Stephanie Meyer
So first up is Stephanie Meyer and her books. I read them all pretty quickly because I enjoyed them.
1) The Host: Interesting concept. There is a peaceful alien invader who has taken over earth. It is a creature that needs a host to survive and for countless generations has traveled the universe taking over worlds. When the alien (souls they call themselves) they essentially kick out the human mind, most of the time. The story revolves around a soul who has traveled more then most an has not found a creature she enjoys living in. On Earth she is put in the mind of a rebel human and slowly grows to love the human who she shares a body and mind with. While not so much a suprise on every page it is enjoyable and fun to read. The ending sets the stage for more to come.
TWILIGHT SERIES
1) Twilight: This is the one that started it all. Written as a teen fiction instead of adult one I think it crosses boundaries and could be enjoyed by all. It is the story of a young girl who has moved in with her Dad in the deary state of Washington. There she meets a fascinating “boy” who first ignores her and then saves her. Turns out he is a vampire who is drawn to her like no one else he has ever meet. He tries to ignore her and push her away but she does not want to because she too is drawn to him. Filled with interesting characters such as his “family” who do not feed from humans and a mysterious legend from the local indian tribe about the family this book promises and delivers much. It also has a new twist on the classic vampire tale which is a nice change. This one is being made into a movie to come out in December. Hopefully it will be done well and the series will all be made into movies. Considering it is as long as the Harry Potter books though there might be some things lost in translation that could damage the story.
2) New Moon: In this, the second of the Twlight series, we see our heroine broken by the loss of her love. He decided that it was too dangerous to be around her and leaves her and she cannot function properly without him. She is an empty shell of herself and those around her notice. She is woken out of the slump by an old friend from the Indian Tribe. They grow closer until one night he becomes very sick and when he is better they rarely see each other. It turns out that his tribe has guardian werewolves who awaken in their blood line when vampires are near. Despite the vampires leaving new werewolves are being created through the bloodline and her friend is one of them. He is forbidden to share his secret but she figures it out with a few guiding clues. As with the vampire she does not care what he is only that he is her friend. She and he are to go cliff diving but he is pulled away, she jumps without him and gets sucked away in the current. He saves her but not before the vampire who can see into the future sees her fall. Thinking she has died her vampire love goes to committ suicide by the ruling vampires in Europes hands. She is able to save them but does so at the cost of the friendship of her other friends and is doomed to become a vampire herself.
3) Eclipise: In the thrid Twlight series book the heroine finds herself back into old habits and love with the vampire. Her werewolf friends are ignoring her because of the long standing fued between the two. But danger is near as a vampire who does hunt humans is looking to kill her. This book is mostly setting up for the final book with the vampire and werewolf struggling for her attention and love. In the end though she leaves with the vampires and is to wed her love in the next book (her high school graduation took place at the end and she does not want to be much older then her love). The werewolf takes it hard and the book ends with him running away.
4) Breaking Dawn: Due out in August 2008.
Overall, Stephanie Meyer is a talented writer. For years I have been reading different variations on the same story. While this is still my typical reading (female hero, sci-fi/fantasy) it is a new twist that I was not expecting. It is always refreshing to not be able to tell where the author is going.
