Twilight--wow!

All done. Wow. Loved it! I started on Thursday night and finished early this morning.

I don't like romance novels, but I'm a sucker for a well-written tragic love story, which TWILIGHT is. Throw in a lot of suspense and adventure--even better. Toss in a few vampires--I'm hooked.

This is not Buffy the Vampire Slayer Pt. 2, and I'm so relieved, because that is one of my favorite shows and the tragic romances Buffy had with Angel and Spike are legendary to and protected by Buffy fans. I was very worried that Twilight would be a feeble copy.

Happily, the love story of Isabella Swan and Edward Cullen stands on its own, with noticeable and welcome differences between the "cold ones" (Cullens) and the "lonely ones" (Angel, Spike, Dru, etc.)

The reading in Twilight is very fast, the character development is great, the teenage angst pretty realistic. There are just enough descriptions of the surroundings to give you a clear picture, but the real focus is on the characters and their dialogue (internal and external,) which is the kind of story I'm attracted to.

Edward Cullen could make a woman of any age swoon, because, although he looks 17, he's really 117 and carries the pain and experience of someone much older. Bella is chronologically young, but intelligent, mature, and self-sufficient, until she meets her match in Edward. The many supporting characters are well-written, and I'm anxious to see what happens in the next book, New Moon. When I was down to 150 pages left, I zipped to Borders and bought the next 2 books in the series, New Moon and Eclipse, and even reserved Breaking Dawn, the 4th book, coming out August 2.

It is certainly the kind of book where you have to give in to the world being created by the author. Writing about vampires is always sticky, because there are so many interpretations of what they are like. Fortunately, their mysterious history also gives an author a lot to pick and choose from. Like Bella Swan, I found myself wondering about some of the Cullens' traits and comparing them to the Buffy vampire world that I know so well. The Cullens live among humans, they go to school, they are out and about during the day--these are not vampires that I'm used to. When Bella brings these questions to Edward, his answers were very satisfying to the reader, and when he dispels the myth about vampires and the sun and demonstrates what really happens to a vampire when exposed to direct sunlight, a truly beautiful scene emerges-- probably my favorite in the entire book.

So, although I agree with others that Twilight's target audience is probably older teens and up, I, personally, loved it. I hope that the movie coming out in December is as satisfying. I think casting Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) as Edward is brilliant. When I discovered that he was playing the character, I realized that he fit my mental picture of Edward almost 100%. But, like Harry Potter, the real treat is the books, not the movies (although I love every one of the HP films.)

After all, it is in the books that the characters really have life breathed into them. Or in Edward's case, breathing isn't necessary, just a habit. The bottom line? I'm officially "dazzled."