The Twilight Saga Finished:

I read the first book in the Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga the first week of May. This past Saturday, I finished the fourth and final. I wrote about the first book (and a little about the first Movie) here.

Here's some my concluding thoughts, and likely the last time I will mention the books or movies on this blog.


Book #2 - New Moon.
summary - Edward Cullen (vampire) makes the decision to leave his true love Bella (human) in an effort to protect her. Bella seeks to navigate through the "loss of her heart" and finds comfort in a friendship with her Native American Friend, Jacob Black, a guy with his own set of "non-human" issues.

• Meyer's writing takes a step up from Book 1 to Book 2 (and by book 4, it's pretty impressive).
  
• The character development continued to improve.
  
• The Edward/ Bella "break-up" is an intriguing and heart-wrenching depiction of teenage love gone awry. We often tell our students, "Until I am complete and content in my relationship with Christ, all relationships are a hopeless attempt to fill that void."
  Bella refers to a "hole in her chest" that is created through Edward's absence. I like where this conversation can lead with young gals.
• There is a great conversation that could happen concerning guy/gal relationships. The Jacob/Bella v. Edward/Bella relationship has some stark differences. This is where I actually found myself emotionally involved with the book. I wanted Bella to choose Jacob (the friend) over Edward (the "one")... a thought that does not make me popular with many of the gals I've talked to.

Book #3 - Eclipse

Summary - The Cullens (vampires) are back around. Jacob Black and his "pack" of friends are in a tense relationship with the Cullens over the status of their "treaty". This all gets foggy when another dark force of vampires look to come after Bella, and Bella pushes for herself to become a vampire.

• This is the classic "in the middle" of the saga books. Lot's of deepening plotlines and character development.
• The above-mentioned "battle" between Edward and Jacob over Bella continues. There's little hints of control in both male characters that is a little romanticized and unfortunate.
• Both male characters also possess some very admirable qualities of loyalty, service, and selflessness.
  
• The vampire/ werewolf genre takes a step up. There is more supernatural elements introduced as you understand the whole backstory. It's a little darker, but not unreasonable.
  
• The Sexual Content takes a significant leap. Bella (a virgin) is all but throwing herself at Edward, and he is the one telling her "no, not till we're married". Again, this would be a great conversation point concerning standards, sexuality, etc.
  
• At the conclusion of this book, I grew in my concern over the amount of young High School and Junior High gals reading.

Book #4 - Breaking Dawn

Summary - Bella and Edward are married, and through a strange twist of events, the Volturi (kind of the Vampire Royalty) prepare to face off against the Cullens, bringing the Quilete werewolves and Cullens together to protect their people, region, and a new edition to the world.

• Some great writing by Meyer. A large section of this book leaves the mind of Bella, and has Jacob as the narrator.
• There is not graphic explanations of sex, but there is a plenty of sexual content. As a positive, it is all happening inside of marriage. On the negative, it's a fairly distorted view of it all.
• As a lover of fantasy books/ movies, I was really disappointed in the ending of the book. It had incredible build, and was extremely anticlimactic. It would have been a fine ending if this wasn't the final book (and I wonder if she wasn't leaving the window open for more).
  Yet, I have not heard a similar disappointment from the teenage lady crowd concerning the ending. So, once again, maybe Meyer nailed her target audience.

All said and done, the central focus to all the books, and as far as I can tell the ultimate attraction by its fans is Mr. Edward Cullen... the perfect man for every girl that just happens to be a vampire.

I have had some great conversations with gals about the books. I have a mental list of questions I run through with them. Based off the coming movies and results of last night's MTV movie awards, I don't think the Twilight saga will be going away real soon. If you aren't aware, it's time to become aware. As one of my facebook friends stated, I'm not saying "beware". I'm saying "Be aware."