Author: Stephenie Meyer

Reader: Ilyana Kadushin and Matt Walters

Short Review: Your patience is rewarded and the camera pulls back to show you the full picture of where we have been headed across the landscape of these 4 extravagant novels. For me this was a very satisfying conclusion to the Twilight Saga.

Long Review: If you read my review of the Eclipse audio book, you may recall my hesitation about Matt Waltersas a reader. I am here to tell you I take it all back. In Breaking Dawn, Walters reads a full third of the book – and I was honestly disappointed when his section was over. Part of this may be because I loved having Jacob’s point of view in contrast to only Bella’s, but whatever the reason – Walters is a great reader and gives a rich voice to Jacob’s side of the story.

There are so many things revealed in this book that it is hard to discuss very much without spilling spoilers left and right, but I will do my best. I will say that if you haven’t read the three previous books (Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse) you are likely to be very lost.

I like the choices that Meyer makes in how she tells the story. I enjoyed being pulled along for this roller coaster ride. I was very pleased to be surprised more than once by where the story went. I am usually hard to surprise, so it takes some deft storytelling (or at least major zigs when I was expecting zags) to catch me off guard. My favorite surprises are the ones that make me think or even say out loud “No – the author didn’t just do that, did she?” followed by my realization that she had been laying the groundwork for each surprise for years now. From the few interviews of Meyer that I have seen, I believe that many of the original seeds were planted before her characters had shown her the whys behind them all. I imagine them as mystery seeds that she planted on faith, following patiently along to tell her characters’ stories as they revealed them to her.

If you want not even the slightest spoilers – stop reading now, get yourself a copy and listen to it yourself.

For the rest of you, Meyer finds a way to pull all the threads together and leaves us with an ending that is satisfying. Meyer gives us a maturing Bella. A Bella who makes choices with her eyes open but with great faith in her chosen future. Not everyone agrees with Bella’s choices, but she is stubborn and optimistic and finds allies when she needs them.

We are given a rich tapestry of new vampire and werewolf lore, more back story on old characters and new characters to meet. While Edward has plenty of time on stage, to me he was mostly along for the ride in this story.

I have been a big Jacob fan since New Moon. As I mentioned earlier, a full third of this book is told through Jacob’s eyes. He too grows and matures in this story. I loved being given so much insight into his world, his challenges and his revelations. I have always hoped for a path for Jacob that I could be happy with and I was pleased, if surprised, with the one that Meyer chose for him.

I know that there are lots of Twilight fans who did not love this book – who were infuriated by the choices Meyer made for Bella, Edward and Jacob. Take that as the grain of salt on my cheery recommendation.

I just finished listening to it a 2nd time and I still like it. If you have read my reviews of the earlier books in the series, you will know that I felt that some of them were predominately laying out the foundation needed to tell the ‘real’ story. Some Twilight fans might not like it – but for me this is the story that had been hiding around the corner all this time.

Is Meyer the most talented writer on the planet? No. Are there more than ten other authors I would recommend ahead of her? Absolutely. That said, I am a sucker for rich characters who live on in my mind after the audiobook is silent. Bella, Edward, Jacob, Charlie, Leah, Seth, Alice and all the rest are vivid in my mind. Meyer, Kadushin and Walters have painted a world that lives on in my imagination, and for that I thank them all.

Just in case you are starting from scratch, the Twilight Saga CD Set is available and includes all 4 books.

Short Review: Meyer’s first foray into sci-fi is very satisfying. Officially an adult novel (in contrast with the young adult label applied to the Twilight series), The Host explores a post-invasion world from the perspective of one of the invaders. It is well written, well read and is still haunting me weeks after I finished listening to it.

Long Review: Before listening to this book I had already listened to three other Meyer audio books (first 3 books of the Twilight Saga) and at least one other book read by Kate Reading – all of which I enjoyed. Initially Reading’s choice of voice for the protagonist bugged me. Her tone was very flat and her reading rhythm very repetitive. But the story hooked me and I lasted long enough to realize that this voice was perfect for the protagonist and her inner thoughts. We spend this book in the mind of an alien not used to human emotions and motivations – an alien living in a human woman’s body and struggling to make sense of it all.

For those who are used to the Twilight Saga, starting over in a new Meyer world might be a bit of a jolt. Rather than vampires and werewolves we have aliens and long-distance space travel. This is a world set apart from ours by major events, rather than the Twilight world in which the supernatural is alive in the midst of the world in which we live. But Meyer’s stories are about characters finding their true paths – and this book is no different.

I don’t want to tell you too much about the story. I want you to hear it and experience it and let it carry you along as it carried me. I will say that Meyer created some very real characters – alien and human alike. She explores what makes us human right alongside examining the experience of being an outsider, of being so different you think you will never find where you belong.

This is one of those books that grew on me in a very gradual way. I was startled to realize I had found another story that made me not want to get out of my car when I got home from work because that meant I had to stop listening. At the same time, as I neared the end of the book, I got sad at the thought of having to let go of these characters and their world. I started to ration the story so I could think about what might happen next. Once I was done – the main players stayed stuck in a corner of my head. I know I have found a ‘keeper’ when the people created by the author and brought to life by the reader stay with me long after the audio stops playing. Need a book like that? You found it!

Author: Stephenie Meyer
Reader: Ilyana Kadushin and Matt Walters

Short Review: Meyer gets better with each book. With this book, she has found a good rhythm. The quieter bits of this story have a stronger voice than those in the first 2 books of the saga. Book 3 digs deeply into Bella’s relationships and finally starts to ask the question of “Why?”. We still get good action scenes (because there is always action in a world that has vampires and werewolves) – but we also see Bella make conscious choices with an eye to the consequences in her future.

Long Review:  Meyer delivers in her third book in the Twilight Saga. The story is well balanced between Bella’s inner world and what she is experiencing day to day. Her fans get more Bella, Edward and Jacob – but they also get more of everything else that contributes to why they are each making the choices they are making as the story unfolds.

We learn more about various members of the Cullen family. This was important for me. I had been waiting to actually learn anything real about some of the more neglected members of the family – and a number of them got some significant time on stage.

We also learn a lot more about the werewolves. One of my very favorite parts was the portion told in the style of a tribal legend. Meyer got into an amazing rhythm in the telling  – and Kadushin really did it justice. I sat in my car to hear this story within a story to its end.  I just couldn’t pull myself away in the middle.

Meyer sticks with Kadushin as the reader and though she is still not my favorite reader, just as I said in my review for New Moon, I have grown used to her style and now her voices for the characters are the voices of the characters in my head. I suspect it will be odd for me when I see the Twilight movie – all the voices will seem wrong!

In fact – my major critique of this audio book is to question why they added Matt Walters for the two very brief portions that he was given to read. He is the voice of Jacob – but only for one short bit at the start and another short bit at the end. After hearing Kadushin’s ‘Jacob Voice’ throughout all the books in the saga to date, it was honestly jarring to hear this flat male voice who was supposed to be Jacob. It was like when they change the casting of a character in a TV series 3 seasons in and you are expected to just accept it and move on. I didn’t like it – and I wonder what is waiting for me in Book 4 which I already know includes his name again in the credits.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. If you are a Twilight fan – no disappointments here. If you are new to the serires, I would recommend listening your way through the series – starting with Twilight and New Moon before moving on to Eclipse. They have even created a Twilight Saga CD Set that includes all 4 books.

Eclipse is also available through the Simply Audiobooks Rental Program.

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Reader: Ilyana Kadushin

Short Review: The good: a fresh and creative version of vampire and werewolf legends with characters you care about and great action scenes. The less good: lots and lots of Bella’s internal angst-ridden dialogue (not that there is anything wrong with that, if you have a taste for that sort of thing).

Long Review: I liked this one a bit more than I liked Book 1 of this series (see my review of Twilight). Having listened to the first book, I knew all the key players and understood the rules of Meyer’s vampires. While I suppose that New Moon could stand on its own, I would strongly recommend reading/listening to Book 1 first. In addition to vampires, we also get werewolves in this story. Just as she updated and made the vampire legends her own, Meyer tunes classic werewolf legends to suit her story and vision. I really enjoyed her choices.

New Moon is read by the same reader as Twilight, so if you have already listened to the first book – you will recognize the voices and the rhythm of her reading. Kadushin is still not my favorite reader, but I have grown used to her style and it did not interfere with my enjoyment of the book.

NOTE: I am very against spoilers and nothing I am about to tell you isn’t something you wouldn’t learn reading the one paragraph blurbs that are everywhere online. If you are the type of fan who has been avoiding reading those blurbs, stop reading this review and go listen to this story already – you know you will enjoy it!

New Moon picks up a few months after the events at the end of Twilight. Things happen and Edward leaves Bella. It is family friend Jacob Black who turns out to be the person Bella needs find her way back from a broken heart.

We spend a lot of time inside Bella’s head this time around. Bella is not a happy girl for large parts of the story. I actually like the way Meyer develops what we know about Bella and her reactions to her situation. Aspects of Bella’s behavior that bugged me early in the book were crucial to communicating  the magnitude of the train wreck that is Bella after Edward leaves. The author has somehow set to paper a credible journey through and recovery from depression. Even though this is a supernatural story – I think that a lot of people who have felt broken from loss will find a kindred spirit in Bella in this book.

That said, I think we could have lost some of Bella’s internal dialogue without loosing our understanding of her pain. My favorite parts of this book were definitely the action scenes and any scene involving dialog outside of Bella’s head! I am launching myself on the next book shortly and still feel as if Book 2 in the Twilight Saga is setting us up for something even bigger in Book 3 (hey.. don’t tell me what waiting for me in the next book – you know I don’t like spoilers!).

Can’t wait for the Twilight movie coming out later this year? Listening to this book is a great way to keep the world in your head while you wait. Fans will not be disappointed.

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Reader: Ilyana Kadushin

Short Review: One 17 year old girl who always felt different (and is a klutz to the extreme) crosses paths with a family of exquisite vampires. Romance and intrigue ensues. It grew on me, but it took a while.

Long Review: When the audio started, I was confused for a moment because the voice sounded so familiar. It took me a while, but I finally realized that it reminded me of the voice that Angela Goethals uses for Carmen in the The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its sequels. Once I got past that, the reading was just okay. Unlike some of my favorite audio book readers, Kadushin seems to use virtually the same voice for everyone. This works to some degree because the book is told entirely from the point of view of its young female protagonist, Bella, but I have come to expect more.

I had sought out this book in particular because it seems to have such a cult following. My verdict is basically that I like the core ideas. I like Meyer’s reinterpretation of the vampire. I like Bella and Edward and Jacob.. and all the rest of the characters. I wonder at some of Bella’s motivations (which I won’t share because I don’t want to spoil anything for those of you planning on reading/listening to it). I felt like I was reading a prequel a lot of the time – as if this was all the background stuff that Meyer had to get out of the way before she could get to telling the real story.

I will say that a lot of the basic components of the store did ring true – Bella’s experience in school. Her relationships with her new friends and her parents. And I am clear that this is in many ways a Fantasy Romance. So – will I seek out the next book? Yes, though more due to the promise inherent in the legion of dedicated fans the series has than due to my own captivation with this particular book or reader.

Twilight is also available through the Simply Audiobooks Rental Program.