Twilight
This first book I found to be overly lengthy, yet interesting as for plot, characters, and romantic tension. There were many things I liked about it.
1. The way the teenagers act and talk seemed realistic to me. At least, many aspects mirrored my own experience as a teenager such as: being a girl and being obsessed with a guy for no apparent reason and hating myself for it. OR the way that teenage conversation can focus on the minutiae.
2. The undead trying to "pass" for human is an interesting thing to explore. How could a vampire co-exist with humans without sucking their blood? This is something I appreciate about Terry Pratchett's Discworld as well.
3. Bella's inner turmoil seemed realistic and relatable to me.
4. The simple writing which allows for quick reading.
5. Sometimes I just need something to absorb all my attention.
So, really, I did overall like Twilight. I guess the reason I only gave it 3 stars on goodreads is because it was lengthier than it needed to be and because I don't think reading it made me a better person. That's actually rather a big downside and makes the whole endeavor a waste of time. Here are some more things I disliked about it:
1. There is altogether too much time spent describing how perfect Edward is. Really all of that description about his beauty and how alike he is to Adonis really makes him seem boring, uninteresting, and altogether unimaginable. Also, it's better to be shown his greatness than to be told about it.
2. The above also makes Bella seem moronic. What exactly is the attraction to Edward? His beauty seems too flat.
Moving on to
New Moon
The second installment in the saga dealt with more difficult human emotions than simply new/forbidden love. It dealt with heartbreak, depression, and forging a new life. The new life part gets cut short due to certain circumstances, which I think makes for less character development for Bella than I would have liked. I want to know how she would forge a new life having lost everything she thought her life was about. But Stephenie Meyer wasn't about to take such a bold chance, so we'll never know. I have to admit, I don't fully know why Bella is so determined to be a vampire. That's one thing I think is too simplistic. Giving up your humanity should be a bit more difficult than that.
Eclipse
The tension between Edward and Jacob vying for Bella's love increases with Eclipse but almost with that inevitable sense that it doesn't really matter. Except for a few moments in New Moon where Bella starts to envision life with Jacob, she never veers from her steadfast devotion and dedication to Edward. Which I have to say is irksome.
In Eclipse the threat to Bella comes from Victoria, James' mate, who wants to avenge his death by killing Edward's mate, Bella. Victoria uses "newborn" vampires to accomplish this task. In order to withstand so many new vampires, the Cullens have to join forces with the werewolves, their ancient enemies. The fact that they have to work together on this is interesting and presents some material for reflecting on how groups today might need to join together for a common cause. I wish there had been a bit more forethought on Meyer's part so that this could be a stronger cultural message for today instead of simply an interesting and engrossing love story.
Many have criticized Meyer's portrayal of native peoples in her books. I have to confess I don't know enough about it to know why or how she is being offensive. I do like that werewolves are part of a peoples' ancestry, so if there was a way to do that without being offensive I'd applaud that. It is more compelling than just it being random or coincidental that some people just are werewolves sometimes.
Breaking Dawn
This book is ridiculous for so many reasons.
1. It is over 700 pages long.
2. There isn't any threat to Bella like in the other books (vampire come to kill her) until 7/8ths of the way through.
3. Bella becomes a vampire. Really, she should have just stayed human.
4. If Bella must become a vampire why do we need the second-to-second play-by-play? Really? It's just a waste of everyone's time.
5. What's with the overly-detailed honey moon? Not interested.
I will say, as an aside, that I disagree with those Christians who had previously criticized the honeymoon parts because they portrayed sex as violent and this as a good thing. Sure, there's some violence, but it's incidental and part of the fact that Edward IS A VAMPIRE. And Bella knows the risk and goes for it anyway. And it isn't glorified because Edward is so horribly guilty about it all. Not that I think that scene was necessary anyway. It wasn't. No one needs to know that much detail about that part of their lives.
6. Again, too much detail about Bella's transformation into a vampire and her first hunt. The idea of a half-human half-vampire baby is interesting, but we really didn't need nearly the whole book to focus on that.
Another aside: I don't really mind that Jacob imprints on Renesmee. After all we were already set up for the idea of a teenage boy imprinting on a child through that other werewolf that does that. So, yeah, that doesn't bother me.
Overall there are a few things I really enjoyed about this saga:
1. The "Preface" that precedes each book is well-written, slightly vague but yet compelling and that makes me as the reader anticipate the danger Bella will inevitably get into. I find it annoying, however that Breaking Dawn has three "books" and so, three prefaces.
2. I like hearing Jacob's voice for part of the story. He's, most of the time, a compelling character and I like knowing more firsthand about his struggles.
3. I like the excitement and danger Bella is in in the first three books and not knowing exactly what will happen. The references to other literature made me think anything could happen. Would Bella and Edward both die like Romeo and Juliet? Would Bella turn out to be as selfish and sadistic as Cathy in Wuthering Heights?
One final criticism about the ending of Breaking Dawn: There's all this tension and anticipation for the final battle and it just sort of fizzles into nothing. Not that battles are always inevitable or anything, but it felt more like Stephenie Meyer was just reluctant to kill off any well-loved characters than anything else. But life includes meaningful losses along the way, and other than Bella's humanity, nothing is really lost. I think the series is lacks depth because it lacks loss.
