Life and Death by Stephenie Meyer

Life and Death by Stephenie Meyer is an interesting reimagining of Twilight. The main character, Beau Swan, moves from where he lived with his mother in Phoenix, Arizona to the small town of Forks, Oregon to live with his father. He is enrolled into the local high school, where he sees the Cullen family- all of them are extremely beautiful and seem to keep to themselves. He is enthralled by Edythe Cullen, the youngest in the family. He becomes friends with Edythe, and she somehow saves him from a car accident and a mugging, showing unnatural abilities. Beau, knowing that Edythe is something more than human, finds out that the Cullens are actually a family of vampires- however, they restrain themselves to only hunting animals. Trouble strikes when another vampire coven moves through the area. One of these vampires, named Joss, decides to hunt Beau. The Cullens try to hide Beau in Phoenix- however, Joss tricks Beau into thinking that she has his mother as hostage. Beau agrees to meet Joss, and realizes that Joss never had his mother. The Cullens find him and kill Joss, but not before she bites Beau, causing his inevitable transformation into a vampire.

I really enjoyed Life and Death. In my opinion, the story was good- having plenty of romance, action, and tension. I enjoyed how some parts of the book were drastically changed from Twilight, especially the twist ending where Beau becomes a vampire. However, I didn't like how some parts of the novel were literally just copy and pasted from Twilight. I think that people who liked Twilight and people who like action/romance novels would enjoy this book, but I would suggest reading the Twilight series first- this book is more like an add on. The book tackled an interesting point- a universe where Edward was Edythe and Bella was Beau. Overall, I really liked this book and I would definitely recommend it.

Reviewed by NK, Grade 10
Montrose Library