I must admit that I have been utterly befuddled by the hooplah and fuss over the novel version of this story. A few yeas back I was on vacation in Mexico with friends when one of my traveling friends brought the first novel. While she devoured the book on the beach and poolside, I think I spent a lot of the time blogging and people watching. One of the days I decided to get up off my ass and wander around, swim across the property and see what was going on across the way (turns out it was a wedding reception or something) and as I swam across the way, I noticed something really weird and began counting. I literally counted 12 women either floating along, camped on their beach chairs, sitting at the bar, sprawled in cabanas… reading fucking Twilight. Some had the first book, some had the second. I thought what the hell?! There’s a Twilight cult or something.
I stopped at the bar to get a drink and there were two women there, mutually engrossed in their books and randomly commenting to each other. They were initially strangers as introductions had taken place. One woman said her husband was golfing, fed up that she was so involved in Twilight and ignoring him. She said good riddance, she wanted to relax and read. The other woman said her boyfriend went on a fishing excursion because he as aggravated she was having an affair with a teenage vampire. I thought, okay, you’re in Mexico, on vacation, reading about a pedophile vampire pursuing a 17 year old girl…. mmmmkaaayy… In one of the few moments my friend put her book down, I admit to picking it up out of curiosity and found chapter 1 grating. Obviously not my cup of tea.
On one of the days we went into town, we were on a mission, we HAD to find the 2nd Twilight book IN ENGLISH. Yea, good luck with that. Upon my return home, the first movie was on the horizon. Curious about the hooplah, I decided to go with my friend. Through most of the movie I was entirely annoyed by the many expressions of Kristen Stewart, which is 1: terminally constipated. And the vampires don’t dissolve in the sun in Twilight… they… sparkle.
Sparkle?
Barf.
However the movie did turn ME into a pedophile as I admit I joined in the collective Cougar Gasp when Taylor Lautner’s character Jake, took off his shirt. phrew!! But other than that… I admit I was more interested in the back story of the other Cullens. They seemed far more interesting. But the movies are painful. KStew and RPatt are just expressionless and can’t act worth a damn. The books, to me, were written at around a 7th grade level, and just not appealing to me. But yet there was still a draw to the story, I have seen all the movies and admit there are interesting and fun parts amidst the drek. (I will be reviewing the movies at some point)
Enter learning of the graphic novel adaptations. Now THIS I could get into! Young Kim does amazing artwork. The lettering, however, is painfully amateurish and clutters up the art and often has difficult to read fonts. But not looking at KStew and RPatt are a huge plus. This made the story tolerable and there seemed, at least in Volumes 1-2 (which cover the first Twilight book) there’s enough back story about the other Cullens that made some stuff in the movies make sense to me. I don’t get why the lettering is so painfully shitty, though. Rookie mistake? Or perhaps it was originally in another language and translated, I’m not sure. I hope for subsequent volumes they get another letterer. Hell, I’ll letter it.
All in all, though, the Graphic Novels made this series tolerable and actually quite enjoyable. I don’t think we have a rating system set up yet but I would throw out there a 6/10 for this. Pick it up on discount or used. The lower rating is because of the lettering. From that point of view, I have to rate it lower than I would normally. Better lettering would get this a 7.5/10
This review was written by Jacqui who can’t figure out how to change the author and accidentally logged in as the admin instead of herself LOL!!!