Lowly’s Book Blog

Finally, I have reached the end of the series. And I am so glad that I waited to read the books until all four were available. Somehow the series seemed complete at the end of book 3. The love triangle was resolved, what more was there to say. I mean if she continued the series, Meyer may have to come up with an original plot. Is it possible?

Yes! The final book in the series is by far the most original and therefore interesting. The story opens with Bella and Edward’s wedding, honeymoon and other good stuff for the tween girls. But the plot takes a twist when the human Bella gets pregnant. How is it possible for a living human to carry and nurture a vampire baby? From here Meyer is in brand new territory which she handles with skill. 

I don’t want to go on much further because the summary will make absolutely no sense to anyone who has not read the first three books, and it will ruin the story for anyone still proceeding through the series.

Some Meyer fans have said that this book is just the publisher pushing Meyer to produce another best seller for purely financial reasons. They claim the book is boring and rambles on and on. I suspect they felt that way because the book is so refreshingly different. The story is much bigger than Edward and Bella. Not only is little Renessmee part of their lives, but suddenly the extended family and werewolf network is critically important. This book is much bigger than a simple love story, and I suspect the disappointed readers simply wanted more of the same.

Thank you Meyer for saving the best until last!

I know this review is late when all mention of the book has been removed from the publisher’s website. So probably nobody cares, and if you do, if your local library doesn’t have the book, you probably won’t get it anymore.

Anna is a popular and successful teen with lots of friends, success on the swim team and everything a girl could want, until her mother dies. Then she has to move far away from everything she knows and live with her only relatives, including her batty grandmother. OK so far this is just like any one of a hundred books written for the junior secondary market. But Anna discovers a talent, and a secret coach, and netball becomes her way into making a new life for herself.

This book is co-authored by a real live netball expert and a professional comic. The netball links are very strong, including diagrams of skills development exercises. The comedy is not so obvious, but that is OK, it really isn’t important to the story.

This book is an entertaining read, and a sure winner for all those teens who are too busy with sport to actually read a book. I just wish the publisher had done the readers the courtesy of packaging the book with them in mind. The font is far too small for modern kids that are accustomed to a computer screen. Sadly, they will open the book, flick through the pages and then return it to the shelf. This is a real shame, because the writing is strong and this special interest group will love the training ideas. Too bad that this book is ruined before it was given a chance.

The story so far… A young boy fights his way out of poverty by becoming an assassin, or even more than an assassin, a wetboy, who can use magical talents to help him. His homeland has been invaded and an evil Godking has taken control. His master has died, but not before handing on his sword to the apprentice. And his best friend has apparently been killed in the coup.

At the start of this book life for Kylar seems without purpose. He has only his beloved Elene, and together they move to a far city to set up life together. Kylar’s understanding of poisons will make it easy for him to make a living as a herbalist, using his knowledge to help heal instead of destroy. Elene insists that he give up the life of a wetboy and sell his sword Retribution. Kylar tries, he honestly tries, but before long his is wandering the city at night, setting wrongs to right. The underworld of this new city soon come to respect the Night Angel. But then Kylar hears that Logan is alive and only the Night Angel can save him…

This of course is the main story, but there are several subplots that hold the reader’s interest equally. Personally, I was very fond of the three mages, and I am waiting to see where they fit into the story as it leads to its conclusion in the next book. Like all middle books in a trilogy, this one moves the players around the board, setting the scene for the final resolution in the next.

But the silly publicist never sent me the final book in the trilogy! AAHHHH!!

By now everyone knows that Meyer’s first book Twilight has been released as a movie, and hundreds of thousands of teens have rushed off to see it. But I wonder how many adult fans of the horror genre have been suckered in. I know one 50something who went along expecting a vampire horror movie! Maybe he should have read the book first.

Anyway now I am on book three of the series. The love triangle is complete, Bella loves Edward who loves Bella who also loves Jacob (as a brother/friend) who loves Bella. Edward is a vampire and Jacob is a werewolf; enemies for all time. Now their traditional battle is personal. But more than that, the bad vamps from the Twilight have found Bella and Edward and are sworn on revenge. 

But once again the popularity of this book cannot be based on the plot. This story has been told many times before. The popularity of this series is firmly based on the characters that simply jump off the page and wrap themselves around your heart. As a reader, you care about what happens. Is Bella going to live with Jacob, or die to be with Edward? And how will the loser in this triangle cope with the grief? Those questions keep the pages turning, not the veneer of adventure.

OK so this is modern pulp fiction. But I will admit, I thoroughly enjoyed it. There are not many books that will keep me awake until the wee hours of the morning just to find out what happens.

New Year’s resolution time. I am determined to read and review 200 new books during 2009. But first I need to clear the backlog of reviews.

The best of what I have been holding is Kate McCaffrey’s latest(?) In Ecstasy. In her previous novel Kate demonstrated a rare ability to get ‘inside the head’ of an adolescent experiencing real problems. She can clearly explain the little decisions that start the slide and then sympathetically look at the struggle experienced when one tries to solve the huge problem alone. 

McCaffrey has done it again in this book. Two friends, Mia and Sophie, have been friends forever. But when they both get caught up in the party scene, complete with the party drugs, their friendship begins to fray. Eventually the girls get caught up in situations that make them very uncomfortable and struggle to find their way out.

This is certainly an excellent book for 15-17 year old girls. It is a cautionary tale that may help someone from venturing too far into a world that looks can be inviting. But it is also a book for parents, teachers and anyone else who is involved with young adults. It will clearly help explain the attraction of party drugs and lead them to understand why some may believe they need them too survive.