Prepare yourselves. The teaser trailer for Twilight: Eclipse comes out today. Yesterday they released the above teaser for the teaser… Are they serious? A teaser teaser? All over the internet girls of all ages are squealing with delight over the prospect of 2 more hours of Edward, Bella, Jacob angst. Though I suffered through the first movie I just don’t think I have it in me to stare at Robert Pattinson for that long.
I’ve read the first two books because I’m a literary masochist. It’s mediocre writing at best, and a lot of the story elements are ridiculous, yet, the books remains mostly readable. Readable enough, in fact, that I’ve acquired the rest of the series to be started sometime soon. I’ve convinced myself that I must read the series so that I may, if nothing else, be well versed in how to bash it.
I’m usually a sucker for vampire fiction and paranormal type romance, but even by trashy chick-lit standards, Twilight wasn’t that great. I’m clearly outside the target demographic of tween and teen girls, but good young adult fiction writing should be able to hold up to a slightly older audience. Young Adult writers need to stay away from the topic of vampires if they can’t figure out how to deal with the adult situations presented.
Vampires are usually old, really old. The idea that they would fall in love with a shy, socially awkward, teenage girl is a bit far-fetched. Teenagers are annoying. I doubt old, powerful, blood-sucking fiends are really all that keen on hanging out with them.
Once I mastered the suspension of disbelief it took to accept that Edward would ever love Bella, he started glistening in the sun. WHAT?! Let me say that again. Edward’s skin is glittery in sunlight. Really? Glitter skin? Is that really the best explanation for his sun aversion you could come up with? Sadly, I’ve read Sailor Moon fan fiction better than this book.
What I’m saying is that there are books much better than Twilight. Probably more than any of us would have time to read. However if you do find the time to read and you’re looking for something like Twilight, but less like crap, here’s a list of my personal picks.
Screaming 13 year old girls with unwarranted crushes on Robert Pattinson aren’t really my thing, so this list wont be populated completely by YA fiction, and it certainly won’t have any Anne Rice since, sadly, I find her writing obnoxious and pretentious.
The Vampire Diaries series by L.J. Smith
This IS a Young Adult series and one which I feel that Twilight borrows from heavily. Being YA it does tend to be quite G rated. No sex or serious violence here kids. The main character is High School student Elena and she and her friends find themselves wrapped up in the affairs of two vampire brothers. For all my complaining about teen angst, I have read and re-read this series for years and I cannot recommend it enough. If the name sounds familiar its because the CW just wrapped up Season 1 of a T.V. show based (loosely) on the books. I have only struggled through the first episode and found it to be horrifyingly bland, but to each their own.
Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris
These are the books that the HBO series True Blood is based on so it should go without saying that these books do contain lots of sex and violence. Whether you’ve seen the show or not the books are definately worth the read.
Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine
This one’s not a vampire series but instead involves a secret organization of people who control the weather. Joanne is a weather warden who helps to keep mother nature in check. She falls into forbidden love with a Djinn, which is basically the equivalent of a genie in a bottle.
Sign of the Zodiac by Vikki Peterson
I’ve sadly, only read the first of these novels, but it has a lot of promise. Joanna lives in Las Vegas and finds out she has super powers and its up to her to balance good and evil.
Candace Steele, Vampire Killer novels by Cameron Dean
This one reads a bit like Buffy, with a strong female protagonist and quick pacing. You’ll find that this is clearly chick lit as its somewhat smut laced.
Any other suggestions? I’m always looking for new books to read.
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Tags: Bella Swan, Eclipse, fiction writing, Read, robert pattinson, sailor moon fan, Stephanie Meyer, Team Edward, Team Jacob, teaser trailer, Twilight, Twilight Sucks, vampires, young adult fiction