Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined by Stephenie Meyer

Even though the original story has some plot issues, even though the character development is lacking, and despite it being a little “soft” when it comes to vampire lore, I love Twilight. There, I've said it and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I can't believe it's been ten years since the story was first published. Like other fans, I had hoped that the tenth anniversary would mean that we would finally get what we have long been waiting for, a completed Midnight Sun (Twilight retold through Edward’s eyes, which Meyers began but stopped working on when it was leaked to the Internet). What we got instead was a gender bending reimagining.

I didn't like it. I felt that several of the characters lost some of their appeal and essence by having their genders switched. For example, Emmet, who for me is the lovable, protective big brother, just didn't translate as well as a female and everything I loved about the character was stripped away. Beau was even more bland than Bella’s character, and lacked a strong male voice. I think Charlie, one of two characters whose gender was not altered, is probably the only character that was recognizable.

Readers should also be prepared for some serious plot changes. Life and Death is definitely a reimagining and not a retelling. I'm glad Meyers made the changes she did because it ensures that there will be no continuations of this story line, which I wouldn't read even if there were.

This reimagining certainly didn't diminish my love for the original, but I'm hoping that when Twilight turns 20 that Meyers will give her fans what we really want...Midnight Sun.