increasingly irritating as the story went on. Surely there's only so much wallowing one can do!

The main reason I prefer New Moon to it's prequel is that Jacob Black, a local Quileute boy with a crush on Bella, plays a more integral role.

Stephenie Meyer's potrayal of him as the laid back, caring, "personal sun" in Bella's life even had me preferring him to the possesive and over protective Mr. Cullen! Although my sister strongly disagrees with me on this!

I also enjoyed the introduction of more vampires, and hence, vampire abilities, into the storyline in the form of The Volturi. I felt that learning more about the Cullen's world was a good way of adding interest to the plot, rather than just relying on the teen hormone element.

Again, predictability was a factor in this book. It was insanely easy for the reader to figure out the mystery behind the Quileute cult, yet it took Bella a ridiculously long time to figure it out! It was also easy to tell what wasn't going to happen, from the existence of the third book in the saga, Eclipse.

I think the fact that I loved this book despite its melodrama and predictability, however, shows the true authorial skill of Stephenie Meyer. I found myself decidedly aware of what would happen eventually, yet excited to find out exactly how it would happen.

I won't even tell you what time I stayed up 'til because I was unable to put this down until I'd read just one more chapter, but the sun was on its way back up!

I would definitely describe this as another must-read.

So naturally I went to see New Moon pretty much the second it came out over here in the UK to see if it would live up to all the hype.

Of course, it did.

New Moon is probably my favourite book of the Twilight Saga, so I was more critically minded when going to see this, but it was fantastic viewing.

Whilst reading the book I was often irritated at Bella's seemingly selfish behaviour, what with risking her life all over the place and leading Jacob on. The film conveyed these scenes in a way that really clutched at my heartstrings though. I found Bella's emotions much more genuine once I saw them played out by Kirsten Stewart and there were several times when I welled up, even though I knew the ending!

One of the highlights of the film was definitely the scene where Bella falls off the motorbike and hits her head on a rock (sounds harsh but bear with me)... cue Jacob (Taylor Lautner) taking his shirt off to mop up the blood - *low whistle* what a body! Hello Team Edward, let me describe the scene for you in the cinema...

Taylor Lautner takes his shirt off - a ripple of swooning and giggling goes round the audience

Robert Pattinson takes his shirt off - an intake of breath, then... audible disappointment at his, quite frankly, pasty, hairy body.

Ouch, that's got to be a slap in the face knowing how much hotter Jacob is. Plus, I challenge anyone to watch this film without wishing that Bella would get a grip and just get with Jacob by the end.

Overall, I really did enjoy this film. There were enough ups and downs to keep me hooked despite knowing the storyline, and Kirsten Stewart and Taylor Lautner worked well together in the angsty scenes. The film stuck very closely to the plot of the book, and managed to enthral me just as the book had. If anything, I felt more involved in the film with all the emo music making me feel like a 15 year old again.

I would definitely recommend this film - much better than Twilight.

Overview Of The Plot

This, the third book of The Twilight Saga, centres around a complex and painful love triangle between Isabella Swan, Edward Cullen and Jacob Black.

Bella is more than willing to go back to Edward, but this leaves her friendship with Jacob in ruins and his heart broken.

Ever the sympathetic heroine, Bella starts to rebel against Edward's protection to see Jacob and make him happy, but what will happen when their feelings for each other grow stronger and Bella's human life is soon to be over?

Love, friendship and legend intertwine in yet another thrilling addition to Stephenie Meyer's bestselling saga.

The Review

Eclipse truly starts as it means to go on, as the opening chapter sees a guilt ridden Bella, torn between her love for Edward, and her need for Jacob.

I felt that this struggle was very well expressed throughout the book, as Bella's pain was almost tangible this time, rather than being melodramatic. I found it easy to sympathise with her internal conflict, and wasn't sure myself as to which path she should choose - vampire or human, Edward or Jacob.

As the story went on, I began to feel very empathetic towards Jacob, just as I had done when reading New Moon. I'm not sure if this was Stephenie's intention, but it certainly started to make me annoyed at Bella for allowing Jacob to hope in vain.

Again, my sister disagrees with my point of view here, claiming that Bella tells Jacob that she doesn't have those feelings for him. I still feel sorry for him though...

More vampire history is involved in Eclipse than the previous books, as we get to learn more about Rosalie and Jasper and vampire law. Personally, I really enjoyed the greater insight into previously lesser known characters, and the history adds to the fabric of the story greatly.

There's also a larger scale of conflict this time, as the Cullens and the Quileute pack prepare to fight a common foe side by side. These scenes are packed with suspense, although, yet again, I must say that the outcome was quite predictable.

Overall, I think of this as an addition to the saga that needs to be read.

Overview Of The Plot

Breaking Dawn, the final book of The Twilight Saga, begins with the seemingly normal event of a wedding. Of course, in Isabella Swan's life, nothing is ever normal, but, compared with the events that follow, her marrying a vampire is the closest she gets in this installment.

With the honeymoon looming (with the important event it entails...) and becoming a vampire on the horizon, will Bella stick to her plans or will something happen to change her future forever?

The Review

Ever since I finished Twilight I dreaded the moment when I would finish this series. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed reading this, despite knowing that every page brought me closer to the finale (sniff).

Stephenie Meyer does a great job of tying up all the loose ends in Breaking Dawn, and even I, after all my complaining over predictability, found some of the outcomes surprising.

Nevertheless, I couldn't honestly review this book without saying that some of it was obvious. I think that throughout the series, Stephenie has tried to leave clues early on in the story as to what happens later. Unfortunately, once you notice this, you can easily figure out a few of the main twists in the plot, and this spoilt it a bit for me.

Still, it was a relief to see the love triangle issue resolved (in a way that I hadn't seen coming), and for the tension between Edward and Bella to be finally, ahem, relieved...

As the final book of the series, this was the only one that I could read without knowing whether or not Bella and Edward would survive. This meant that the build up of suspense was almost unbearable towards the end, but in an I-can-hardly-turn-the-pages-fast-enough kind of way.

I must admit though, that for all its tension building, I found the ending to be, well... a bit of an anti-climax!

Of course, I don't want to give anything away to those who haven't read this yet, but once you do, you'll probably see what I mean.

Overall, if you've read the rest of The Twilight Saga, you need to read this - for closure more than anything, but also because it is a thrilling book, just perhaps not the ending.

Midnight Sun is the highly anticipated complementary novel to Twilight, which tells the story from Edward's point of view, rather than Bella's.

Unfortunately, an early draft of the book was leaked on the Internet, much to Stephenie Meyer's dismay.

Fortunately, she decided to release an official draft of the first chapter through her website for fans to read through.

You can access it here

You can also read a draft of the first twelve chapters here, although I should warn you, you will be left wanting more!

There is no official deadline for this publication, and, therefore, no official release date. We shall just have to be patient...

This official calendar is a must have for any fan of The Twilight Saga. There are tons of official pictures from Twilight, featuring the delicious Robert Pattinson, as well as the obvious calendar itself, which runs from July 2009 to December 2010.

The layout is slightly odd, as it needs hanging up like a book if you want to see the picture the right way round. Nevertheless, it's a good way of getting more Edward pictures on your wall if you're starting to run out of space, and would make a fantastic gift for any fan.


The Edward Cullen Twilight Bookmark is a lovely portable piece of merchandise.

It measures 20cm and includes an official film picture of Edward Cullen, an original 35mm film cell and a ribbon tassle. The bookmark is fully laminated and is good for keeping your copies of The Twilight Saga dog-ear free.

This Twilight Pin Set contains four 35mm badges, with standard copper safety pin fastening attached at the back.

Each badge has a high quality picture from the film on the front. Personally, I prefer the Twilight one, which features Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie and Alice, alongside Bella and Edward. Plus, check out those triceps...

My heart nearly stopped when I saw this! I had to have it, so I ordered it straight away and it arrived only two days later. It's pride of place in my room now, and boy does it look good!

The poster measures 24" by 36", making it the perfect size to be a real feature on my wall. I love how different it is to the usual film posters that my friends have and how darkly gorgeous Edward looks. I'm sure this isn't for everyone, but if you want a Twilight poster that's a bit different to the rest, you have to have this.

I'm really glad I found this poster because it's actually really rare. It's part of the American Library Association's READ campaign and it's refreshing to see Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart out of character.

Robert Pattinson is looking lovely as ever, although a more face-on shot would've been appreciated, instead of the profile shot.



Wow, this poster collection is fantastic! Especially now that it's almost 75% off!

The posters are all 24" by 36", with four being portrait and one landscape. Each one is an official movie poster, so you're guaranteed top quality. My personal favourite is the Jacob one, although I do like the Bella and Edward film scene one too.

For the price, you could even give some away as great presents.

This Limited Edition jewellery set has every item of Cullen Family jewellery as featured in The Twilight Saga. The set is rather pricey, but considering everything that's included, I see it as a worthwhile investment for Twilight fans.

Included in the set are Alice's Choker and Rosalie's Necklace, which are both excellent quality pieces. I have received tons of compliments wearing these, particularly Rosalie's Necklace, and they look expensive.

There are also Carlisle's Ring, Esme's Bracelet and Edward's Wristcuff, the latter being my favourite. Carlisle's Ring, unfortunately, didn't fit me properly as I have quite scrawny fingers, but it works well as a thumb ring. Esme's Bracelet is gorgeous, very original and is always the cause of much admiration. As for Edward's Wristcuff, this is very sad I know, but I love how it looks like I've borrowed my boyfriend's cuff to give a bit of a grungy edge to my outfit.

All the jewellery features the Cullen Family Crest, which is also on the presentation box. In the box lid there is also an autographed post card from Dr. Cullen (Peter Facinelli). Overall, the standard of the product is superb and I would recommend that anyone buy's it.

These two necklaces are so sweet! They're both magnetised to stick together when side by side so that the complete message reads, "And So The Lion Fell In Love With The Lamb". They look pretty cool when worn together, or one at a time. You could even give one to a friend or partner as a gift.

I really like the little charms on the chains of each necklace - one of a lion and one of a lamb. They're very dainty and well-made, which is more than I expected for the price, as the broken heart is the focus of the piece.

The back of each half of the heart has the word Twilight engraved on it, and they each measure 1.25" by 1.5". All in all, a lovely addition to any jewellery box.

This Jewellery Box was recently released to Amazon, so naturally I got hold of one straight away! Again, this one is a little bit pricey, but what could be better for storing all your Twilight jewellery?

When the key has been turned, the box plays Claire De Lune and the crest spins in front of the mirror, giving it a very romantic vibe.

It has a good sized drawer at the bottom for necklaces and bracelets, and plenty of sections on the top for your rings and earrings, so it could definitely be used to store all of your jewellery, rather than just the Twilight pieces.