Name: The twilight saga illustrated guide
Rating: 3.718181818181818 (55 reviews)
ISBN: 9780316043120

Stephenie Meyer

A comprehensive handbook features color illustrations and photographs and with exclusive new material, character profiles, genealogical charts, maps, extensive cross-references, and much more.

the official illustrated guide

The twilight saga illustrated guide

This stunning set, complete with all four books, makes the perfect gift for fans of the bestselling vampire love story. Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn capture the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires.

The Twilight Saga Collection

Celeste Richardson

Full review now posted!

Books are supposed to educate and enlighten and broaden the mind. They are supposed to help us understand ourselves and those who have nothing in common with us except our humanity. Books let us travel to distant lands, help us remember the past and envision the future, and they remind us to appreciate our present.

But dang it, they’re also here to entertain us. We don’t belittle television shows for amusing us and allowing us to escape from reality and forget out troubles of hour and half hour increments of time. While we can be music snobs, I think everyone can admit to singing along with catchy popular songs when you can’t escape them, even if we rolls our eyes while belting out the words. So why do we as readers label some books or series or entire genres of fiction as completely unworthy of our time? We call them trash because we see nothing of literary merit in them. But why does every book ever written have to hold some nebulous literary merit? 

I deeply believe that reading should be fun, and that some books are meant to be that and only that: fun. There doesn’t have to be a life lesson or deep theme or social commentary. Yes, I believe that we should read books that contain those things as well, just as we should mix our sitcoms with news coverage and our boy bands with Bach and Beethoven. But there is nothing wrong with reading for fun and only fun, and we shouldn’t look down on those who read for fun and fun alone. And for those of us who try to read meaty literature with depth and a message and that “merit” we’re so proud of, we shouldn’t be embarrassed to take a break from that depth when we need to and consume something mindlessly addictive. Steak is great, but consuming too much red meat can give a person gout. Sometimes, you just need a big bowl of popcorn, right?

There are books that I consider “popcorn fiction.” These are books with no nutritional (literary) value, but they’re addictive and a pleasure to consume. They’re books (usually series) that are almost impossible to put down until you read the final page. The prose might not be the best, and there are generally eye-rolling plot devices sprinkled liberally throughout the book, but the characters are fun to read about even when they’re obnoxious and the plot is immersive and compelling. These are the soap operas of the fiction world, and sometimes they’re just exactly what you need to help you escape reality for a while.

I consider Twilight to be one of the ultimate popcorn series. I actually think of it more as sitting down with a five-pound bag of Lucky Charms marshmallows and just eating until you make yourself sick. These books have a bad reputation, and it’s at least partially earned. I’ve never met a main character more problematic than Bella Swan. She has no sense of self-preservation, she has a severe martyr complex, she has a horridly low opinion of herself, and she blames herself for literally everything, even those things over which she has absolutely no control. Her view of herself is quite possibly the worst I’ve ever come across. She has her strengths, of course. Bella is loyal and self-sacrificing and incredibly loving. She finds her true self and a core of strength she didn’t know existed in the final installment of the series. She even becomes a bit of a Mary Sue in terms of strength and gifts. But she absolutely should not be a role model for young girls. 

Does that mean I don’t think said girls should be allowed to read the series? It does not. I think Twilight provides great fodder for discussions of self-worth and self-image when properly approached. If I was the mother of a tween or teenage girl, I would of course gauge their maturity level and provide a disclaimer before allowing her to read these, but allow it I would. My parents always let me read anything, just giving me warnings before I dug it. Because of those warnings, I knew what to be on the lookout for, and I was able to protect my mind while still thoroughly enjoying the story. 

Twilight is full of things that usually would cause me to put a book down. I despise love triangles, but for some reason am completely entranced by Bella’s relationships with both Edward and Jacob. Both male characters also have their issues, but they’re super engaging to read about. I loathe Wuthering Heights and am not a fan of Romeo and Juliet, but Twilight echoes both and I still enjoy it. There’s something about this series that just lets me turn my brain off and revel in the ride.

I honestly can’t explain why I am so entertained by this series, but I am. This is my third time reading it, and it was still just as much fun as the first time. All I can say is that, when I’m in the mood for mental popcorn, this is one of my go to series, and it appears that it shall remain so.

A buddy (re)read with the ever lovely Mary!

For more of my reviews, as well as my own fiction and thoughts on life, check out my blog, Celestial Musings.

Collects the novel in which Bella, moving in with her father, meets a boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not human, and a full-length reimagining of the original story.

"Celebrate the tenth anniversary of Twilight with this special double-feature book! This new edition pairs the classic love story with Stephenie Meyer's bold and surprising reimagining of the complete novel with the characters' genders reversed. In Life and Death, readers will be thrilled to experience this iconic tale told through the eyes of a human teenage boy in love with a female vampire. Packaged as an oversize, jacketed hardcover "flip book," this edition features nearly 400 pages of new content as well as exquisite new cover art. Fans of Bella and Edward will not want to miss the opportunity to see these iconic characters portrayed in intriguing new roles." -- Publisher's description.

Life and death : a reimagining of the classic novel

Twilight Life and Death

Marissa Luzio 

I'm going to assume that everyone reading this review knows about Twilight and has read the originals. Onward from that, this is the tenth anniversary edition where Bella and Edward's roles and genders are switched. When I first heard about this I literally through my phone because of the excitement and the urge to do a happy dance- true story. Literally every female in the original Twilight series turns into a male and vice versa. It was actually pretty good, which I'm struggling to imagine how I could possibly say that with a straight face... I wasn't necessarily a big fan of the books, I liked the movies well enough to watch them in the theatres but that's about it. So for me to say that this book was actually pretty good, is a lot. 

This was pretty funny to read, it took a while to get used to and remember who was who but all in all, pretty humorous. I liked that Meyer took the used up old story of Twilight and made it into something new and refreshing. Mind you guys, the main reasons why I didn't like Twilight did not disappear in this new version. The romance still sucked, the whole vampire sparkle stuff was still bogus and the characters still didn't connect with me or relate to me at all. While this was a cool new innovation of Twilight, I'd still give it the same rating as the originals, 3-4 stars, at the most. 

For anyone interested in reading, I say just do it. I mean, it's a cool thing for Meyer to do and I liked that she came up with this idea. It was a definitely a different perspective to view the plot through Beau Swan, a male, getting captivated by the beautiful vampire, Edythe Cullen. I didn't mind the book and I definitely didn't hate it as some-most people did. Just read it, who knows, you might actually really like this new version better! 

p.s. Soooooo Meyer had the time to write this book yet not the sequel to the Host ?? Um priorities much? -insert grumpy ass face-

IF you liked this review, check out more on my blog where I review YA and other genres!
http://keepcalmandloveboooks.blogspot.ca

Shannon Cullum

Kayla Duncan

This stunning set, complete with five editions of Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, and The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella, makes the perfect gift for fans of the bestselling vampire love story. Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, The Twilight Saga capture the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires

The twilight saga illustrated guide the official illustrated guide

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