Goal Ninety-Two

Goal 92: Read 50 books and journal about them.

Hmm, maybe I shouldn't read any novels in series until the entire series is written. I seem to actually make it through the series then instead of losing interest and never returning to it. So here are my thoughts on the last three books in the twilight series. Tara, you may want to skip this one!

1. Twilight
2. New Moon
New Moon ws not nearly as good as twilight, just to get that out of the way. The story line seemed mostly like prologue, like it was story filler with the only purpose to take us to book 3. Truthfully, the filler needed to be written but honestly the last 150 pages of the book were the only one's I really enjoyed. I only kept reading because the prologue left us with a teaser and I was reading to get to that point. I do enjoy the whole werewolves lore but Twilight left me wanting more of the Bella and Edward story, not the Bella and Jacob story. I realize it was a necessary chapter in the story, Edward not being there and the emotional turmoil that Bella was left in. Ah well, not every book can be a page-turner,.

3. Eclipse
Eclipse was much better than New Moon probably because I became totally involved in the Edward-Bella story and I don't really care much for Jacob. Jacob, especially after this book, is not someone I would be friends with in real life so I found myself just wanting him to go away. I guess it's because I'm someone who believes in clear relationship boundaries which Bella was definately confused about and Jacob was determined to cross. The only bright spot in the entire love triangle was that Edward was trying to give Bella room to work out her own issues. Jacob did deserve to be hit with a two-by-four. I guess it just irritated me because putting myself into that emotional confusion isn't something I would let myself do. Either your with someone or you aren't. Sigh, I definately don't miss being a teenager. Overall though it was a very good story and completely made up for the disappointment of New Moon.

4. Breaking Dawn
I read this 750+ page book in two days. This was definately a good conclusion to the series. Edward got what he wanted, Bella got what she wanted (and more) and Jacob's story came to a satisfying (if not a little weird) conclusion as well. Relationship boundaries became well defined and story lines came together. This was probably not the direction that I would have taken the series if it was mine but I did enjoy the authors vision and how Bella really didn't give up anything (except maybe her soul) to be with Edward in the end. Jacob, who doesn't have to age, ended up with the child who will never age after she's grown. Eternally, they all get to be happy except the Volturi. Honestly, I would love to see a book where she expands on that story a little bit but I don't think it would sell well. It would be the Twilight version of the Silmarillion where only really hardcore fans make it through. I do wonder what she's going to do next and I almost feel a little sorry for her like I do for the JK Rowling. What are the chances that they will ever acheive this sort of success again?