The Harry Potter series and Twilight book series were both very popular. They had different target audiences, as Harry Potter was targeted at middle school children and younger children whose parents/teachers would read the books to them. Twilight, on the other hand was tailored very much for the young adult market.
I had not read the Twilight series at the time, but I was browsing a site that used to be popular called Xanga. On that site, I noticed something of a fan debate regarding their favourites. I was provoked into borrowing the Twilight series from the library, which gave me some hours of enjoyable reading.
I was surprised after reading comments on Xanga that read such as "Stephanie Meyer can not write" to be reading full sentences with competently constructed dialogue.
(Image from IMDB.com)
Some aspects of Bella's relationship with Edward are maudlin and I would prefer to see "healthy love" promoted, but by the end of the series, Meyer does managed to have a fully developed plot sequence and pulled the story off.
The first Twilight film emphasises teen anxiety and fashions that will date quite quickly, but the second film New Moon which I have just seen in the cinema, brings out the dramatic elements of the tale more effectively, and adds a richness to the vampire culture that was missing in the first film.
I feel that a good imagination could add this richness through out the process of reading the first book, but not the film which was more visually prescriptive. I am looking forward to the third and fourth films, which unless they lack a budget, should only get better due to the action and werewolf characters.
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The Harry Potter series on the other hand, I first encountered by overhearing a segment being read aloud to children. The chosen passage, an account of the ghosts of Hogwarts, especially 'Nearly Headless Nick', from
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone featured a sort of dry humour and overly verbose style that put me off reading. It is a personal choice, I would never discourage another person from reading and if they encourage children to read that is good.
The movies, however, were excellent. I became a huge fan of the film versions as soon as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released in the cinemas. The plots clearly always had been excellent, and the humour worked on film, even where it had been tedious in written form.
Half way through the series I expressed some frustration that the villain of every plot turned out to be "you know who", as that eliminated the mystery element for me.
My interest was rekindled later in following threads of the lives of the good guys. For example, I longed to hear more about Neville Longbottom's parents. Of course we may never know their full story....
I did soften and read the final book, Harry Potter and the deathly Hallows because I could not wait the year or so gap between the two movies. It had some good elements of plot, but I felt a lot of passages contained "filler words" such as authors are tempted to add if they are being paid by the word. I kept nodding off during the reading, which is very unusual for me. Indeed I sometimes can't sleep until an exciting book is finished, even if that makes me toss and turn at night, turn on the light and read some more.
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