When Bella becomes a vampire, what will her special power be?
I’ve been reading these really popular teen novels by Stephanie Meyer: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse. They’re not just any teen novels, though—they’re vampire romances. Uh huh.
There’s a lot to roll your eyes at in them, not the least of which is the whole “I want to kiss you some more, but I can’t because I might not be able to resist killing you” thing. Seriously. Awesome.
Bella is the heroine, a normal human. Her boyfriend is Edward, a 100 year old vampire (changed when he was 17, so he looks like a teenager). They’re obsessed, practically consumed, by one another. A big gripe I have with the story is she’s always wondering what he sees in her, she’s just an ordinary girl next to his immortal perfection, etc. And I always have to agree. There’s nothing that great about her. I wish she had more guts. She lives in constant fear. Because other vampires aren’t friendly to humans, and want her dead. Plus, what would a 100 year old guy want with a 17 year old girl?
But there’s some really great potential to the story. The author sets up some great ideas in it. However I don’t think she executes them very well. There’s so much that is just way too contrived.
Still, I’m hooked. I have to know what happens. Will Bella ever be changed into a vampire? When? How? And what will she be like after?
See, vampires have special powers. Each vampire has a unique power. Edward can read people’s minds—everyone’s, that is, except for Bella’s. Which must be part of her appeal. Another vampire is psychic—she can see the future. Another can influence people’s emotions—mostly useful for calming Bella down when she’s freaking out in fear. (To be fair, not just fear for herself, but fear for Edward and his vampire family, who are in danger because they’re protecting her.)
Bella’s unusual in that she’s very clumsy and always getting hurt. She seems to attract danger, like some force is out to get her, almost. I keep thinking there’s nothing that special about her—but wondering at the same time if there’s going to turn out to be something very special about her. Will she be the most powerful vampire of all?
Or will she become a werewolf, but ALSO a vampire, and unite the two warring species? Oooooh. It’s so fun to speculate.
What will Bella’s special power be when/if she becomes a vampire?
BTW, these books would make a great gift for any teen girls you’re buying for this Christmas. If you can find any teen girls that haven’t already read them, that is.
Oy, I read the first one, liked it okay and then read the second one, and thought…hmm. I only finished the third one through sheer willpower. These books sucked. But yeah, there’s some interesting ideas here. The concept of mortality v. mortality and a few other ideas could have made for some interesting books. But by the third book, the author is more or less grasping for straws. The stories devolve fairly quickly. That being said, I personally think that Bella won’t be a vampire. The author has clumsily alluded to this finale. Very clumsily.
Comment by Sherpa — November 26, 2007 @ 2:48 pm
I always have to laugh that the books are set in Forks, WA. I used to live on the Olympic Peninsula, near Port Angeles. It’s great that such popular books are set in my old backyard—but really funny, since she gets some stuff wrong. It’s hard not to be critical of these books, there’s so much to be critical of.
Comment by Susan M — November 26, 2007 @ 3:25 pm
There’s a very good review of the first book here:
http://janariess.typepad.com/reviews/2005/10/young_vampires_.html
I made my daughter read it after she read the book.
Comment by kuri — November 26, 2007 @ 4:11 pm
Great review, Kuri, I totally agree with it. That’s why I’m wondering what Bella will become as a vampire. I want to see her transformed into something amazing, a better vampire than any previous one. Because as a human she’s so weak. I keep thinking the author is making her so weak to make her transformation that much more dramatic. But I doubt it; the books never seem to deliver what I’m hoping they will.
I think teen girls love Bella because she is just a normal girl, and they can identify with her. A lot of my daughter’s like Jacob better than Edward, which surprises me a bit—Jacob’s so whiny and obnoxious.
Comment by Susan M — November 26, 2007 @ 4:24 pm
Her special power will be turning into Kristen Stewart.
Comment by Eric Russell — November 26, 2007 @ 4:32 pm
I hope the movies are better than the books.
Comment by Susan M — November 26, 2007 @ 4:36 pm
“Plus, what would a 100 year old guy want with a 17 year old girl?”
I can only imagine.
Comment by Brian G — November 26, 2007 @ 4:56 pm
lol to brian g’s comment. bella is a weak and whiny role model for all the teens reading her story, but i’m with you susan that her transformation could make her something amazing in contrast to her clumsiness and low self esteem. could. should. but probably won’t. i thought the first book was awesome. something different from the norm. and then i, too, felt like she was grasping for straws as she went along to her other two books. but i still read because i wanted to know what happened.
Comment by aubrey — November 26, 2007 @ 5:39 pm
Uhhh, didn’t Anne Rice already beat this horse to death?
Comment by tracy m — November 26, 2007 @ 5:51 pm
If Anne Rice didn’t, Laurel K. Hamilton did.
Comment by Proud Daughter of Eve — November 26, 2007 @ 7:06 pm
Anne Rice and Laura K. Hamilton write teen novels?
I wouldn’t know, I don’t read much teen stuff. Or vampire stuff. There’s nothing original in these books, though, that’s for sure.
Comment by Susan M — November 26, 2007 @ 7:47 pm
My wife came home from Relief Society a few months ago talking about how their discussion on food storage had turned into a 30 minute discussion on these books. I was dumbfounded until I found out the author was LDS. Now I want to know if they’re actually well-written, or if they’re popular because some people will latch on to absolutely any LDS writer?
Comment by jjohnsen — November 27, 2007 @ 2:57 pm
Ooooh. I’m sorry I missed this discussion!
As a writer, I’m horrified by these books. There is so much wrong with them. They are poorly written. She’s very predictable. There are typos and ‘grammatical convulsions’ (as I once heard) everywhere. She states nearly 5 zillion times how beautiful Edward is in the exact same phrasing.
However. I read all three of them in two days. I was a woman mortified and obsessed all at once & I could not put them down or forget about them. I have no doubt I will read the 4th & 5th books as soon as they come out. I’m not really sure why.
My sister & I talked at great lenght as to why they are so popular. Sure, the LDS angle is there, but they are also really popular outside of the LDS world. They are a nice, out of the ordinary escape read (no bored housewives rediscovering love, for example). Or, maybe, she just speaks to the fantasy teenage girl in a lot of people. It’s quite the thing to watch, though. Hopefully she’ll learn a little with the next one and write a little better to match the hype.
Comment by gabby — November 27, 2007 @ 3:18 pm
I was a woman mortified and obsessed all at once & I could not put them down or forget about them.
Same here! I actually put off reading the third book because the first two were just not that great. Yet when I finally read the third one I read it in two days (not unusual for me, though, I tend to have to finish books right away), and even now a couple days later I still find myself thinking about Bella and Edward!
After reading the first one, any love song I heard made me think of Bella and Edward. It was ridiculous.
They’re very popular, period. Not just in LDS circles. But I’ve heard the teen/pre-teen market has taken a turn towards “dark” stories—vampires, etc. I’m assuming because of Harry Potter.
Comment by Susan M — November 27, 2007 @ 3:27 pm
I’m wondering if they are turning darker stories is just a sign of the times? Kids are growing up faster and the fluff stories don’t hold interest anymore?
By the way? You will recover! It took a couple of weeks, but now not EVERYTHING reminds me of Bella & Edward anymore!
And I completely assume that she will be a force to be reckoned with once she turns vampire. At least I hope the foreshadowing with Alice & Edward being different and contrasting that with Bella isn’t going to be wasted.
Comment by gabby — November 27, 2007 @ 3:39 pm
Allison has a stack of these books on top of our bookshelf, so she’s likely to chime in at some point. She read the first three books in a couple of days. I think her experience was similar to a lot of peoples’. She didn’t think they were very good, but couldn’t stop reading them. I read the first couple of pages of the first one and it didn’t grab me at all. I might come back to them, but right now I’m slogging through (and enjoying) “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrill.â€
Comment by BTD Greg — November 27, 2007 @ 3:46 pm
Okay, I read them. Bella is special because supernatural beings can’t get inside her head. And it’s strongly implied that that capability will be magnified once she’s a vampire. I have my doubts she’ll become one anytime soon, though, because then the series would have to end.
Also,Jacob makes a better dog than person.
Comment by Allison — November 27, 2007 @ 3:50 pm
I didn’t think they were that bad. They were definitely for teenage girls, and IMO compare favorably to most of the other stuff in the genre.
Comment by Allison — November 27, 2007 @ 3:51 pm
My wife read these books. She recognizes they are written for teenagers but still enjoyed them. I purchased the first edition for her to read on a plane while we were taking a trip. Then we ended up purchasing the second and third books on the trip so she could finish them.
Comment by danithew — November 27, 2007 @ 4:07 pm
I was a woman mortified and obsessed all at once & I could not put them down or forget about them.
how true that was. and so embarrassing. for being close to 30 years old and devouring them in four days. i agree with gabby that the obsession does wear off after a few weeks, thank goodness.
Comment by aubrey — November 27, 2007 @ 4:13 pm
Funny you say that, BTD Greg, because I thought the first book’s preface had one of the best hooks I’ve ever read.
Comment by Susan M — November 27, 2007 @ 4:21 pm
Of course, it was the best part about the book.
Comment by Susan M — November 27, 2007 @ 4:24 pm
Remember when the Blair Witch Project was a big thing? That’s what these books are to me. The hype perpetuates them, otherwise they are forgettable. I read part of the first and have no desire to finish, so the three sit on my bookshelf.
Comment by Amber M — November 27, 2007 @ 4:55 pm
I was a woman mortified and obsessed all at once & I could not put them down or forget about them.
Hmm, me too. My friends and I laugh about the fact that Meyer’s books are a guilty pleasure in the sense that we can’t get them out of our head, but can’t ever agree with any heroine that is that, well, annoyingly insecure. That said, I was a teenage girl once . . . Maybe the attraction lies in the fact that the books revisit the initial rush of infatuation so well.
Comment by Christy — November 27, 2007 @ 6:57 pm
Guys!!! i am having some thoughts about bella turning out to vampire…..
What if she is immune.. i mean when James bites her the venom got out on her system then Edward sucked it out, what if that was like getting a vaccine????
Comment by Josef — December 23, 2007 @ 1:34 pm
I have read the series over and over again. I cant wait for the next book to come out. When i first read Twilight, I was instintly hooked! I love the normal teenage girls meets a supernatural beings and so her world changes; thing. I think that Bella might later on become both species. Maybe she’s about to die so Edward and the werewolf (forgot his name)atempt to save her at the same time creating a more pwerful species of the two. I love how there are so many possibilities and the author keeps you guessing about what will happen. This book was a quick read for me and was very appealing. I would recommend this series to anyone who loves vampires and action. Go Twilight, cant wait for next book!!!
Comment by Leah Stevens — December 29, 2007 @ 2:41 pm
i obviously have no clue to what bellas gonna be. I hope she and edward do everything they say they want to do in their “comprimise.” anyway i hope bella will have a very original “power”.
i love edward!
Comment by Jessy — December 29, 2007 @ 11:45 pm
I read all the books in three days. My friend and I absolutly love the books; we would text each other 10x more than any other teenage girl while we read it together. We both agree that Bella’s power will be invisability because she is immune to mental stuff.. Why not physical too?? But I dont know.. What do yall think??
Comment by lizzi — January 2, 2008 @ 7:26 pm
I agree with Lizzi. I think that her power will be protection from mental and physical attacks. Either that or she will be able to reflect someone’s mental attack back onto the attacker. The possibiliteis are endless…
Comment by Bobolingoshnortackololokitargulu — January 3, 2008 @ 8:02 pm
I have to agree about the horrid grammar and awful typos, but at the same time, I read them so quickly that it was easy to just overlook them, automatically correct them in my brain.
I agree that while there is nothing greatly special about these books (Anyone else immediately react by thinking, ‘I could write this!’?), but as several people have noted there is something distinctly intoxicating about them. At first I thought that I just had an incredibly addictive personality (which I do.), but after reading nearly ten more books, I still find myself wondering about Twilight and wanting to reread the books. It’s a little infuriating.
As far as speculations about Bella’s possibly vampiric powers, I must say that I haven’t seen any suggestions that strike me as “the one.” (But then again, I hate to put great faith in Meyer’s ability to creatively surprise us, only to be disappointed). Personally, I’m drawn towards her weakness, her aversion to blood, and her mind, that according to Edward, works on an AM frequency rather than FM. I wonder if she will be a unique breed of Vampire that can survive without blood? But perhaps that’s too much to hope for. It’s her mind that I can’t see to wrap MY mind around. If her mind doesn’t work in the same way as everyone else’s, what beneficial (and hopefully cool)power could become of that? Theories that I’ve heard include that she can negate other’s powers, that she’s a tracker, that she’s untraceable (and thus can be invisible), but none of them seem particularly in lines with the mind on a different frequency thing.
Well, there’s my rambling for the day.
Comment by Brittany — January 4, 2008 @ 7:29 pm
Ok, to answer the question posed by the title, I think, should Bella become a vampire, her power would be to negate the vampire powers of those around her (like the kid in X-Men 3).
But I don’t thinks she’s going to be a vampire. I think it’s going to end up as a tragic romance, a la of Romeo & Juliet.
It might even end with something uber-corny like Bella dying and then Edward dying of a broken heart, or vice versa…
One thing about the repetitive nature of her description of Edward - remember, the book is written from Bella’s point of view. When you think of somebody you like, don’t you use the same terms over and over in your head, or do you try to come up with something new every time you think of them?
And as far as Meyer’s skill as a writer goes - Aren’t people hooked? Doesn’t that take a certain skill?
Comment by Bryce Beattie — January 10, 2008 @ 10:51 am
okay so since she hates blood from the beginning she prabaly won’t have too much trouble resisting it and that could be her power. Her favorite food will probably be werewolf and she will probaly have an attractive power something to lure you towards her becaue for some reason when she came to Forks all the guys were attracted to her. Since she is likee never afraid of anything she will probably be a very out going vampire.
Comment by falina — February 11, 2008 @ 6:27 pm
of course she will be able to neglect powers which could mean that the vampires cannot use their powers around her …
Comment by falina — February 11, 2008 @ 6:28 pm
I think it is an interesting book, but really, I don’t think the writing is good. The plot is great, Meyers has excellent imagination, but a gift for writing? I think not. However, the plot keeps us hanging on till the end.
It’s nice. But what INFURIATES me is how some people can compare it to
Harry Potter
I mean, it CANNOT compare at all!
At all!!!
Comment by Antigone — February 23, 2008 @ 11:47 pm