Five Books Better Than “Twilight”

Twilight is available on DVD Tuesday and though I’ve willfully neglected to see the movie, I have read the book. It’s mediocre writing at best, and some of the story elements are ridiculous, yet, the book remains readable.  Readable enough, in fact, that I’ve acquired the second in the series to be started sometime this week.  I’ve convinced myself that I must read the series so that I may, if nothing else, be well versed in how to bash it.

I’m usually a sucker (ha ha) for vampire fiction and paranormal type romance, but even by trashy chick-lit standards, Twilight wasn’t that great.  I’m clearly outside the target demographic of tween and teen girls, but good young adult fiction writing should be able to hold up to a slightly older audience. Young Adult writers need to stay away from the topic of vampires if they can’t figure out how to deal with the adult situations presented.

Vampires are usually old, really old. The idea that they would fall in love with a shy, socially awkward, teenage girl is a bit far-fetched. Teenagers are annoying. I doubt old, powerful, blood-sucking fiends are really all that keen on hanging out with them. Once I mastered the suspension of disbelief it took to accept that Edward would ever love Bella, he started glistening in the sun. WHAT?! Let me say that again. Edward’s skin is glittery in sunlight. Really? Glitter skin? Is that really the best explanation for his sun aversion you could come up with? Sadly, I’ve read Sailor Moon fan fiction better than this book.

What I’m saying is that there are books much better than Twilight.  Probably more than any of us would have time to read. However if you do find the time to read and you’re looking for something like Twilight, but less like crap, here’s a list of my personal picks.

Screaming 13 year old girls with unwarranted crushes on Robert Pattinson aren’t really my thing, so this list wont be populated completely by YA fiction, and it certainly won’t have any Anne Rice since I find her writing obnoxious and pretentious.

The Vampire Diaries series by L.J. Smith

This IS a Young Adult series and one which I feel that Twilight borrows from heavily.  Being YA it does tend to be quite G rated.  No sex or serious violence here kids.  The main character is High School student Elena and she and her friends find themselves wrapped up in the affairs of two vampire brothers.  For all my complaining about teen angst, I have read and re-read this series for years and I cannot recommend it enough.

Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris

These are the books that the HBO series True Blood is based on so it should go without saying that these books do contain lots of sex and violence.  Whether you’ve seen the show or not the books are definately worth the read.

Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine

This one’s not a vampire series but instead involves a secret organization of people who control the weather.   Joanne is a weather warden who helps to keep mother nature in check.  She falls into forbidden love with a Djinn, which is basically the equivalent of a genie in a bottle.

Sign of the Zodiac by Vikki Peterson

I’ve sadly, only read the first of these novels, but it has a lot of promise.  Joanna lives in Las Vegas and finds out she has super powers and its up to her to balance good and evil.

Candace Steele, Vampire Killer novels by Cameron Dean

This one reads a bit like Buffy, with a strong female protagonist and quick pacing.  You’ll find that this is clearly chick lit as its somewhat smut laced.

Any other suggestions?  I’m always looking for new books to read.

(photo by: Air Hugs)

Related Posts

The Fair that Changed America, What happened after the Wizard left? A look at the “Wizard of Oz” sequel