Post by Neko Bazu on Nov 6, 2008 19:45:47 GMT -1
So, as I sit here, slurping on my chicken and vegetable soup, I am reminded via MySpace that I am overdue to review a book I read recently. I don't review everything I read, but this one has garnered a lot of interest - positive and negative - among my friends, and so I think it warrants it, if only as a discussion piece.
To give an idea of my usual reading preferences; where famous authors are concerned, Terry Pratchett is a yes, as is Nelson Demille (the latter is probably my favourite current author). Stephen King seems to divide opinion sharply between fans and foes, but I like him - I'll readily concede that his newer stuff (e.g. Dreamcatcher) isn't as good as the classics (such as Salem's Lot, The Shining, Bag Of Bones), but overall, I do enjoy his work, including his short stories. Picking out less famous authors, Connie Wilson's The Domesday Book is fantastic, I very much enjoyed Judith Tarr's Arrows of the Sun, and The Keep by F. Paul Wilson is one I bought purely to re-read - absolutely brilliant. His take on vampirism and how he ties it in with the legends of old - the original Romanian ones, not the 'mainstream' legends - is particularly good, and IMO the book warrants far more attention than it gets.
Anyway, with that said and done, I'll get on with the main piece - and I'm sure that fans of it ain't gonna like it. We can talk it over, though
First off the bat, I'll say that normally, I avoid books with ridiculous commercial appeal, and especially those with a high 'fangirl' factor, such as Harry Potter or the Twilight series. Something about them just drives me away - it's not a conscious snooty "Oh, well, if everyone likes it, I shan't bother," thing. It's just like kryptonite to me. When I see the book being advertised 6 months before its release, it repels me. When the whole phenomenon is rammed down my throat all year round, I step back and say, "No thanks." If Twilight hadn't been bought for me as a present, I wouldn't have bothered - but as it stood, it'd have been incredibly rude not to.
Unfortunately, I'm afraid that for the most part, it merely reinforced my opinion of massed commercial appeal.
I like to finish on a positive note, so let's get the bad stuff out of the way first:
1) Bella. Right from the first chapter, I just couldn't freakin' stand her. She has to be one of the most unappealing lead characters I've ever read - she bored me, when she wasn't making me roll my eyes in annoyance or disbelief. It felt like reading a Mary-Sue novel, except her background wasn't even all that tragic. And when the main character's such a turn-off, the book's probably doomed from the outset.
2)Edward. No, that's probably unfair - Edward wasn't such a bad character. The way that everywhere he went, he was accompanied by at least three adjectives, was annoying, though. We get the point - he's the most incredible thing Bella has ever laid eyes on. This doesn't need to be reinforced every time he enters a room. A thesaurus wouldn't go amiss either - I counted the word 'adonis' five times on one page alone (don't ask which; I was half-asleep at the time).
3) Plot. Chapter 1, Bella goes to live with her Dad. Chapter 2, Bella starts in her new school. Chapter 6, Edward is a vampire - not an especially subtle plot-point, mind. Chapter 19, something actually happens!!! I only wish I were exaggerating, but... no. The thing I like about all the books/authors listed above is that, while they don't start off all guns-a-blazing, all secrets revealed, they at least throw you a titbit to begin with - a little teaser, if not a solid plot point - before moving on to developing relationships, characters and background around the story. Things keep moving. 18 chapters of background and relationship development leading up to 6 chapters of events isn't telling a story, it's... well, I was going to say fanservice, but that's not really fair. It's not a very good way of keeping me interested, though.
I may remember some more after posting, and if so, I'll add them, but that'll do for now. As for positives?
1) Vampiric senses. When vampires are created, their senses heighten - so what of people with sixth senses? In Meyer's book, those senses heighten too - this isn't necessarily a canon point with vampires (though to be fair, 'canon' is a bit loose when you're dealing with 400+ year-old folklore!), but I thought it was a nice idea (certainly better than the sparkling thing - interesting, but didn't work for me), and she did carry it out well. I liked that she took the time to have it pointed out plainly that most vampires (like people) don't have such traits. The whole "Bella, you're the only one I can't read!" thing from Edward was a bit too far into Mary-Sue again, though.
2) Some descriptive scenes. While the eternal-deifying of Edward got really old, some of Meyer's other description was actually quite good. The scene where Bella rides on Edward's back as he runs through the forest is one example, and Bella's fear when she's being persued by those boys is brought across well too. It's shame that other areas fell horribly flat in comparison.
3) The writing itself. This is probably more of a matter of opinion than all the above, but the way Meyer writes is at least easy to read. Some would say it's overly-simple, and I wouldn't have much to refute that with, but then maybe it suits the target audience better. For all the griping above, I was at least able to get through the book quickly, whereas some others have been so painfully hard to read (be it through a poor writing style, dull wording, excessive description of everything, whatever) that I've just given up and put it back on the shelf.
4) The supporting characters. The people in the background, I quite liked. They at least brought a little freshness along occasionally, and added a little humour or dimension to the story. It's a shame Bella dismissed them all so easily.
So, overall? I realise that, numerically, the good points outweigh the bad, but in terms of substance, they're far outdone. Even the plusses were tempered with clauses/qualifiers, which probably says enough, and Meyer just missed out on all of the important factors in a story, IMO. Not the worst book I've ever read (believe me, there've been some that haven't even made it back onto the shelf, but instead went straight into the bin), but I'll certainly not be rushing out to buy the next installment.
Which, in truth, is what I'd half-expected after all the hype anyway...
To give an idea of my usual reading preferences; where famous authors are concerned, Terry Pratchett is a yes, as is Nelson Demille (the latter is probably my favourite current author). Stephen King seems to divide opinion sharply between fans and foes, but I like him - I'll readily concede that his newer stuff (e.g. Dreamcatcher) isn't as good as the classics (such as Salem's Lot, The Shining, Bag Of Bones), but overall, I do enjoy his work, including his short stories. Picking out less famous authors, Connie Wilson's The Domesday Book is fantastic, I very much enjoyed Judith Tarr's Arrows of the Sun, and The Keep by F. Paul Wilson is one I bought purely to re-read - absolutely brilliant. His take on vampirism and how he ties it in with the legends of old - the original Romanian ones, not the 'mainstream' legends - is particularly good, and IMO the book warrants far more attention than it gets.
Anyway, with that said and done, I'll get on with the main piece - and I'm sure that fans of it ain't gonna like it. We can talk it over, though
First off the bat, I'll say that normally, I avoid books with ridiculous commercial appeal, and especially those with a high 'fangirl' factor, such as Harry Potter or the Twilight series. Something about them just drives me away - it's not a conscious snooty "Oh, well, if everyone likes it, I shan't bother," thing. It's just like kryptonite to me. When I see the book being advertised 6 months before its release, it repels me. When the whole phenomenon is rammed down my throat all year round, I step back and say, "No thanks." If Twilight hadn't been bought for me as a present, I wouldn't have bothered - but as it stood, it'd have been incredibly rude not to.
Unfortunately, I'm afraid that for the most part, it merely reinforced my opinion of massed commercial appeal.
I like to finish on a positive note, so let's get the bad stuff out of the way first:
1) Bella. Right from the first chapter, I just couldn't freakin' stand her. She has to be one of the most unappealing lead characters I've ever read - she bored me, when she wasn't making me roll my eyes in annoyance or disbelief. It felt like reading a Mary-Sue novel, except her background wasn't even all that tragic. And when the main character's such a turn-off, the book's probably doomed from the outset.
2)
3) Plot. Chapter 1, Bella goes to live with her Dad. Chapter 2, Bella starts in her new school. Chapter 6, Edward is a vampire - not an especially subtle plot-point, mind. Chapter 19, something actually happens!!! I only wish I were exaggerating, but... no. The thing I like about all the books/authors listed above is that, while they don't start off all guns-a-blazing, all secrets revealed, they at least throw you a titbit to begin with - a little teaser, if not a solid plot point - before moving on to developing relationships, characters and background around the story. Things keep moving. 18 chapters of background and relationship development leading up to 6 chapters of events isn't telling a story, it's... well, I was going to say fanservice, but that's not really fair. It's not a very good way of keeping me interested, though.
I may remember some more after posting, and if so, I'll add them, but that'll do for now. As for positives?
1) Vampiric senses. When vampires are created, their senses heighten - so what of people with sixth senses? In Meyer's book, those senses heighten too - this isn't necessarily a canon point with vampires (though to be fair, 'canon' is a bit loose when you're dealing with 400+ year-old folklore!), but I thought it was a nice idea (certainly better than the sparkling thing - interesting, but didn't work for me), and she did carry it out well. I liked that she took the time to have it pointed out plainly that most vampires (like people) don't have such traits. The whole "Bella, you're the only one I can't read!" thing from Edward was a bit too far into Mary-Sue again, though.
2) Some descriptive scenes. While the eternal-deifying of Edward got really old, some of Meyer's other description was actually quite good. The scene where Bella rides on Edward's back as he runs through the forest is one example, and Bella's fear when she's being persued by those boys is brought across well too. It's shame that other areas fell horribly flat in comparison.
3) The writing itself. This is probably more of a matter of opinion than all the above, but the way Meyer writes is at least easy to read. Some would say it's overly-simple, and I wouldn't have much to refute that with, but then maybe it suits the target audience better. For all the griping above, I was at least able to get through the book quickly, whereas some others have been so painfully hard to read (be it through a poor writing style, dull wording, excessive description of everything, whatever) that I've just given up and put it back on the shelf.
4) The supporting characters. The people in the background, I quite liked. They at least brought a little freshness along occasionally, and added a little humour or dimension to the story. It's a shame Bella dismissed them all so easily.
So, overall? I realise that, numerically, the good points outweigh the bad, but in terms of substance, they're far outdone. Even the plusses were tempered with clauses/qualifiers, which probably says enough, and Meyer just missed out on all of the important factors in a story, IMO. Not the worst book I've ever read (believe me, there've been some that haven't even made it back onto the shelf, but instead went straight into the bin), but I'll certainly not be rushing out to buy the next installment.
Which, in truth, is what I'd half-expected after all the hype anyway...
