The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide [Hardcover]

Stephenie Meyer (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 12, 2011 | Series: The Twilight Saga

This must-have hardcover edition--the only official guide--is the definitive encyclopedic reference to the Twilight Saga and provides readers with everything they need to further explore the unforgettable world Stephenie Meyer created in Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, and The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. This comprehensive handbook—essential for every Twilight Saga fan—is full-color throughout with nearly 100 gorgeous illustrations and photographs and with exclusive new material, character profiles, genealogical charts, maps, extensive cross-references, and much more.

Excerpts from The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide
(Click on Thumbnails to Enlarge [PDF])

Map of Forks in the Twilight Universe	La Push Beach	Cullen Coven

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 524 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; First Edition edition (April 12, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316043125
• ISBN-13: 978-0316043120
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.8 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (210 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Eclipse:
"Move over, Harry Potter." - USA Today

"Has a hypnotic
"The legions of readers who are hooked on the romantic struggles of Bella and the vampire Edward will ecstatically devour this third installment" - Publishers Weekly

"[Stephenie Meyer is] the world's most popular vampire novelist since Anne Rice" - Entertainment Weekly

"Meyer's trilogy seethes with the archetypal tumult of star-crossed passions, in which the supernatural element serves as a heady spice." - The New York Times

Praise for New Moon:
-"Teens will relish this new adventure and hunger for more."--Booklist
-"[A] near-genius balance of breathtaking romance and action."--VOYA
-"New Moon will ... leave [fans] breathless for the third."--School Library Journal

Praise for Twilight:
-A New York Times Editor's Choice
-A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
-An Amazon Best Book of the Decade...So Far
-An American Library Association Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults

About the Author

Stephenie Meyer is the author of the #1 bestselling Twilight Saga and The Host. She graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English literature, and she lives with her husband and three young sons in Arizona.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 524 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; First Edition edition (April 12, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316043125
• ISBN-13: 978-0316043120
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.8 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (210 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephenie Meyer's life changed dramatically on June 2, 2003. The stay-at-home mother of three young sons woke-up from a dream featuring seemingly real characters that she could not get out of her head. "Though I had a million things to do (i.e. making breakfast for hungry children, dressing and changing the diapers of said children, finding the swimsuits that no one ever puts away in the right place), I stayed in bed, thinking about the dream. Unwillingly, I eventually got up and did the immediate necessities, and then put everything that I possibly could on the back burner and sat down at the computer to write--something I hadn't done in so long that I wondered why I was bothering." Meyer invented the plot during the day through swim lessons and potty training, then writing it out late at night when the house was quiet. Three months later she finished her first novel, Twilight.
Twilight was one of 2005's most talked about novels and within weeks of its release the book debuted at #5 on The New York Times bestseller list.Among its many accolades, Twilight was named an "ALA Top Ten Books for Young Adults," an Amazon.com "Best Book of the Decade&So Far", and a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. The movie version of Twilight will be released by Summit Entertainment nationwide on November 21, 2008, starring Kristen Stewart ("Into The Wild") and Robert Pattinson ("Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire").
The highly-anticipated sequel, New Moon, was released in September 2006 and spent 31 weeks at the #1 position on The New York Times bestseller list. Eclipse, the third book in Meyer's Twilight saga, was released on August 7, 2007 and sold 150,000 copies its first day on-sale. The book debuted at #1 bestseller lists across the country, including USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. The fourth and final book in the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn, was published on August 2, 2008, with a first printing of 3.2 million copies - the largest first printing in the publisher's history. Breaking Dawn sold 1.3 million copies its first day on-sale rocketing the title to #1 on bestseller lists nationwide.
Meyer's highly-anticipated debut for novel adults, The Host, was released by Little, Brown and Company in May 2008 and debuted at #1 on The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists.
Stephenie Meyer graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English Literature. She lives in Arizona with her husband and sons.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#10 in Books > Teens

#23 in Books > Romance > Fantasy & Futuristic

#30 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction

#36 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

#82 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy

#10 in Books > Teens

#23 in Books > Romance > Fantasy & Futuristic

#30 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction

#36 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

#82 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

163 of 174 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very long, thorough review of the Guide April 12, 2011

By Alison

Format:Hardcover

*The rating should probably be a 4, but out of principle I give everything Twilight related 5 stars. Silly, but that's the way it is.

I am evenly split between happiness and disappointment. There were so many wonderful bits of information in the Guide, things I never thought to wonder about and answers to numerous niggling questions. However, so many things were left out - things that I'm sure Stephanie knows and are really essential pieces of information for any Twilight lover.

On the bright side, the paucity of information means there's lots left to the imagination. Readers and writers of Twilight fan-fiction will not lack for story options. I also wonder if the major holes in various characters' biographies (specifically Alice and Jasper, as well as Renesmee and Jacob) were done in purpose to leave room for future books. I already know that she won't answer certain questions about Nessie and Jacob in case she explores it later, but there was so much left out of Alice and Jasper's early lives that perhaps Stephenie envisions another story (I doubt it though).

I'll go over the good and bad points. I am making an effort not to put any spoilers in my review (e.g. the substance of Alice's story), but I'll be referring to what is and is not in the Guide. If you're as picky about spoilers as I am, you might want to be careful. Also, given the level of my emotional investment in Twilight, my criticisms will likely not be as diplomatic as I normally try to make them.

The Good

1. Vampires Generally: I learned almost everything I wanted to know about the physical qualities of vampires. I already knew much of the information, but there was just enough new to keep me happy.

2. Alice's Human Life: Brava, Stephenie!... You told me everything I wanted to know and so much more. Alice's human life was fascinating from beginning to end, although not in a good way. In some ways, it's better that Alice doesn't remember any of it. One of the highlights of the Guide.

3. Edward's Life: Not entirely complete, but I loved learning more about Edward's relationship with his parents, particularly his father. I already knew that his father was an attorney and they were fairly wealthy, but I loved filling in the gaps in Edward's story. It was also fabulous to learn what degrees Edward has received over the years. I was happy to get a little more information about Edward's years as a traditional vampire: specific dates and one tidbit I'd always wondered about.

4. Other Vampire Biographies: While I was largely disappointed with the new information, or lack thereof, in the Cullen's stories, I was beyond impressed with the biographies of the Volturi, the Denalis, the Romanians, the Egyptians, the Amazons, and the Nomads. There was tons of information here, all new. We get detailed biographies of each major character's human and vampire life. The Guide was worth buying for these stories alone. They were the highlight of the entire book.

-The Volturi: From the books and the Twilight Lexicon, we already knew a little background about the Volturi, but the Guide tells us so much more. Detailed histories of Aro, Marcus, and Caius which give us insight not only to specific events of their lives, but also to their personalities and motivations. I was so happy to learn about Alec and Jane's histories. Chelsea's biography was much more interesting than I expected it to be. The way the Volturi's motivations for ruling and claiming themselves as keeper of the law was skewed; I think Stephenie would root for a vampire coux.

-The Romanians and Egyptians: I'm combining these categories, because they are both ancient covens. I loved learning about how millennia of ambition and warfare built these covens and tore them apart. Amun's story was particularly interesting, especially how he has interacted or hidden from the Volturi over the years.

-The Denali's: There wasn't a huge amount of new information here, but the sisters' stories were fleshed out. I was very happy to get a better idea of when the Cullens' first met the Denali's.

-James and Victoria: Fabulous. Especially Victoria's stories. I don't like either character any better after knowing their backgrounds (if anything, I like James even less), but I definitely understand them better. Victoria's human life and then how her talent for escape worked as a vampire was really interesting.

-Alistair: Perhaps the most fascinating story of all. I really wanted to know more about Alistair and Stephenie did not disappoint. It would be hard to top the betrayal and horror of Alistair's transformation into a vampire. I was also happy to learn how Carlisle and Alistair became acquainted. It could have been fleshed out a little better, but I was still happy.

-Peter and Charlotte: We learn more details about Peter and Charlotte's escape from Jasper and Maria and Peter's return for Jasper. We also get excellent insight into Charlotte's character and feelings for Jasper and Alice. Through Peter and Charlotte's stories, we learn a lot of new information about Jasper. I would have liked a better explanation of why Peter and Jasper got along so well as well as information about Peter and Charlotte's human lives, but the amount of new information made up for what was lacking.

-Joham: Tons of information about Joham. His motivations, his relationship with his children, his selfishness and cruelty. I also enjoyed getting to know a little about his children.

5. The Wolves: I've made it pretty clear that I'm not nearly as interested in the Wolfpack as I am in vampires. Still, I found a lot of the information about the wolves fascinating.

-General Mythology: I loved learning more about "real" werewolves versus the Quileute shape-shifters. There was also good information about the physical attributes of the Wolfpack. I got a better understanding of their appearance and supernatural capabilities both in wolf and human form.

-Billy's Story: I loved learning more about Billy. We learn about his knowledge of vampires and werewolf legends, his thoughts on being a missed wolf generation, and his feelings toward the Cullens.

-Sam, Leah, and Emily: Now this is drama. From the books, we know the basics of how Sam dropped Leah when he imprinted on Emily. Here we learn exactly what happened - Leah's bitterness, Sam's regret, Emily's surprise. We learn just how Emily received her scars. Leah's story definitely makes me sympathize with her more. On a side note, we learn what triggered Harry's heart attack. Very interesting, although I think I like how the New Moon movie portrayed it better.

The Bad

1. The Cullens' Stories: The lack of new information about the Cullens' in their bios was the biggest disappointment for me in the Guide. There were little tidbits I didn't know, but on the whole, their bios were just paraphrased from the books. I already know the biographical information in the books. What I want to know is what wasn't in the books. If the information didn't come from the books, it likely came from Stephenie's website or from the Lexicon interviews. I keep reading the same pages over and over in the hope that the letters on the page will magically rearrange themselves into new sentences. A huge, huge disappointment.

2. Alice's Vampire Life: As I said, I loved the story about Alice's human life. But there was virtually nothing about her life as a vampire prior to joining the Cullens. It's not like she found Jasper and the Cullens within the first couple of weeks of her new life. It took thirty years! A lot of things surely happened during that time period. What were they?

3. Esme's Story: What did she name her baby? Why, oh why wasn't this included? Such a simple piece of information that so many people want to know (or at least I do). Otherwise her story was fine. Nothing I didn't know from the Lexicon interviews, but interesting nonetheless.

4. Jasper's Story: I wanted to learn more about his human life. What was his family like? Was he in school prior to joining the army? Absolutely nothing about his vampire life that we don't know from Eclipse. His relationship with Maria was not adequately fleshed out. Nor do we learn much about his early years with Alice and the Cullens. Also, there is nothing about the scope of his power to manipulate emotions. Three of the things I most wanted to know.

5. Carlisle's Story: Not enough information. It was a rehash of what we already know from the books - practically word for word of what Edward and Carlisle told Bella in Twilight and New Moon. There were some interesting tidbits spread throughout the Guide, but not nearly enough. I wanted to know more about his human life and more about his early relationships with Edward (both before and after he turned him), Esme, and Rosalie. We didn't get a firm idea of when he started practicing medicine or just how hard it was training to handle blood. No idea where Carlisle learned to fight so well.

6. Edward's Story: I was largely satisfied with Edward's story. There was enough new information to make up for what was lacking. Or almost enough. I really wanted more information about how Edward, his mother, and Carlisle became close in the hospital. I wanted more information about Edward's first few years with Carlisle and Esme and whether he was initially resentful that Carlisle turned him. Also, I would have loved an outtake of Edward's prodigal son moment.

7. Rosalie and Emmett's Stories: There was virtually nothing new about Rosalie. I might as well have just re-read Eclipse. I wanted to know more details about how and when she kills Royce and his cronies. I was especially disappointed that I didn't get a better feeling of Rosalie's relationship with Carlisle. Emmett's bio did have new, interesting information, but not enough. What did he do as a human? Where did he work? It's interesting to know that he slipped often in his early years, but I want to know specific details.

8. J. Jenks' Story: We don't really get any new information about Jenks. I wanted to know specifically how Jasper terrified him so much. I would also love to know whether Bella can convince Jasper to let her handle that relationship post-Breaking Dawn.

9. Maria's Story: Sadly lacking. Unlike the other vampires, we learned nothing about Maria's human life. There was some new information in her bio, but not nearly enough. I wanted to know more about her relationship with Jasper. Also, I was disappointed that we didn't learn more about Maria's visit to the Cullens in Calgary and why they had to leave immediately.

10. Wolves Sleeping Around: We don't find out who Embry's father is. Come on, Steph!

11. Interview: The Guide starts out with an interview between Stephenie and Shannon Hale. The interview is really interesting. It's more of a conversation than a traditional interview between two authors/friends. It covers everything from the origins of Twilight, to Stephenie's reaction to the books' success, to Stephenie's writing process. My main problem with this interview is that it was 65 pages long! While it was interesting, it didn't tell me anything groundbreaking. Plus, Shannon Hale inserted a lot of herself into the questions. I am not a big Shannon Hale fan, so I really didn't care about what she had to say. Those 65 pages could have been used for more back-stories, more outtakes, more things important to the Saga. (You could also argue that the extensive cross-references, playlists, fan art, and international covers were wasted space, but I can understand their relevance to the Guide)

12. Sloppy: I was extremely irritated with the mistakes in the timeline for Jasper, Peter, and Charlotte's lives. The Guide states that Peter's age ranges from 1860-1920. Two pages later, it says Peter was 3 years old when he ran away with Charlotte. If you follow Charlotte's bio which says she was turned in 1938, they left in 1939. However, the timeline later in the book says that Jasper left Maria in 1938. Hmmm...problem here. Even more mixed up, it specifically states in Eclipse, that Peter came back for him five years after he and Charlotte fled. Clearly someone dropped the ball here. I blame the Twilight Lexicon for this (who helped with the Guide). Their timeline wrongly states that Jasper left Maria in the last 1800s. From Eclipse and Midnight Sun, this is obviously incorrect. The screwed up dates carried over to the Guide. (To be fair, the Lexicon is no more to blame than Stephenie and her editors for this large error).
A smaller error appears in Angela Weber and Ben Cheney's biographies. In Angela's, it states that they both plan to attend University of Washington. In Ben's, they are suddenly going to Washington State University. Two different schools. Read more ›

87 of 94 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Written by the Twilight Lexicon, not Stephenie Meyer April 13, 2011

By mmb10r

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you look very carefully on the back jacket, you will see the cover image of the original announced book. It reads, "#1 New York Times Bestselling Author Stephenie Meyer" as the byline. The byline on the cover that was printed reads "A companion to the #1 Bestselling Series by Stephenie Meyer." That should tell you everything you need to know about this book. The title page doesn't credit the author, it credits Alphie and Pel from the Twilight Lexicon website and it's evident from the number of things that are marked 'unkown' or 'sometime between time x and time y' that very little new information was given to them in this writing. The book is a hodge-podge of information of varying newness and quality, and while it's an interesting addition for those who'd like a pretty book, it doesn't provide much meat for fans who've paid close attention to information about the series all along.

Wonderful and interesting backstories have been included for some characters, such as James, Victoria, Laurent, and Alice. As became usual for SM starting in Eclipse, far more attention has been paid to the wolves and their history than to the vampires and theirs. There is some new information about the Volturi, but what she imagines for their past is generally out of line with ancient European history. The backstories vary immensely, however, in quality and new information, with some lifting word-for-word the tiny backstory given for that character in the books. (This is unfortunately especially true of the Cullen bios, which are arguably the ones fans were most interested in.) Some bios give pages of information about characters we didn't know, others are a few lines long and reveal that very little new info has been added.... If you were expecting maybe a portrait of each character and a right-facing page of information, you'll be disappointed--at times with the minor characters, the bios are so short that three sets of info are included on facing pages. Even Edward's bio is only three full pages, mostly detailing what happens to him in the books.

There's an interview with SM for the first 60 pages, and I'm convinced this was more or less the extent of her involvement with the assembly of this book. [EDIT: I've since found that this interview was conducted shortly after the release of Breaking Dawn in 2008. So she didn't even put forth that little effort.] In it, she provides a little more information that explains how she writes, and maybe gives some of us who were annoyed with the way she ended her series a glimpse into the erratic style that made that happen--most importantly her burning desire to have us hear Jacob's voice the way she did which resulted in the jarring and unprofessional inclusion of a first-person POV shift in books 3 and 4.

The rest of the book is filled with mostly meaningless information--Young Kim did excellent illustrations for the Cullens, but illustrations are missing for even many of the other major vampire characters, like the Volturi. Despite lots of info on the wolves, how the gene works, their geneology, and their backstories, the only wolf drawn is Jacob. (There's an interesting watercolor of Rialto Beach, La Push, however). There is a section with an illustration of each CAR featured in the book, but really, since there were photos of all the vehicles on SM's website, I think I would've preferred an illustration of Aro to Jasper's motorcycle.

The timeline printed in the book is the one available for free on TwilightLexicon.com, as are the provided chapter summaries (incidentally, this fan-created timeline is inconsistent with some of the new backstories provided for this volume). Other information such as the Frequently Asked Questions and outtakes are things that have been available for internet fans for years. Big fans will have even likely seen most of the gallery of the fanart and foreign covers which take up the last 25 pages or so. There is precious little new information that could not be obviously inferred from the books and interviews SM has given in the past.

Meyer has shown herself repeatedly to not be interested in the true world-building, consistency, historical and geographic accuracy that was necessary to take her series from just a light read to something as rich as a HARRY POTTER or PERCY JACKSON. This book underscores her lack of attention to detail and reveals the shallow depth to which secondary characters were thought through in the books. To top that, THE GUIDE, because it was written by others than the author herself, introduces more historical and story-internal inaccuracies than existed in the original books, while basic questions that fans have always had about some of the series' mysteries go unanswered.

The 4-color pages and illustrations make this a beautiful book, and the authors who did put time into it, Lori Joffs and Laura Byrne-Cristiano, should be congratulated. The artwork from Bradley, Carey, Kim, McMenemy, and Palmer Preiss should be commended as well. For the price, if you're a Twihard, you'll want this one in your library. If nothing else, it's nice to have all the info at hand in one volume instead of having to scour the 'net.

But don't expect to read this and feel any less like the series author abandoned this story a long time ago. Read more ›

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars TWI-FANS DESERVE BETTER THAN THIS! Recycled info, very disappointing. April 15, 2011

By V. Benton

Format:Hardcover

Because of all the delays and push-backs of the release of this book you would think this book would be great. This book could have been released 2 years ago and be exactly the same. It just feels like SM is burned out on Twilight and her lack of effort shows in this book. I was expecting amazing things and got very little. Each character should have had a photo. No fan art should have been in this book, it's a guide not a fan tribute. And pages of book covers from around the world, WTF? I can go to Amazon.com and see those. The book is filled with useless information to make up for the lack of necessary information. And the FAQ are a joke. We had those same questions answered 2-3 years ago. I'm heartbroken that we the fans that love and dedicate our time and money to this saga got this as the long awaited guide. It's not a guide, it's mash-up of Twilight fan/websites. And the 60 page interview was so unnecessary and just a page filler to make the book bigger. The Twi-Fans got taken for a ride with this book. I never thought I would think this or say this but if this is all the energy that SM can put into Twilight then maybe she shouldn't write anymore about it. I felt the passion and desire in the first 3 books of the saga but after that it just seemed like she had to finish it and she hurried through to get it finished.

Sad, sad day in the Twi-Universe.

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing April 14, 2011

By LG

Format:Hardcover

I so looked forward to reading this guide, and am sad to say it was a huge disappointment. About 10% of the book is new information, the rest is just rehashed from the books themselves, twilight lexicon or author's website. There is some nice new background information on Alice, and some of the less central characters, but the information on most characters is a direct repeat from the books. You think SM could have thrown in just a little bit of new information and given us something, or even some basic information about future events, i.e. did Charlie marry Sue? The story timeline, fan drawings and Cullen car overviews were annoying filler and made me feel ripped off. Particularly the story timeline. I'd say most people wanting to read the guide are fans, so hey, we know the basics of what happened in the books, trust us! I came away feeling the whole thing was put together by the publisher's, with barely a look in from SM. The really annoying thing is it could and should have been SO much better.