I first learned of the Twilight series through a TIME Magazine review of Meyer's lone non-Twilight book, The Host, and thought that maybe a "non-traditional" romance novel would be perfect for the slightly embarrassed male romance fan such as myself. The whole "supernatural" aspect...didn't really play in that greatly in the early books, other than to make things weirder. I have yet to see the movie of Twilight, but I can imagine that it would only appeal to a select few, most of whom have already read the book.

But fear not, unwilling drag-alongs: It Gets Better.

Yes, while the Purple Prose never completely stops, the romance does get toned down in later volumes. Eclipse has an awesome war between the "evil" vampires and the combined forces of the good vampires and the werewolves that aren't actually real werewolves so much as people infused with wolf spirits that allow them to shapeshift, and Breaking Dawn has the vampires gearing up for an all-out vampire revolution, the rebels against the authority figures. Also, Breaking Dawn gives the everyman Unlucky Childhood Friend Jacob Black, who comes off as much more sympathetic than unrealistic female dream guy Edward Cullen, the happy ending he so richly deserves. Furthermore, it actually spends more time being a vampire novel than it does being a romance novel that happens to feature vampires—which is probably why the majority of the fanbase didn't like it as much as the others. I think that the last two books will actually make for movies that have Multiple Demographic Appeal, and if you can get through the first two (probably a tougher task for a non-romance fan than for a multi-genre fan like myself), the end will provide something that traditional fantasy fans can enjoy.

My Ratings

• Twilight: 5/10
• New Moon: 7/10
• Eclipse: 9/10
• Breaking Dawn: 9/10