Reviewing Life and Death

Helen Jarden
Copy Editor

“Twilight” author, Stephenie Meyer published the newest book in the Twilight series titled “Life and Death,” to celebrate the tenth anniversary of “Twilight.”

The novel was released on Oct. 6, with several copies containing both “Twilight” and “Life in Death,” making it the only dual book in the series. While this may seem like an odd choice on the publisher’s part, it actually has valid reasoning.

“Life and Death” follows the same plot of the first book, except that all the characters are genderswapped. For instance, Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, the main characters of the “Twilight” series, become Beaufort Swan and Edythe Cullen.

While their characters are obviously inspired by the originals, there are distinct differences, which eventually causes change in the plot. Some scenes that fans liked from the original book will create new and unusual twists in the story, making it mysterious enough to keep stay interesting to readers.

However, there are some downfalls. While reading the book, I found that the plot really didn’t change enough to my liking, especially when the book was advertised to be a “surprising reimagining of the complete novel” according to Amazon.

There was also no new development between characters, such as Beaufort and his father Charlie, which would have been interesting to see be explored.

On the positive side, Stephenie Meyer did improve the writing. In the note from the author, Meyer explained “70 percent of the changes I made were because I was allowed to do a new editing run ten years later. I got to fix almost every word that has bothered me since the book was printed, and it was glorious.”

She also was able to capture a male perspective as well. Much of the flowery language that Bella used was cut, and Beaufort provides a rather blunt yet intriguing outlook on the world. “He’s not so flowery with his words and thoughts, and he’s not angry – he’s totally missing the chip that Bella carries around on her shoulder all the time.”

Ultimately, I feel like the book would be fun for old fans, as well as new ones who never gotten around to reading the first book. If interested in buying “Life and Death,” it’s available for under $23 at bit.ly/1MivjPD.