Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined

Stephenie Meyer’s “Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined” is a bold and intriguing reimagining of her iconic original, “Twilight.” Released to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the series, this novel flips the gender roles of the main characters, offering readers a fresh perspective on the beloved story. In this reimagined world, Bella Swan becomes Beaufort Swan, and Edward Cullen is transformed into Edythe Cullen. The core plot remains largely the same: Beau moves to Forks, Washington, where he meets and falls in love with the mysterious and alluring vampire, Edythe. The gender swap leads to subtle but significant changes in character dynamics and interactions, providing an interesting twist on familiar events. One of the most commendable aspects of “Life and Death” is Meyer’s ability to maintain the essence of the original story while making thoughtful alterations to accommodate the new character genders. Beau’s voice is distinct yet reminiscent of Bella’s introspective nature, and Edythe retains Edward’s enigmatic charm with a fresh, feminine edge. The supporting characters, too, are well-adapted, with gender-swapped versions bringing new life to the narrative. However, while the reimagining is innovative, it occasionally feels constrained by its adherence to the original plot. Some readers might find the similarities too pronounced, making the novel feel more like a retelling than a wholly new story. Additionally, the pacing can be uneven; certain sections drag while others rush through critical developments. Despite these minor drawbacks, “Life and Death” succeeds in offering a unique and engaging reading experience. It challenges preconceived notions about gender roles and provides a fresh lens through which to view the Twilight saga. Longtime fans of the series will appreciate the nostalgic elements, while new readers might find this gender-bent version an intriguing entry point into Meyer’s vampire universe. In conclusion, “Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined” is a commendable experiment that breathes new life into a well-loved story. It’s a must-read for Twilight enthusiasts and an interesting exploration for those curious about how a simple change in perspective can yield a profoundly different narrative experience. Meyer’s creativity and willingness to take risks with her characters make this novel a captivating addition to the Twilight canon.

First off, people, you need to stop leaving reviews about the shipping (damaged books), it’s not Stephenie Meyer’s fault you got sent a bad copy. This page is to review the book, not the distributor/shipper. Now for the actual book review; Overall: Like I said in the title, I loved this book more than I liked Twilight. A lot of people say this is just Twilight copy/pasted and just swapped the He’s with She’s, but they’re wrong. Stephenie Meyer even says in the foreword that she changed a few things up, added more detail in certain parts, and just changed stuff she didn’t like from the original book. Characters: I will admit it was a little tough to wrap my head around some of the characters at first, but when reading try not to think of the original book or the movies, try to think of them as completely new characters. Beau (Bella’s counterpart) was a lot more relatable than I thought he’d be, not everyone is a model, and Beau was written to reflect that. Like Bella, he was forced to be more mature than he should have been when he lived with his mom, so it makes complete sense to me that when he’s finally free from that obligation, he can finally act like a teenager and ends up falling madly in love with Edythe. Edythe (Edward’s counterpart) to me was just written perfectly, sure you still get the creepy part where she’s telling Beau she likes to watch him sleep, but what else is a vampire who can’t sleep supposed to do when she’s in love? I don’t know how to really describe it, but I just loved Edythe much more than I did Edward, she seemed a lot less psychotic, and a lot more caring towards Beau, than Edward did for Bella. I could go on forever talking about characters but the most important thing to a lot of people is the ending. The ending was very different from Twilights, and I almost liked it more, but i can agree with a lot of people in saying: it was definitely rushed. One of the last chapters is just an information dump which definitely made it a little hard to read, and Stephenie really could have spent more time on it, but it wasn’t horrible. I did enjoy the epilogue though. All in all, great book, I’d hope for a sequel or even movie based on this but I know it’s unlikely, so for now, I’ll just keep rereading this.

Loved reading all the version and now I can only feel more greedy wanting the Edyth’s perspective 😅. thank you for the story and thank you for making my days so much happier just from reading each chapter!

First off I really enjoyed the novel. Being able to have the perspective of a male character was refreshing. I am a male by the way. I thought Stephenie Meyer did a very good job with the creation of the male human character and the female vampire character. I am of course talking about the two main characters Beaufort Swan and Edythe Cullen. Only at the very end did I not like how their relationship was going. 'Beau' has he prefers to be called was simply kind of getting bullied by his girl Edythe. I realize this is not what you would call a "normal" relationship, but I cannot see 'Beau' just letting Edythe talk over him and bully him around that much, even if she meant well. Up until this point I believe Stephenie Meyer did an excellent job converting the relationship into opposite roles. The only other part of the story that I enjoyed, but felt it should have continued further was the ending. I like how Stephenie Meyer wrote the ending, but I believe if she had made the novel a bit longer, maybe about two to four chapters, I would have been so much more satisfied. Finally here is the main reason why I gave the novel four stars instead of five. The changes of the characters names and genders with so many of the stories characters. I got lost figuring out who was speaking or who the story was referring to. Like many of you who will read this novel I have read all the other Twilight series books except the newest one called "Midnight Sun" which I look forward to reading soon. So the characters in those novels are ingrained in my mind. The entire time I had to convert and reimagine so many characters in the story it was frustrating. I believe that it made sense to change the genders and names of some of the characters. There were just too many characters changed, when she could have left many characters alone and I the story would not have been a little bit difficult for me to follow. Oh and a lot of the names I simply hated. lol I know in the actual Twilight saga novels Stephenie had used some "different" names (Renesmee?), but some of these new ones were just so strange and frankly did not make any sense to me. I did not want to ruin any of the story, so I was pretty vague. I still believe this is and was a very entertaining novel to read and I am glad Stephenie Meyer wrote it. If perhaps you have a male friend or male loved one who refused to read any of the Twilight series novels, because the publisher choose to market the series to young girls, this book could be a great alternative for them to read. Twilights fans should really enjoy this book and for the few men who have read them, this is a must read. Thanks everyone and enjoy.

I was first introduced to the Twilight series in Elementary (I'm a 90s kid), so I read them as they were coming out, & definitely before it was cool to be obsessed with them. Years later, I had a period of hating everything about the movies, & made fun of them like so many others. Then, after that trend (is it still going?), I only got back in when Midnight Sun was going to come out. I'd heard of a genderbended Twilight but avoided it like the plague. The days before the Midnight Sun release, I downloaded a sample of Life & Death. It was good enough to buy. I have so not regretted it. I don't even know what number re-read this is for me. I only have 3 Twilight saga books downloaded 1. Life & Death, 2. Breaking Dawn & 3 Midnight Sun. The maturity of all the characters in these 3 books (1. Beau 2. Bella as a mother & 3. Edward & fam) is what makes me come back every couple years. The way Beau rationalizes, accepts fate after making a decision, cares about those around him is both impressive & endearing. I can definitely see how Life & Death is Stephanie Meyer gratifying herself. It's a better, modernized version of Twilight. Whatever the faults in the original Twilight series, we have to remember that this author is a person who was glad to get paid & happy so many people enjoyed her book. Of course there will be issues with small details. She really enjoyed fixing/clarifying those details in this genderbended piece of art. She says so in the intro. I am holding my breath somewhat for a fleshed out version of Alice & Jasper (or Archie & Jessamine??🙏🏾)'s story. I couldn't write it. It's too intricate & only Stephanie knows her characters well enough to give it justice.

I wasn't sure what to think about a "genderbent" version of Twilight, but I generally like Stephanie Meyer's works, so I thought I'd give it a try. And it was worth it! A word of warning first though: when you read this book, don't try to match up the characters to their opposite gender counterparts in the original Twilight story. The characters are SIMILAR, but not identical to their counterparts, and trying to correlate each character to the original will probably confuse and frustrate you. Treat this book as a new (albeit similar) story with different characters, and you'll enjoy the book much more. Now, with that out of the way, let me say: I loved Beau's story even more than the original! Maybe it's simply because as a male myself, I identify more with a male protagonist, and I could really put myself into his shoes and feel his character. But there were also subtle (and not so subtle) changes in this story, which I really enjoyed. I think my biggest criticism was towards the end, where certain events felt rather rushed from Beau's perspective. I can't say much more than that without some spoilers, so I'll just leave it at that. But all in all, I'd still highly recommend this book, especially if you'd like to see the story of Twilight told from a male's perspective (a human male, that is. Stephanie Meyer also has "Midnight Sun" out now, which tells the original story from Edward's perspective, which should definitely be considered a different story from "Life and Death", since the dynamics in the relationships between Beau and Edyth vs Edward and Bella are completely different. But I'd recommend that book too, in addition to this one!)

So, I had just finished reading Midnight Sun (loved it!), as well as re-watched all the Twilight movies, so I was re-engrossed in the world of Twilight and I saw that there was another book I hadn't read yet - Life and Death. It calls itself "Twilight Reimagined" so I figured it was a "retelling," something like Cinder (Cinderella, except she's a Cyborg), or the Once Upon a Time Series. Instead, this is literally the manuscript for Twilight except everyone is gender-swapped and renamed - EVERYONE - even the Volturi and the Forks HS teachers. The only exceptions are Renee and Charlie. Not to mention that the new names for the Cullens were pretty terrible (i.e. Royal for the male version of Rosalie). I kept getting them mixed up because there were 3 "E" names. I think the main issue was, that since I was so familiar with the original Twilight, I had a really hard time imagining different characters in the places of those I already knew so well. For some reason, I kept picturing the movie version of Alice as Edythe even though that's not how she was described in the book. I would have preferred a totally different story. Or even the same characters but that the story went in a totally different direction. Or, since it's book 1.5, have the same characters but it's just something that happened in between books 1 and 2. It was just a strange read and hard to keep everything straight and not revert back to visualizing the original while reading it. I suppose a sort of saving grace for the book was the fact that it did have a different ending, although it was a bit rushed. Overall, pretty "meh" in comparison to the other books. In the future, I'd love to see the 3 remaining books also rewritten from Edward's perspective, particularly New Moon since he is off on his own for most of the book so it would be interesting to see what he was up to (although I'm sure it's a lot of moping and starving himself).

As a guy who read Twilight in high school when it first came out, I really appreciate this version of the story. I think it's getting a bad rep because most people are not understanding an important point: Beau is not Bella and Edythe is not Edward. Let me explain. First of all, the confusion comes from Stephanie Meyer herself (not hating on her, she's a wonderful storyteller!); however, she has given everyone the impression that she simply did a gender swap and nothing else. That really isn't true. Yes, almost all the genders are swapped, but really what she did is take the core of her story and switch out Edward and Bella with two completely different people with unique personalities. Beau for example is very much a teenage boy with a very obvious personality that is completely different than the "blank slate" Bella. A ton of his dialogue is delivered in a completely different manner than her, and while there are lots of similarities it would be no different than the similarities between siblings (as if Bella and Beau had been brother and sister). Likewise, even though Edythe has a lot of the same dialogue. She is SO not Edward. To give an example, remember how Edward restrains himself in Port Angeles, and he asks Bella to distract him? That is NOT Edythe. (Spoiler!) Beau practically has to beg Edythe to not teach them a lesson right there on the spot. And then once they get out of town, Edythe is ready to leave Beau behind so she can go track them down. Again, definitely not the well restrained Edward we all know for Twilight. Furthermore, Archie (aka Alice in Twilight) has a very different personality, and the relationship between Archie and Edythe is also very different than Edward and Alice in Twilight. I could go on, but basically the point is that it is best to view this story as "what if the events of Twilight happened to two separate people who only share the same/similar backgrounds" rather than Twilight with a gender swap. I also love this book because it has the ending that most of us probably wanted when we first read it (at least, until New Moon came out).

It seemed a bit lazy to say the least to just change the names and pronouns but fortunately the author came up with another ending to the book which made everything worth the read!

Primeiro que esse livro é incrível. Eu já tinha lido a saga Crepúsculo há muito tempo atrás, na época em que a saga bombou. Anos se passaram e dai a Stephenie lançou esse livro. No início pensei que seria literalmente a mesma coisa, só trocando os nomes dos personagens. Eu não poderia estar mais enganado. Como vi em um comentário de um cara na Amazon americana, realmente o Beau não é a Bella e a Edythe não é o Edward. É claro que existem muitas semelhanças, mas também é nítido algumas mudanças nas personalidades deles e, é claro, nas falas. A Stephenie claramente não deu apenas um ctrl+c/ctrl+v na estória, ela adicionou diálogos para adaptar ás personalidades dos personagens novos e mais do que tudo isso, ela mudou o final da estória. Resumindo então, é uma estória parecida com Crepúsculo em alguns aspectos e acontecimentos, mas também diferente em tantos outros. O que pode acontecer com quem for ler, dependendo da pessoa, é não se identificar com o personagem, como eu percebi que aconteceu com muitos. Eu posso estar errado, mas acredito que é porque a grande maioria de leitores dessa saga, são mulheres e por isso pode ser mais difícil se identificar com um personagem protagonista masculino, o que é totalmente compreensível. No meu caso foi o contrário, eu apenas gostava da Bela em "Crepúsculo", já em "Vida e Morte" eu AMEI o Beau, consegui me identificar muuuito com o personagem e, por causa disso, me importar muito mais com ele na trama, do que quando eu li "Crepúsculo", com a Bella. Enfim, minha sugestão é que as pessoas deem uma chance para esse livro, pois se mesmo assim aguem achar que não teve nada de novo e que a autora somente copiou e colou o livro antigo, ainda assim vão se surpreender com o final do livro. Além de que também é uma ótima forma de praticar inglês, já que a leitura é bem leve e simples o ebook esta super barato aqui na Amazon. Recomendo muito!

The book came in good condition and it’s good quality!! I can’t wait to read it :)

Ich habe lange überlegt ob ich die Geschichte von Bella und Edward wirklich mit vertauschten Rollen lesen will. Aber die Neugierde war dann doch stärker. Und was soll ich sagen, ich hätte „Life and death“ schon viel, viel früher lesen sollen, denn ich habe es verschlungen. Zuallererst war ich einfach nur neugierig zu erfahren welche kleinen und großen Änderungen Stephenie Meyer an ihrer Geschichte vielleicht vorgenommen hat – welche mir übrigens gut gefallen. Aber es dauert nicht lange und ich war in der Welt von Beau und Edythe gefangen und konnte nicht aufhören mit ihnen mitzufiebern. Mir gefällt die Dynamik zwischen den Beiden, die so ganz anders ist als die zwischen ihren Vorgängern Bella und Edward und doch so gleich. Das gleiche gilt für die Geschichte, die zwar im Grunde auch dieselbe ist, aber doch gleichzeitig so vollkommen verschieden. Man kann die beiden eigentlich gar nicht vergleichen, denn trotz aller Ähnlichkeiten sind es komplett andere Geschichten. Ich hätte auch nichts gegen ein Wiedersehen mit Beau und Edythe. Kann das Buch nur empfehlen.