Twilight Saga

Twilight is a series/saga of fantasy/romance/horror novels by Stephenie Meyer. It follows the adventures of Isabella "Bella" Swan, a teenager who moves to Forks Washington and finds her life turned upside down when she falls in love to a vampire named Edward Cullen. The series is told primarily from Bella's point of view, with the epilogue of Eclipse and book two of Breaking Dawn being told from the viewpoint of Jacob Black. Midnight Sun, a future companion book to the series, will be told from Edward's point of view.

Twilight
Bella Swan moves from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington to allow her mother to "travel" with her new husband. After moving to Forks, Bella finds herself drawn to a mysterious boy, Edward Cullen, who turns out to be a 'vegetarian' vampire, (a vampire that drinks animal blood, opposed to human blood). They both fall in love, and must fight off a rival clan of vampires who want to drink Bella's blood. Bella escapes to Phoenix, Arizona where she is then tricked into going to the the ballet studio where James, the vampire who is tracking her, is waiting. Bella is severely hurt there, but Edward and his family save her and after Bella is healed she returns to Forks with Edward.

New Moon
After Bella got a papercut at her 18th birthday party, Edward and his family leave Forks, Washington, because he is afraid that he is putting Bella in danger by having so many vampires constantly surrounding her. Bella falls into depression after he leaves, but four months later, she develops a strong friendship with Jacob Black, who later turns into a werewolf. A misunderstanding occurs, and Edward thinks Bella is dead. Edward then goes to commit suicide in Volterra, Italy. Bella and Alice then go to Italy to save Edward from killing himself, and they are reunited once again. The Volturi are introduced in this book.

Eclipse
Bella is being stalked by a vampire named Victoria and Victoria has amassed an 'army' of newborn vampires. Meanwhile, Bella is forced to choose between her relationship with Edward and her friendship with Jacob, knowing that once her decision is made, she can never go back. Edward's coven of vampires and Jacob's pack of werewolves get together to try to fight off Victoria's army of vampires. Before the fight, Edward proposes to Bella, and she accepts. They then go to fight, and destroy all the vampires, (apart from one who surrendered) including Victoria. In the end, Bella chooses Edward's love over Jacob's, and Jacob is devastated to hear of Bella's choice and the wedding.

Breaking Dawn
Bella and Edward marry in the beginning of the story. When they are on their honeymoon, Bella discovers she is pregnant and they both rush home immediately. The next part of the book is told from Jacob 's perspective. He goes to see Bella and discovers she is extremely pregnant and ill. Jacob breaks from his pack and has his own pack with Seth Clearwater and Leah Clearwater. Bella gives birth to the baby, which nearly kills her and Edward is forced to change her into a vampire. The third section goes back to Bella right after Jacob imprints on Bella's daughter, Renesmee. Bella is now a vampire and lives happily with her family for a time, despite her worries about Renesmee's rapid growth. Then, another vampire sees Nessie and mistakes her for an immortal child, or a horrible outlawed creature. The Cullens must stand against the Volturi as the Volturi comes to destroy them so they gather many kind vampires from all over the world to witness for them. The Volturi come but the Cullens end up being left alone and are safe to live their lives together for the rest of time.

Midnight Sun
On Stephenie Meyer's website, she has confirmed that there will be a companion book to Twilight called Midnight Sun. Midnight Sun is the story of Twilight told from the point of view of Edward Cullen. The first chapter of Midnight Sun can be found on Meyer's website. In mid-2008, subsequent chapters of the novel were illegally released on the internet. Meyer has expressed disappointment that the draft of Midnight Sun was leaked.

Main characters

 * Isabella "Bella" Marie Swan - The main protagonist of the series, Bella is perpetually clumsy and "attracts trouble like a magnet". Her life turns upside down when she falls in love with vampire Edward Cullen. Eventually, her feelings for werewolf Jacob Black grow beyond friendship, and she is forced to make a choice between her two loves. One important trait of Bella's is her immunity to any supernatural abilities that involve the mind, such as Edward's mind reading. Bella describes this as a 'glitch' in her brain.
 * Edward Cullen - Edward is a reformed vampire who lives on animal blood instead of human blood. He lives with a clan of like-minded vampires known as the Cullen family. He loves Bella, and feels great mutual dislike/revulsion towards Jacob Black due to both the love Jacob feels for Bella and the natural animosity between vampires and werewolves. Like some vampires, Edward has a supernatural ability; his gift is mind reading. He can read the thoughts of anyone he comes near for up to a few miles away; however, he can only read what the person is thinking at that moment. Bella is currently the only known individual who is immune to his power.
 * Jacob Black - A minor character in the first novel, Jacob resurfaces in New Moon with a much larger role. He is a member of the Quileute tribe, and a werewolf. Although he is sexually attracted to Bella, she initially sees him as just her best friend.
 * Mary Alice Cullen- One of Edward's sisters. She is described as "pixie-like". Her special ability is seeing the future as soon as someone makes the decision to head down that path. This ability is very useful, and gives the family forewarning to any dangers, and with Bella around, it comes in very good use. Her soul-mate is Jasper Hale.
 * Emmett Cullen - Edward's favorite 'brother' and Rosalie's soul-mate. He is known for his muscularity and strength.
 * Rosalie Hale - Edward's adoptive sister, who is extremely vain and does not like Bella at first. At first, she appears to play an antagonistic role in the story. Her soul-mate is Emmett Cullen. She became a vampire when Carlisle saved her life after several men, including her fiancé, beat her and left her to die. After undergoing the transformation, she murdered all of the men who had nearly killed her.
 * Jasper Hale - One of Edward's adoptive brothers, and Alice's soul-mate. He can sense and influence the emotions of people around him. He has the most trouble with the Cullens' 'vegetarian' lifestyle, since he is the newest member of the family. He became a vampire sometime during the American Civil War. He initially was part of the vampire wars of the south, creating new vampires and forming them into armies, but then his life changed when he ran away. He then met Alice, and they became a part of the Cullens' family.
 * Dr. Carlisle Cullen - The adoptive father of the Cullen children and husband of Esme Cullen. He is around 360 years years old and works as a doctor in Forks.
 * Esme Cullen - Carlisle's wife and the mother figure of the Cullen family. She has the special ability to love passionately.
 * Renesmee Cullen - Edward and Bella's daughter. She is a half-human, half-vampire. During Bella's pregnancy, she broke several of Bella's bones. At first only Bella and Rosalie loved the unborn child, but they convinced Esme, Carlisle, Alice, Emmett, and Jasper leaving only Jacob and Edward hating the creature because it was killing Bella. However, when Edward began to hear its thoughts, he started to love it because it loved Bella, but Jacob still hated the unborn child. When the child was born Jacob attempted to kill her, but when he looked into Renesemee's eyes he imprinted on her. She has the ability to show people images by touching their faces.

Setting
The story is set primarily in the town of Forks, Washington, where Bella Swan and her father, Charlie Swan, live. Other cities in Washington briefly appeared in the series or were mentioned. Some events in Twilight take place in Phoenix, Arizona, where Bella was raised. Florida is briefly seen in Eclipse, when Bella's mother decides to move there with her husband, Phil. Volterra, Italy, is featured in New Moon when Edward decides to commit suicide there, and Bella goes to save him.

Future Books
A possible addition to the series is Midnight Sun, which retells the events of Twilight from Edward's point of view. The book is not yet completed and (if published) is expected to come out in 2009 or later. The first chapter of Midnight Sun has been posted on Meyer's website.

Symbolism
One type of symbolism could be Bella and Edward's relationship. As a vampire, Edward has super strength, hearing, smell, and is a predator that has adapted to become the perfect "hunting" machine of humans. Whereas Bella is comparatively even more fragile than a normal human, and is also the 'prey' of all vampires, as she is human. Therein lies irony, as Bella, the 'prey', has fallen in love with Edward, the 'predator'. "The lion fell in love with the lamb" can be construed as a central theme of the series. Lastly, there is the stark comparison between werewolves and vampires in the Twilight saga. Vampires are ice cold, as they do not have any blood (of their own) circulating in their bodies to give them warmth. On the other hand, werewolves have extremely high temperatures (about 109 degrees) so they can withstand extreme cold. While vampire do not eat anything and drink only blood, werewolves have extreme food urges. This is one of the contrasts that underscore the differing natures of werewolves and vampires in the series.

Twilight
The first of the four books (Twilight) was first optioned by MTV Films, Paramount Pictures, and Maverick Films to potentially become a film, although this deal lapsed in April of 2007. The book is currently being optioned by Summit Entertainment. The assigned director of the film is Catherine Hardwicke and the writer is Melissa Rosenberg. The film is currently categorized as in-production. Stephenie Meyer's "dream cast" for the possible movie is on her official Twilight website. However, Meyer has stated that she does not have any influence on the movie, so her personal cast list will probably differ from the actual cast. On November 16, 2007, Summit Entertainment, along with Stephenie Meyer announced that Kristen Stewart has been cast in the role of Isabella Swan. Another cast member was announced on December 11, 2007. It was said that Robert Pattinson (who portrayed Cedric Diggory in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) will be portraying Edward Cullen. Summit entertainment had an open casting call for the role of Jacob Black on January 19 and Taylor Lautner was eventually cast. The movie was released on November 21, 2008 and had very positive reviews and sales.

New Moon
Summit Entertainment recently released the information that they were going to be creating a movie based on the second book in the series, New Moon. Stephenie Meyer has stated that she is very happy to be working with Summit again.