There are two sides to every story….
You know Bella and Edward, now get to know Beau and Edythe.
When Beaufort Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edythe Cullen, his life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With her porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edythe is both irresistible and enigmatic.
What Beau doesn’t realize is the closer he gets to her, the more he is putting himself and those around him at risk. And, it might be too late to turn back….
With a foreword and afterword by Stephenie Meyer, this compelling reimagining of the iconic love story is a must-read for Twilight fans everywhere.
Dark bleatings, my tribe. Dark bleatings indeed. Love or hate it, there’s no denying that Twilight is somewhat of a cultural phenomenon. There have been countless articles and video essays concerning it (some of these creators and writers seem extremely concerned), countless reviews, fanfictions, etc. It took the world by storm. Were you Team Edward or Team Jacob? Or Team Alice, actually? Did you love the franchise and vehemently defend it against its haters, or secretly love it but feel embarrassed by that fact because you couldn’t quite explain why? Were you one of said haters… and when did your hatred start? Did you always loathe these glittering foe, or did you once like it and then suddenly turn the Dark Side?
It’s been over a decade since Twilight arrived, and just when you think enough time has passed that you can finally forget about it, Twilight content once again resurfaces. Look, here I am right now, resurfacing it. Apparently I’m part of the problem.
Anyway, today I’m reviewing Life and Death, which is basically Twilight but with the genders swapped. And by “basically”, I mean that’s exactly what it is. It’s the first book again, but everyone except Bella’s parents are now gender swapped. Same story, mostly the same paragraphs, with mostly minor differences, and then some major ones towards the end. Fair warning, there are major spoilers for this book in this review. I don’t normally do this but everyone knows the story of Twilight by now.
Beau moves to Forks and falls in love with Edythe Cullen, who’s a vampire. It’s a classic tale of paranormal YA romance. Now, I don’t have a huge amount of interest in publicly bashing Twilight – I have some problems with it but not with the intensity that a lot of people seem to have. This though… this particular iteration of the story, I do take issue with. It’s because of the intention behind it, you see.
In the foreword, Meyer acknowledges the constant criticism that the original book faced – it’s sexist. There’s a sexist power dynamic between Bella and Edward. It’s a damsel in distress tale, an outdated one. She argues that it is, in fact, a “human in distress” story, and that were the genders swapped, it would make no difference to the central romance or the events of the story. And she’s proving it with this gender-swapped version. The thing is… she… er… doesn’t.
So what we have is exactly the same story, up to a point. Beau meets Edythe, Edythe is weirdly rude until she isn’t, she saves Beau from being squished by a sliding car, they fall for each other, Beau discovers (through some melodramatic googling) that Edythe is – gasp! – a vampire. Beau doesn’t care, and their love continues. Jules, a werewolf who doesn’t yet know she’s a werewolf, and her mum, issue some veiled warnings about Beau’s relationship. Some mean vampires come to town, Beau is endangered, and before anyone can stop him, he’s gone off with the psycho vampire, who bites him.
Now, in Twilight, this is when Bella is saved. Throughout the book, she’s expressed a wish to be turned vampire, which Edward refuses because he doesn’t want to condemn her mortal soul. The option when she’s been bitten is to let her turn, or Edward can attempt to suck the vampire venom out of her, which would save her life and leave her human. This is dangerous because Edward might lose his shit and drain her dry, unable to stop himself, killing her. They go with option two, Edward is successful and doesn’t lose it, and Bella remains human.
However, in Life and Death, when Beau is bitten, they take option one. Archie (the male version of Alice), tells them of his vision that either Beau will become a vampire, or if Edythe attempts to suck out the venom, she’ll lose it and kill Beau. Of course, this forces them to just let Beau turn.
Here are my issues:
A) Bella, the lady, repeatedly expresses her wish to be a vampire. Her wish is overridden by her boyfriend, who knows better than her about what she wants. Beau, however, gets his way. Yes, I realise it was vampirism or death, but still.
B) A major criticism in Twilight is that Bella is so significantly weaker than Edward in every way: he has vampire strength, he is rich, he calls all the shots, he even has a special power. A lot of the audience believes this to be sexist because he’s a man, and therefore is attributed with all these gifts because of being a man. Bella has zero power in the relationship and so everything is all unbalanced.
But at the end of this version, Beau – the dude – is now holding all the cards. He may have started as the puny human, but in the Twilight universe, newborns are significantly stronger than regular vampires, so now the power dynamic has flipped. Beau is now the strongest of the pair, conforming to the conservative idea that man = strong, woman = weaker.
C) This is actually my biggest gripe – Edythe is supposed to be exactly the same as Edward. She’s just the lady version and there’s no reason she should be any different. Yet, unlike her male version, she doesn’t have the mental fortitude to NOT kill the love of her life, and has to sit by helplessly while he turns into a vampire. Edward was able to save his girlfriend, but the EXACT SAME PERSON WHO IS FEMALE IN THIS VERSION, could not.
What’s that about?
I wouldn’t have had an issue with this ending, truthfully, had Meyer re-written it so that the Cullens just didn’t get to Beau in time. Why, oh why, did Meyer decide to make Edythe incapable of repressing her killer urges when Edward was?
Listen… am I nitpicking and taking this book way too seriously? Yes.
Would I have complained had Meyer actually just not made any changes at all? Also yes.
Was there anything Meyer could have done to avoid my rambling whinge? Mmmm probably not. I already have a predisposed general disliking of the original story, and therefore, I can’t imagine why I went into this version of it thinking I might like it more. I knew it wasn’t for me before I went in.
So basically, Stephenie, I’m sorry. I knew I wasn’t the target audience for this and so I know I’m probably being a bit of a nob.
Here’s some things I’d like to defend about the universe, in the interest of being fair and not just lying and claiming to not like anything about the franchise:
A) I like the Cullens and think they’re quite interesting, actually.
B) I like that vampires can walk in the sun and don’t follow any of the common vampire tropes. And also, I don’t care that they sparkle in the sun. That twinkly sound effect in the film made it way more silly but in the book it doesn’t come across as stupid at all.
C) I don’t agree with the criticism that Edward is always gaslighting Bella. He’s lying to her about being a vampire, sure, but that’s because if their secret is exposed then it endangers them and risk them becoming the target of a vampire hunt. It also endangers all the humans in Forks, who the Volturi would probably turn up to kill, should they all know about vampires existing. It’s a pretty good reason to lie, to be honest. And if we’re insisting that this is gaslighting, then we also have to tar Batman, Spiderman, and countless others with the same brush.
D) I like the Volturi. They’re fun.
E) The opening of Eclipse is excellent and actually scary, which isn’t a surprise at all because the third movie was directed by the same guy who directed 30 Days of Night.
F) I like that Bella has a defensive power and I thought that revelation tied in really well to why Edward couldn’t read her mind in the first book.
G) Meyer actually explored the fear of pregnancy and childbirth quite authentically – make whatever conclusion you will about the overall message behind it, but it was savage and for once, not a rose-tinted version of the start of motherhood.
Well, I think that’s enough of that. I’m conflicted about how I feel, why I felt the need to write this review, and why I was so compelled to read every single book in this franchise despite my claims that I don’t like it. I’d recommend this to Twilight fans, obviously.
If you’d like to get a copy or check out Stephenie Meyer, there are some links below for you:
Bleeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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