Twilight: Deluxe Collector’s Edition (The Twilight Saga)

I usually do not read books labeled "young adult." I am an adult, many years away from being young, (except at heart!!), and, with a few exceptions, i.e., the Harry Potter novels and "Where the Wild Fern Grows," I read literature for grown-ups. To my delight Stephenie Meyer has created an extraordinary young adult series - which I love (!!) - "The Twilight Series." "Twilight" is also the title of book one. And what original, delightful novels these are - even for someone who prefers her/his literature a bit more sophisticated. I could not put the first book down, literally...and will begin book two, "New Moon," as soon as I finish writing this review. Believe me, there's a reason that more than 10 million "Twilight" series books are in print. They are addictive! As an aside....I did see both "Twilight films," "Twilight" and "New Moon," which are now playing in theaters or on DVD. The movie versions are outstanding and true to the original storylines. The movie characters really resemble those I had in my mind's eye as I read and imagined what Ms. Meyer's world, and the folks who people it, look like. And the books' characters, especially Bella and Edward, are amazingly well depicted. Although all four books are on the market now - great Christmas presents for those uninitiated in "The Twilight Series" - there are 2 more films in the making to complete the movie series. Isabella Swan is seventeen - a typical teen, good looking but somewhat clumsy. She is adapting herself to her long limbs and changing body. Her parents have been divorced since "Bella," as she is called, was a baby. She and her Mom live in sunny Phoenix, Arizona, where she has few friends. Bella is shy and is somewhat of an outcast amongst her peers. She is a moody and private person. But she gets along with her mother - miracle of miracles for an adolescent girl/young woman. Bella is also this stories narrator, so the reader experiences everything from her point of view. Each year she visits her father, Charlie Swan, the chief of police in rainy, dreary Forks, Washington. These annual visits have been more of a torture than a treat for Bella. The constant rain, boredom and loneliness would get anyone down, except for those used to life in Forks. She has only three friends there - Jacob Black, a Native American of the Quileute tribe, (also a teen - and a handsome one at that), his father, Billy Black, and tribal leader Sam. All three are absolutely fascinating and original characters. They have known Stephanie since she was a toddler. The 3 of them have always regaled her with ancient Quileute legends. Bella's mother, Renee, is about to travel with her new husband, Phil Dwyer, a minor league baseball player, to Florida for spring training. Bella has little choice - she can move with her mother and stepfather to Florida, or go to Dad in Forks. She decides to go to Dad so as not to be a third wheel in her newly wedded mother's marriage. Bella, is not a selfish person. She tends to consider others' needs before her own, a trait that can bring her joy, but can also endanger her life. It is in Washington that major changes effect Bella's world. Once installed at Forks, she is not reticent about expressing her displeasure to Charlie, who would do anything to make his daughter happy - except move away from his home. When she begins high school, the lovely Bella, the new kid on the block, surprisingly finds herself very popular. With all the attention she receives, she is quickly befriended by a several students. Unused to being the center of attention, she is dismayed to find that many boys/young men compete for her favors. And she begins to enjoy living with her easy-going, somewhat introverted father. But Bella, who is more embarrassed than flattered by her newfound popularity, has eyes for only one boy - the dazzlingly handsome, aloof, charismatic, Edward Cullen. He is the most beautiful person she has ever seen, with his golden hair, and his dark brooding eyes - even his voice is mesmerizing. Edward is the youngest son of the mysterious and reclusive Cullen family. He and his four siblings, also noticeably beautiful, sit apart from the others, at a separate table, during lunch....but they never eat. He watches her intently, but alternates between interest in Bella and what appears to be anger at her. When Edward and Bella are assigned to be lab partners in chemistry class, he avoids working with her or even looking at her. As a matter of fact, he is downright nasty. However, when an accident almost ends Bella's life, Edward saves her in a most non-human way. It is than when Bella discovers that Edward and his family are "benevolent vampires" who have vowed never to drink human blood. They hunt animals, and the blood of deer, mountain lions, bears, etc., is their source of sustenance. They don't eat - except for animal blood - so they dine in private. They do not sleep, and of course, they all have the usual vampire super human powers...and then some. They are all extremely sophisticated, accomplished and alluring. They can walk in daylight but their skin gleams and glitters in direct sunlight. These strange and potentially dangerous beings, unlike the characters in most vampire fiction, seem to have hearts and souls. So as not to give themselves away, they are happiest when it rains and is dark and misty outside. The head of the household, Carlisle, is a respected doctor in the community, whose citizens have no idea that there are vampires in their midst, although Jacob and his Native American tribe know. So Bella and Edward grow close as friends, and then they fall intensely in love. They yearn for each other - and although the word "yearn" may sound corny, it really describes their feelings for each other. "Twilight" is labeled "young adult" because there is no culmination of the couple's strong sexual attraction. They do not have a sexual relationship. However, there is much sensuality here and plenty of erotic kissing. Actually, I think the abstinence gives the feeling of more passion than usual - more sexual tension. Edward is a gentleman and also fears that intercourse with Bella might harm her...him being a super strong vampire and all. As Bella says, "About three things I was absolutely positive: first, Edward was a vampire; second, there was a part of him -- and I didn't know how dominant that part might be -- that thirsted for my blood; and third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him." Bella also discovers the reason behind Edward's initial hostility toward her. He is torn between his desire to love her and the desire to devour her. He is afraid his vampire nature might become stronger than his self control. I do not want to give the plot away. Let it suffice to say there are multiple storylines and much danger here - to Bella and her family. And there is love. Plus, the Native Americans are more than what they seem. Whatever flaws there are in this novel, (it IS fantasy fiction!), the magical narrative overcomes them threefold! I am thrilled that I have 3 more books to read in the series. This one is exceptional! Jana Perskie The Twilight Saga: New Moon Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3) Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)

Christmas gift for co-worker who requested it. He says the book is really good.

Let me start by explaining a bit about me and the way I look at books. I have a master's degree in literature. I read a lot of books, but I judge books according to what they purport to be. I love James Joyce's Ulysses, but I also love the Twilight series--for entirely different reasons. I am more than a little perturbed by reviewers who, for lack of a better term, I'll call literature snobs. Who have developed some arrogant literary paradigm for what a book should be in their heads and so proceed to bash books that do not fit their paradigm. This bashing of course echoes that of any other snobbish group mocking people whom they see as their lessers whether it is the country-club member's view of the working man or the cheerleader's mocking of artistic girl (since we are talking YA fiction here). I don't know why such people bother to review popular fiction, except perhaps to help reaffirm their self-perpetuated feelings of superiority. Such reviewers usually begin by falsely asserting that they wanted to like the book, or thought it really could have been good, but such assertions usually prove to be hugely insincere by the fact that they seem to have read the book looking for every flaw they could find. It is more likely that such reviewers set out to find fault with a popular book simply to maintain the idea that anything loved by the unrefined masses couldn't really be good. Their reviews usually resolve on some vague and undefined criticism of plot or characters: characters are shallow, or the plot drags. These criticisms, of course, are meaningless because the review doesn't give their criteria for what constitutes a shallow character or a dragging plot. If they did, most of us could recognize that the reviewer uses different criteria to judge a book than most of us. As far as popular literature goes, check it out at the library and judge it according to your own criteria, but remember what the book is trying to be: popular. In the case of Twilight, it is trying to be a popular Young Adult Fantasy. In other words, it is meant to be escape fiction, entertainment, a fun ride, and not "high art" or "literature"--since some people have the arrogance to try and define such things. I highly recommend it as such for the following reasons: For this genre, and I enjoy the genre--I even enjoy reading books that I couldn't rate higher than three stars, which would be generous, Twilight is fairly well-written, meaning true errors in grammar, syntax, punctuation, and style are few. There are some errors in all of these areas, but the story tends to allow me to overlook them even though I'm professionally trained to notice them all. If nothing else could be said of the writing, it at the very least isn't written in a vain attempt to make the characters sound like authentic teenagers of the day, allowing readers to supply the appropriate teenage slang and sounds of their own experience. The dialogue and language aren't great, but they don't distract from the entertainment quality of the story. Twilight is not a book about high school drama like a majority of YA fantasy. Forks High School is a minor scene where action takes place; there is no attempt to address themes of high school experience. Another reason to recommend the book are the characters, whom I found very complex and interesting. To me a complex character is one who 1) is unique enough to be easily distinguishable from every other character in the book in sound and actions. A great many YA books have an ensemble group of teenagers who speak and act nearly the same (one character would probably respond to a situation with essentially the same words and actions as another). Meyer's characters manage to each be unique in mannerism and voice. 2) The characters are shown to have to deal with multiple aspects of life. Despite being labeled by many viewers as shallow, I found Bella to be one the most complex characters I've come across in YA fiction. She is a girl who has essentially been denied the life of a teenager because she has been responsible for her flighty mother (she cooks, keeps the financial books, buys the groceries, keeps the schedule, and makes the hard decisions about what would be best for her mother). The book begins with Bella making a selfless decision to banish herself to a place that she hates (Forks, Washington where her father lives) so her mother can be happy traveling with her new husband (I suppose some people might find a way to classify such altruism as shallow, submissive, weak, etc., but I find it a unique quality in a young person.) When Bella finds herself developing a crush on a handsome mysterious boy whom she discovers later is a vampire who chooses to deny his own nature and not feed on humans, she is really experiencing her first atypical typical teenage experience, which of course is going to be a mindless, over-emotional, hyperbolic obsessive devotion. The atypical nature of her relationship only fuels her obsession, but it also allows her to discover more reasons to love Edward beyond her teenage obsession. After days of conversation, interrogation, revelations of deepest feelings and secrets, Bella comes to love him for his goodness (hey, most people would probably agree that if you end up a vampire with a consuming need to drink human blood you would probably just go with it) as well as his mind, manners, concern for her happiness. I, for one, can perfectly understand why in just a few months Bella would want an enduring relationship with a guy who is attentive to her needs and wants (maybe in a hundred years we guys really could figure out that we're happier if we think of our partners well-being before our own, or maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic myself). Bella's complexity is established by the fact that everything that is "typically teenager" in the book is atypical for her. She is also incredibly stubborn (not really a quality of shallow people) in that she refuses to give in to the impossibility, danger, and foolishness of their relationship, of which she seems to be fully aware. She decided to love Edward and nothing will get in the way of that. Edward also manages to go beyond the stereotypical personality detractors label him with. He's not perfect. His imperfection, in fact, is the primary cause of conflict in the book. If he had been perfect, he would never come back after he leaves on Bella's first day at school. Edward has had a hundred years of study both of knowledge and human nature, which he has unique access to because he can hear everyone's thoughts except Bella's, so it is only expected that he would have nearly perfected his talents. What he does he does as an expert with a hundred years of experience. This should be expected, so it really shouldn't lead so many to assert that he is too perfect. If anything, he is a classic tragic hero: a figure of great character and ability with one or some flaw that leads to disaster. Edward is far from perfect; when it comes to things that he hasn't been practicing for a hundred years, he's actually fairly bad. He struggles to interact with Bella because he can't hear her thoughts and so frequently misinterprets her words and actions. His main character flaw is hubris, not atypical for a man in his first serious relationship with someone he loves. He continually tries to make decisions for Bella, but can't even stick to his decisions because of his selfish need to stay with her and give her what she wants. I find Edward very complex and very interesting and find that I can identify with him (at least if I imagine I had been living as a vampire for a hundred years before I found someone I loved.) Into this obsessive but far from typical romance (I wish the author had made fewer reference to Edward's appearance, but my wife asserts it is fairly authentic for an obsessive teenage girl to think frequently of the physical attributes of the object of her obsession) Meyer throws all the horror of the world of vampires. I have found the entire series (the romance matures very satisfactorily over the course of the books) a great read, fun entertainment, and a cut above most YA fiction. I've read them obsessively several times, and I'll probably pick them up again when I can't find anything new that is as good.

This was exactly as described. Thanks so much.

It came so well wrapped. Very fast delivery. Love it!!! The book is in perfect condition!

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I have been in a reading slump and I couldn’t put this book down! I have seen the movies hundreds of times but this book is soo addictive.

AWESOME GIFT! Sister loved it for christmas. Very beautiful aesthetically pleasing for display. don't even wanna read it haha! Great gift, charming, gorgeous and a classic read! Arrived in a timely manner packaging was good!