The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide

This product is absolutely amazing! Not only did I get it quickily, it arrived in good condition and I've been reading it ever since. It has everything a Twilight Saga fan could want to know. The only thing that I dislike about this amazing product is that the interview with the author is 65 pages long which should only be 30 pages long tops, the other 35 pages could be used for more Twilight Saga for the reader, but the everything else about this item is absoluely great. It deserves 5 stars all the way. I <3 Twilight Saga

The Kindle version of this Illustrated book has a HUGE flaw. There are no illustrations. Needless to say, I requested a refund. I will be buying the actual book. Other then that, it seemed like a pretty good book. Lot's of info. I look forward to reading the Illustrated book soon.

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.

In my personal opinion this book is a paper weight. It has very little information about the MAIN characters and goes above and beyond about the minor characters. Why? Because Ms. Meyer didn't write it! She allowed others to do it for her! And if you are a Twihard, you have found all this information on-line!

I honestly believe that Ms. Meyer let them have free reign on all minor characters and restricted them from adding additional information on the main characters! Either that or she wanted to upset the Twihards!

Why couldn't she answer the simple questions: What is the name of Esme's baby? What happened to Alice between the time she was changed to the time she met Jasper? What was Jasper's life like before he was changed? What did those two do before meeting the Cullen's? Who is Embry's father?

All of this shows me that this author wrote "The End" on this series and truly meant it, despite the unexpected popularity of her books. She has done little else to satisfy the Twihard's thirst and leaves a lot of things unanswered. Guides are supposed to help us answer questions not leave more.

Never mind the fact the characters time lines do not match their mates, or world history for that matter. This is just like the Bree project, hyped and wasteful. At least Ms. Meyer put time in the Bree project, besides a lengthy interview. But even she herself gets the time line of events wrong with the Saga.

The Saga is and always will be a Masterpiece...adding to it simply doesn't work.

I did like having the back information on the other characters. There were a couple of surprises. But I was disapointed with the outtakes, there were only 2 or 3. I was looking forward to outtakes from Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, and there weren't any.

This book was well worth the wait!!! It has the answers to some on going questions I had and great stories about some of the smaller vampire characters in the series. I highly recommend that if you are a Twilight Saga fan you must have this book.

I have had this book on pre-order since Jan 2009, And this book is well worth the wait. :) I just love how this book is broken down and how we learn about new stuff about our favorite people in the book.

The book is great and came very fast... I love all the information the stephenie meyer put in it and that all the outtakes from her website are in it... that makes me happy... hope this helps anyone thinking of buying it... if you like twilight and want to know more about the people that are in them you should buy this bookThe Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide

i am a huge twihard and wanted a paper copy of this 2 add 2 my collection & thought i would buy the kindle version 2 complete the series there 2. however, once i opened the book i was disappointed. there is very little if any new info in this book, and whatever is new is totally unimportant 2 anyone. we were promised more thorough background info 4 the characters along with a lot more new info. in fact u can actually find more infor on her website than in this book. i sent mine back the next day. don't waste3 ur time or money on this. u'll b completely disappointed.

After finishing and loving the Twilight series, I discovered this book's existence and had to check it out immediately. Honestly, this is one of the best series companions I've ever seen; it is very comprehensive.

We start with a question and answer session between Stephenie Meyer and fellow author Shannon Hale. This was fun and easy to read, and we learn a lot about what went on in Stephenie's head while writing the Twilight saga, and how the story turned from a dream to a novel to a movie in such a short amount of time.

Next, the book is divided into sections: vampires, werewolves, and humans. Each section goes into great detail about that species as a whole and then breaks it down by coven/family. We get to read about each and every character in the entire series, even ones that were just mentioned in passing. For each person, we find out some raw facts plus a story of their personal history and their most famous quotations. This section basically tells you everything you wanted to know about everyone. There are even beautiful illustrated photos of all the main characters, plus photos of different locations and items from the series.

After that, there's a section that includes all the vehicles from the series and includes a photo of each one. Following that are pages and pages of timelines and key plot points throughout the whole series. (If you ever wanted to reread all four books in one day and get only the important information and skip the non-essential stuff, the key plot points section is the thing to read.) Then there are tons of fan drawings and international covers for the books (I loved looking at these visual sections). Next is a playlist of songs that inspired Stephenie while writing, and it includes the corresponding scene that matches each song. The book concludes with outtakes from the series and frequently asked questions.

I learned so much about the Twilight universe that wasn't covered in the books or was only hinted at. There are so many details and background stories and new facts contained in this illustrated guide. This book truly does complete the puzzle, and I would 100% recommend it to any hardcore Twilight fan; it's a must-have.

*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 the stores, 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.

This is it. Finite. Finale. Fin. No more need ever be told about Stephenie Meyer's epic `Twilight Saga' because this guide literally has it all. The origins of the `Twilight' saga, intricate back story about each and every character. Heck, there is even a car's guide that includes pictures and descriptions of every vehicle from Bella's rusted pick-up to Alice's canary Porsche.
Admittedly, there is little mention of the movie adaptations. But that is another illustrated guide altogether . . .

There is no lengthy `intro' from Stephenie Meyer, per say. There is, however, an in-depth conversation between Meyers and an author friend of hers called Shannon Hale. It is during this conversation that Meyers touches on everything from the dream origins of Bella's story, to the literary influences that shaped the `Twilight' saga (one of the more interesting being Jane Eyre).
The interview took place on August 29th 2008, and it's interesting timing. Because on August 28th 2008 Stephenie Meyer posted a notice on her website that signalled the crushing defeat of Twihards everywhere. Meyer wrote that she would not be releasing the book `Midnight Sun', which would have told Edward's side of the `Twilight' story. Meyers's decision came after a substantial rough draft of `Midnight Sun' was leaked on the internet and spread like wildfire. Meyers was, understandably, disheartened at her private (unfinished) work being illegally distributed, and she was also disappointed in her fans who read the leaked manuscript.

So it's interesting that in this conversation with Shannon Hale, neither author mention the leak. Hale doesn't even ask the most coveted question of all; "Will there ever be more `Twilight' books?" Maybe the collapse of `Midnight Sun' was still too raw and painful. Perhaps Meyers didn't want to say anything that she would regret later, undoubtedly about her lax publishers and greedy fans, both of whom are responsible for denying themselves `Midnight Sun'. Still, it would have been interesting to get her thoughts on the matter. Especially since she hasn't really spoken about the abandoned book since posting that notice on her website back in 2008. I would have liked to get her perspective on the double-edged sword of fandom - on the one hand her fans are, to a fault, fanatically loyal. But that fanaticism was also responsible for the violation of Meyer's work.

I did find the conversation to be the most interesting aspect of the guide. While I would have liked Hale to ask about the `Midnight Sun' manuscript breach, I was glad she at least touched on the perceived disappointment of `Breaking Dawn'. Basically, Hale (very carefully) asks Meyer how she felt about fan reaction to `Breaking Dawn', the final chapter in the Twilight Saga. Keeping in mind there was a general fan consensus that the book, well, sucked. Bella had a vampire birthing that was reminiscent of `Aliens' - in all the stomach-ripping gore. Not to mention the fact that fan favourite, Jacob Black, basically became engaged to a baby. It was awkward all round.

I always suspected that Meyer wrote the book, keeping too much in mind that it would be adapted to film. As though she was writing big in anticipation of how it would come across on screen (there have been rumours, however, that scriptwriters have had to do a drastic over-haul of the `Breaking Dawn' novel to make it watchable). Meyer does confront that negativity, and explain her thinking behind `Breaking Dawn' in a rather intelligent way.

I am, by no means, the biggest `Twilight' fan. I've had up's and down's with the series - when I first read the books I was fanatical. As I read more of the paranormal/urban fantasy genre I started to read the cracks. Now I'm at the point of enjoying them for what they are - an interesting story, fairly well told, which has the biggest honour of introducing an entire generation of children to the enjoyment of reading. For what it is, this guide is pretty impressive and definitely a must-read for Twihards everywhere.

This was originally slated to be published (sans illustrations) a year or so ago. THE SHORT SECOND LIFE OF BREE TANNER was to be included, but that short story turned into a novella; THE TWILIGHT SAGA: THE OFFICIAL ILLUSTRATED GUIDE is hefty enough as it is. That it's in hardcover adds to the weight, as does the thicker paper - and it all adds to the price, too. Best-suited for die-hard collectors, but it should be popular enough that your local library has a copy in its system.

Fellow author Shannon Hale has a lengthy interview with Stephenie Meyer featuring much of what we already know. But contrary to popular belief, SM didn't deliberately put "messages" into the novels. She didn't have preaching in mind, and created the characters and stories around them. The characters came first, and the conflicts arose because of who they are, and their histories.

(Then again, you wouldn't admit to spreading propaganda under the guise of "entertainment". Well, some do, but authors definitely should not - fiction readers don't like being treated as if we're stupid, though some arguably are.)

Lengthy sectors explain the vampire covens, werewolf packs, and humans. Every character has a dossier. Since I haven't read BREAKING DAWN yet, it has new-to-me info: Joham and the vampire hybrids are the most intriguing.

The timeline and key plot points of each book form a decent summary. But then the guide falls into ridiculousness with a section on which cars (and bikes) each character has, and what the vehicles symbolise. Really, people, does your car match your personality, or did you buy what was within your price range and availability? Those Cullens have way too much money, which is strange considering Carlisle is the only one with a job (that I remember, anyway).

There are playlists for each book. The fan art gallery, while pretty, is non-essential, as is the international cover gallery. The scene outtakes were excluded from the final text of the novels for good reason. As for the FAQ...if readers can't figure out the meanings and significance from certain things, is the author or the reader at fault?

This guide is informative enough, but ideally consumed in small doses (my attention faded when I tried to get as much read in as short a time period as possible). Best borrowed from the library instead of purchasing.

I'm a casual fan of the Twilight saga...I read the books and enjoyed them and I like watching the movies but I'm not a Twihard (there's nothing wrong with more intense Twilight fans, I just don't happen to be one). So when I read the reviews from fans bemoaning the fact that there wasn't much in this that they didn't know, I took it with a grain of salt. Surely, I thought, as a more casual fan, there's plenty in here that I don't know. Wrong.

I assumed (dangerous, I know) that this would be a coffee table type book with pictures and insight into the characters. In reality, there are very few illustrations (drawings, not pictures) and the book is the same shape as the novels with glossy pages. It's actually a very nice looking book. I was surprised but impressed by it on the surface.

What I wanted was the character by character rundown of their backstories and for the most part, I got that. Some of the stories were still woefully incomplete but there was enough detail and new (to me) information to make me happy with that section of the book.

The problem is that this very nice section is about 1/4 of the book. The rest is, well, filler. There's a lengthy interview with Stephanie that is mostly about her writting process. There's nothing wrong with that, but I'm more interested (in a book proclaiming to be a guide to the Twilight series) in learning about how she developed her characters (how did she come up with names? How did Rosalie's character change from inception to completion? etc.) and how the plot changed as she saw the series' success. This interview went on and on and got repetitive. I also don't care about the interviewer's writing process, which we got to hear a lot about.

There's also explanations of the character's cars/homes (which was OK). But a substantial chunk of this is dedicated to a timeline (which you already know because you've read the books) and a 'main plot points' chapter by chapter, from the books. We've READ the books...we know what happens! Why would you buy a guide to the series if you aren't already a fan of it? You could easily condense this into a few pages of summary of the books, if needed. There is also a lengthy playlist (and sometimes an alternate playlist) for each book, which to me had no value, though others might find it worthwhile.

So even to me, a casual fan, this seemed like a bit of a money grab. It could have been half the size (and half the cost) and been a much better book. I can only imagine how annoyed bigger fans were since I've heard a lot of what I enjoyed can be found for free online. I'm very glad I bought from the store, which is much cheaper than in stores.

I would only recommend this if you can find it very cheap. You'll probably only get a few dollars worth of enjoyment out of it.

As a huge fan of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight saga (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn), this book was a real delight to behold and which I received as a Christmas present from my family. After squealing and admiring this beautiful hardback book, I decided to open this chocolate box of delights to explore the wonders within...

This comprehensive, definitive guide is the only official encyclopedic book of its kind connected to the series, and so it enhances ones reading experience just as for example `Hogwarts Library' books do for the Harry Potter series or `the Tolkien Bestiary' does for JRR Tolkien's works. This book contains everything you need to further explore the remarkable world that Stephanie Meyer created, and is full-color throughout with over one hundred beautiful, exquisite illustrations that bring the stories to life! Together with the illustrations are also photographs from the films and extra exclusive material such as; character profiles (for humans, Vampires and Werewolves), Genealogical charts, maps, cross-references, favorite quotes and so much more information...that delves deeper and beyond the books.

The clever cover (the last few pieces of the puzzle) is truly inspired, and which matches the other covers within the series. Insightful, absolutely fascinating and so interesting this really is the most intriguing book and which devotees of the series will adore and treasure for always! It is a ready reference about the races, covens, tribes, different characters, playlist to go with each book and so much more - it really does take your breath away. After reading the entire series I was naturally filled with so many questions, hence I was pleased that this book does answer everything. It is an astonishing book that delves deeply into the series, going back to the very beginning when readers fell in love with Twilight, and which reminds us of the power of love. Every character is so unique and it is wonderful to be able to find out more about them, including other lesser characters within the story that perhaps we do not know quite as much about.

This fantastic book I highly recommend and which I cannot fault, for it is a worthy edition to my collection of books by Stephanie Meyer's on the Twilight Saga. An enjoyable read that is so detailed and interesting, you will literally be enchanted for hours lost within the pages that are adorned with stunning illustrations. A brilliant book and one that is a must-have!!

reviewing on my ebook version for the kindle. random sentences were repeated at the top of my page so it led to a somewhat repetitive and confusing read.
as for the book itself i was surprised we had to purchase the thing. most of the information found in this guide is in the books or on the authors website. my primary interest in the series was the authors approach to giving readers more information and outtakes on her website. had i known that i would read back stories in history textbook format of lesser characters i would have refused to buy this book. very little was revealed that wasnt already known or alluded to in interviews etc.
i would library this book if you just have to read it.

I was so excited when this finally showed up in the mail. I devoured the whole book in a very short amount of time. That suprised me because this book is over 500 pages. I then realized that I did a lot of skimming. Not much of the information is new. It's nice to finally have Alice's story and there are some great sketches like of Bella before and after her transformaion but other that... I knew most of this information. I was hoping for some new info and with this being an "illustrated guide" I was hoping for sketches of the Volturi and especially Jane. I do like having all of this info in one book to reference and it looks nice on my shelves next to my other Twilight books but it's by no means a necessary book. If you have all 4 books, the graphic novel for the fantasic pictures and access to Steph's website you already have 98% of the info in this book. So all in all I have to say I'm a bit disappointed.

I like this cover of this one. It goes well with the rest of the series and I enjoy how the puzzle pieces are representative of filling in all of the questions (aka putting the puzzle together). The book is also really well made. The pages are very thick. It's super substantial.

My favorite part of the book was actually the interview/chat in the beginning, conducted with Shannon Hale. It was inspirational and gave a bit of insight into the writing of the series. At 60 or so pages, it is quite the interview. I never got sick of reading it, though. It seemed as if they just transcribed their entire conversation instead of having it be a formal interview, which I appreciated.

I really enjoyed all of the pictures throughout the book. They were all so beautiful! Also, the section where they show the covers (and title translations) from other countries was really fun. Plus, there is a "Fan Art" section. There are some really talented people out there. How awesome would it be to have your art featured in the book?

There were certain things that weren't mentioned that I would have liked to know more about. I'm not even sure if the movies were mentioned at all? I also would have liked to hear a bit more about Midnight Sun (which I am really hoping gets finished someday). I haven't read the "leaked copy," but I did read the excerpt she posted on her site ages ago (I think it was just Chapter 1?) and I remember enjoying it. I thought that her writing had really improved and would have liked to see a finished copy of that.

All in all, I do wish it would have included some more/different things, but I did enjoy it. I think any fan (or previous fan) of the series will appreciate it. This book kind of brings you back into the world of Twilight and reminds you of why you enjoyed it in the first place.

The Twilight Saga is the series that captured my interest in reading again. I am a huge Twilight fan and own the whole series mainly because of that fact. When the Official Illustrated Guide was set to release, I new I would have to own it to add to my collection. Even though I purchased the book on release day, I just recently had the chance to sit down and read this installment in the series.

I loved all of the illustrations by the talented artists that was within the pages of the book. They were greatly detailed and fit the descriptions given perfectly. If you are not a fan of the characters in the movies, the pictures in the book give you a better understanding of the images within the authors mind. I also enjoyed the details that author provided with each character in the series. We got so much more back story for each character than what was given in the original books. For example, the author shares Alice's life before turning into a vampire and how it came to be. It showed us her family in descriptive words that made the characters come to life in my mind. We also get to read a thorough timeline that involves important events through out history. We begin with the original vampires and eventually end up at the end of Breaking Dawn. I loved how the author was also interviewed in the beginning by a fellow author and touched on questions that I have wondered about myself.

The book has certain sections that separate things as well. We have a section about vampire lore, the Cullen Coven, all other vampires mentioned in the book, The Wolves' and their family trees, The Humans and The Volturi Coven, and even a section on most asked questions to the author. If that is not enough, we also get to enjoy fan art that was submitted at the end of the book from fans all over the world.

I was very pleased with this Official Guide for the series. I am not usually a fan of these, but the author included almost everything you could imagine in the book. If you are a Twilight fan then you are definitely going to want to add this to your series collection!

This is a great comprehensive book. It has an awesome interview with Stephenie. Then there are several sections that are detailed about the vampires, wolves, and cars. They give a plot summary for each book and then there is a playlist with a quote from the book. There are some deleted scenes and some great fan art. They have also included book covers from other countries with the title translations.

There is a lot of detail put into this book. If you are looking to know more about a character, this is definitely the place to go.

from Murphy's Library -- rated 4 and a half there

The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide is not a conventional book. It's a guide, doesn't tell us a story, so I can say it was made just for fans. And, well, even if my time as a Twihard is gone (I was crazy about the series before Breaking Dawn was released), I can consider myself as someone who dedicated time to this series in some point of my life. So, a fan.

What can I say about this Guide? It's fascinanting for collectors, trully. For those who have short memory, this is completely necessary. While reading the characters cards and wolf pack stories I realized a lot of things had escaped from my mind. I erased so many things about Breaking Dawn from my memory that it isn't even funny. While reading about the clans from the last part of the last book in the series, I tried to remember who were those people!

The interview--or chat--with Stephenie Meyer, that takes place in the first part of the guide, just solidified my idea that she is a good storyteller, but as a writer she is not that good. She is a little lost on her ideas, as I thought she was before! And, please, a book about Jacob? Stephenie, no!

Overall, this is some kind of bible that every fan should have. And it is great when you are passing the pages and feel the nostalgia from when you were reading and discovering everything for the first time.

After waiting for a couple years, we finally get the Twilight guide. I am very pleased on how this turned out. The illustrations from manga artist Young Kim are beautiful and reflect the style from the Twilight manga. It's very informative overall, especially adding odds and ends that were not explained in any of the other books. I enjoyed reading this, but there are a couple things I wished was in this guide, or didn't need to be put in.

1.) I think the interview with Stephanie Meyer should have been omitted. As much as I like to read how my favorite authors thought process works, I found her interview to be slightly boring. It was interesting to find out how the story idea came about, and the struggle of being a mom and trying to get the story finished. But the rest of it made me yawn and strayed away from anything interesting. I ended up skipping past the interview after reading half of it.

2.) I think they should have incorporated stills from all the movies (minus Breaking Dawn since it has not been released yet). I remember reading pre-order summaries and that these would be incorporated throughout the book. I know there's books specifically made as "making of," but it would have been nice touch for those who don't own those books to have a taste in this one.

3.) It would have been interesting to see illustrations of all the other vampires and werewolves. I know that might have cause the book to be delayed a bit longer (though it's been delayed for nearly 2 years), but it would be a nice add on.

4.) Some of the summaries of the vampires could have been lumped together, since most explained the same story in a different perspective.

Overall, this guide was a good read and an interesting insight to the Twilight universe. It's a must for any die hard Twilight fan.

I pre-ordered for a friends birthday and saw at WalMart after midnight last night and was amazed how nice this book was. I am glad I ordered from the store, it is $5 cheaper : ) and my friend will definately love it.

I looked forward to the release of this book because I had many unanswered questions regarding the entire Saga. I had hoped the Guide would tie up the many loose ends left in Breaking Dawn. Unfortunately, many of my questions will never be answered because this guide is so lacking in new information. As many others have mentioned, Alice's back story was interesting. I also appreciated learning about how Carlisle and Esme met. But on the whole, if you've read the books, there's isn't anything earth shattering you're going to take from the Guide. The interview at the beginning of the book is shamefully long and rambling. Stephenie Meyers does address the question of how a vampire, who is entirely lacking in human fluids, could impregnate a human. She responds by saying "it's fantasy." That's it. That's all she says. I had hoped for some well-thought out reasoning behind many of the choices she made in creating her story and the world therein but was disappointed. I checked the Guide out from the library and had no trouble returning it. For all of its length, I see no reason to buy it.

Even after reading write ups on The Guide's contents, I still had it in my head that I HAD to have this on my shelf, sitting next to The Saga like it's part of the family. Don't make this mistake! If you've read the lexicon and all the outtakes on SM's website, you really, really don't need this book. I figured surely, after nearly three years of waiting, SM had to put something in here to make it exciting for us die-hards. No dice. Not a single new outtake or character exercise. No new insights. Honestly, it doesn't feel like she had much to do with it at all.

Oh, you might learn some new factoids about secondary vampire characters and wolves, but there wasn't a single thing hard-core Twifans wouldn't know about the Cullens. Don't feel bad for skipping this one, it wasn't written (when I say written, I mean slapped together) for the serious fans.

If you are a hard core Twilight fan, this will be a treat.
I came to Twilight fanhood a bit late, as I started the books after the first movie. However, once I started the books, I was unable to stop.
So once the books were over, I felt a sense of loss-as experienced by most novel lovers.
This book turned out to be a comfort. It's an encyclopedia, of sorts, of all things Twilight. It details the characters and their histories. It goes into those wonderful details that the books are unable to present. Some of the back stories were just as interesting, if not better, than Edward & Bella's story. For instance Alice's story was quite engaging and suspenseful. The history behind how the Volturi come to power is quite captivating.
So if you are interested in all things Twilight, you will enjoy this read. It is very to the point and the without literary embellishments found in novels. So if you are a Twilight novice, this may not be the way to start. However, if you have a serious Twihard you'd like to please, this is the perfect gift.

I think this book is nice if you've never found sites like Twilight Lexicon, or perused Stephanie Meyer's web site. There is a little new information for the main characters, most notably for Alice. It was nice hearing about her human life, but her vampire life before meeting Jasper (28 years) is glossed over. The rest of the new information is in back story for the secondary characters like the Volturi guardsmen, the Romanians, the Egyptians and the other vampire clans. There is also more detail for the werewolves, and vampire history as well.

It should also be noted that this guide covers material in the Twilight books, and not the movies, which diverge somewhat from the book universe.

But the points that get this book marked down is for retroactive continuity, where attempts were made to change existing canon. Also, for what is supposed to be an illustrated guide, there could have been more illustrations of the characters. Only the Cullens, Jacob, James' coven and a few of the humans are illustrated. The cars get more screen time than the characters do.

And although this book isn't a story, there are *** SOME SPOILERS *** below:

PREGNANCY CONTROVERSY

Here are earlier statements made by Ms. Meyer that affect the possibility of vampire reproduction:

"They sparkle because they have turned to substance that is somewhat like diamond. Their bodies have hardened, frozen into a kind of living stone. Each little cell in their skin has become a separate facet that reflects the light. These facets have a prism-like quality - they throw rainbows as they glitter." -- Correspondence from Ms. Meyer to TwiLex, in answer to "Why do they sparkle".

"And since we're talking physiology - I've had tons of people ask if vampires can have babies. The answer is no. When someone becomes a vampire, it's as if they are frozen exactly as they are in that moment. His or her (and we'll go with her because it's more central to this discussion) body no longer experiences change. Hair does not grow, nor do fingernails (if you cut your hair, you're stuck. That's why Alice's hair is so short - it was growing back from being shaved in the asylum). This applies to all changes - so a woman would no longer have any kind of ovulation cycle. If she were already pregnant when she was bitten, both she and the fetus would be frozen in that state. Which would really suck - pregnant for eternity? I'm shuddering at the thought." -- Correspondence to TwiLex, in answer to "What happens to a vampire's blood?".

Compare that to these passages from the Twilight Guide:

Reaction to Sunlight, pg. 68:
"The cellular membrane of the vampire is not as soft or permeable as in a human cell; it has crystalline properties that cause the surface of vampire skin to react prismatically, giving the vampire a glitter-like shimmer in sunlight."

Vampire Hybrids, pg 83:
"Male vampires do have the capacity to pass on genetic material with a human female partner. ... Female vampires still carry ova similar to human ova, but the unchanging state of their bodies results in a total absence of a reproductive cycle. Even if the female vampire could somehow continue this cycle, her frozen body would be unable to grow and change to accommodate a growing and changing fetus."

To me it sounds like she is trying to back away from her original statements, which essentially negate the possibility of vampire-human hybrids. And since over two-thirds of Breaking Dawn involves the baby, that's a lot of story to be wrong about. The phrase "it's not as soft as a human cell" is not as absolute as "frozen into a kind of living stone", giving her wiggle room for the baby to be possible. However there is another passage from the guide that emphasizes the fact that Edward is not making any genetic material:

Physical Change, pg. 71:
"Vampires are frozen in the state at which they are transformed. They do not grow older, taller, or wider, or experience any other physical change, including unconsciousness (vampires never sleep). Their fingernails and hair do not grow."

Ms. Meyer has said that she was being intentionally misleading with her statement that vampires can't have babies, and she was specifically speaking of female vampires. Even in the interview with Shannon Hale, she insists that she has the science worked out, and that male vampires CAN sire babies with humans. But she still doesn't present it in this guide. This was the perfect opportunity to put the critics to rest and she passed. All we are given is a reiteration of the statement "male vampires can create babies, but it's a very rare occurrence." No explanation of how a being that does not generate new cells or experience growth of any kind is going to pass on genetic information. How is it that the female vampire lacks a reproductive cycle, but the male vampire supposedly still has the male equivalent? Well, at least she didn't repeat that nonsense of Edward storing sperm for 100 years.

Some folks may say that it's not possible to keep track of everything that was said on a subject. That these are accidental misstatements, not intentional re-statements. Well at one time that may have been true. But with modern search engines and content being stored on the internet, it's a simple case to research what has already been said, so as not to contradict oneself.

Ms. Meyer also uses the often repeated phrase "it's a fantasy" during the interview while scoffing at people who don't believe her vampires can make babies. But even in fantasy, you have to be consistent with the established rules, otherwise the story has nothing to stand on. It's not that we don't believe, it's that she wrote it out of her universe.

Is this book an attempt to negate some of the criticism that erupted after the publication of Breaking Dawn? Maybe, maybe not. It does seem a little odd that some things are verbatim from Twilight Lexicon, and certain other things are not. Should you buy this book? As long as you aren't too concerned about some things not following canon exactly, this book might be a useful addition to your collection. It is rather pretty and provides back story to what was in the books. But if you've already perused this information on the net, you may be a little disappointed.

"The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide" purports to be a comprehensive guide to the four "Twilight" books written by Stephanie Meyer. It's big, heavy, nicely bound and printed on glossy paper, and filled with a lot of useless information that serves as filler but not much else.

First off, there is a long boring interview with Stephenie Meyer that I skipped over after the first two paragraphs. Sixty pages gone. Then we get a history of each of the major characters, divided into sections: Vampires, Wolves and Humans. The illustrations are almost exclusively of the Cullen family, except for one of Jacob Black, and they are gorgeously rendered; they look exactly as Meyer described them and much like they are represented in the films. There are also a few illustrations of location scenes (the meadow, the honeymoon island, and the Cullen house (which, incidentally, looks nothing like the house shown in the movie). But there are no illustrations of any of the other vampire clans, or any of the wolfpack besides Jacob. An illustrated guide should have illustrations of at least some of them. And aside from Charlie Swan, the humans are a big yawn. They didn't need to be in the book at all.

Then there are the "vampire characteristics" that had me wanting either to retch or laugh out loud. According to Meyer, vampires, no matter what color they were when they were changed, turn white during their transformation. Is this supposed to be a good thing? (Somebody should have told Laurent that when he was undergoing his transformation because he sure looked black in the movie.) Their eyes are either red, black or golden brown depending on the state of their hunger. They don't have fangs but the edges of their teeth are razor-sharp. And so on and so forth. What she never bothers to explain is that since all their bodily fluids are supposedly replaced by vampire venom during their transformation, how is a male vampire able to impregnate a female human if he doesn't have anything to impregnate her with? The mind boggles.

The fan illustrations are just silly and don't belong in the book. This is supposed to be a GUIDE, Steph. And there is no reason at all for including pictures of cover art from international editions. And characteristics and illustrations of each of the main characters' CARS?! I mean, who cares? Is this woman a frustrated reject from "Car and Driver" or what? What's her obsession with the kind of cars these creatures drive? Beats the holy heck out of me.

So all in all it's a weighty tome which will serve as a nice paperweight. One good thing it has is a timeline including a chapter-by-chapter summary of all four books, so if you missed reading one or more of the books, you really haven't missed anything at all. Given Meyer's turgid prose, you're better off bypassing the books, skimming the timeline, and watching the movies.

Judy Lind

I was fascinated by some of the back stories and even found myself hoping for more. I especially loved Sam and Emily's background story. All of the back ground information was enlightening and interesting. I also really enjoyed the section where Stephenie Meyer goes through a list of songs that inspired or that she listed to constantly when writing certain scenes.

On a side note: for an Illustrated guide... it isn't very illustrated. The book is 543 pages long, and if you stuck all the pictures together and put them at the end of the book together, you'd probably still have close to 500 pages worth of reading to do.

I'll be honest, this is not very interesting to read cover to cover, but it does have great information about the saga that any fan would love to read. My favorite part is the interview with Stephenie Meyer at the beginning. It was inspiring to read about how she didn't write to be famous or to have millions of other people read her book. Stephenie wrote Twilight just for her. That was very inspiring to me to stop worrying what other people think and just write for me. Then Shannon Hale points out that if your only purpose of writing is for other people to read it, then the whole point of writing has been lost on you. Then Stephenie talks about how she felt like she was losing herself as a mom of young kids and I really related to that. Writing was a creative outlet that let her be herself. After reading that interview, I decided that I didn't care if no one ever reads my blog - I'm going to write it for me. And she was right. As a mom of young kids, it helps me remember who I am.

However, after that great interview, you get to read a bunch of dry bios about all the characters (who are all apparently at least six feet tall). I do really like the playlists at the end of the book and the foreign covers and fan art were nice to look at. I would recommend referring to it when you are reading the series and just skim through it and enjoy. I have a weird need to read everything cover to cover and I'm happy to say that I did it, but man it was dull sometimes.

Jacob said in the last Twilight book that he needed a guide to remember all the details of the vampires who were crowding the Cullen house. I think he'd have appreciated this book. Just about every character who appears in the Twilight saga gets a description, and many get pages of backstory. Most of the information about the Cullens is already present in the books (a notable exception is Alice's human life - very interesting), but numerous secondary characters have great new information. Many of them could make great novels in their own right. I found Alistair's story particularly dramatic. Some raised additional questions ... for example, we learn old Quil was married to one Molly Swan. Does this mean Bella and young Quil are cousins to some degree?
My one critique of this section is the inconsistencies in the information. eg Jane and Alec transformed in 800AD, yet not meeting Carlisle until Eclipse. The dates given for Peter and Charlotte's transformations, the times mentioned in the book, and in the timeline seem mismatched. It may seem picky and obsessive to be bothered by this kind of thing, but let's face it, people who read guidebooks embrace obsession, even when it concerns a fictional universe. I get the impression a lot of dates were left vague in order to cover the potential of future books.
The interview with Stephenie Meyer at the start would be of most interest to young people considering a career in writing, I think. There's also a section where it details the plot points in books chapter by chapter. Perhaps of particular use to someone trying to fake a book review of Twilight for school without having actually read it.
A highlight of the book was the fanart gallery. It's great to see fan creativity celebrated in this way. I only wish this section was longer. They could easily publish an entire coffee table book of fanart.
Overall, it was a satisfying guidebook, and I recommend it as a gift idea for Twilight fans.

The Twilight Saga is the series that captured my interest in reading again. I am a huge Twilight fan and own the whole series mainly because of that fact. When the Official Illustrated Guide was set to release, I new I would have to own it to add to my collection. Even though I purchased the book on release day, I just recently had the chance to sit down and read this installment in the series.

I loved all of the illustrations by the talented artists that was within the pages of the book. They were greatly detailed and fit the descriptions given perfectly. If you are not a fan of the characters in the movies, the pictures in the book give you a better understanding of the images within the authors mind. I also enjoyed the details that author provided with each character in the series. We got so much more back story for each character than what was given in the original books. For example, the author shares Alice's life before turning into a vampire and how it came to be. It showed us her family in descriptive words that made the characters come to life in my mind. We also get to read a thorough timeline that involves important events through out history. We begin with the original vampires and eventually end up at the end of Breaking Dawn. I loved how the author was also interviewed in the beginning by a fellow author and touched on questions that I have wondered about myself.

The book has certain sections that separate things as well. We have a section about vampire lore, the Cullen Coven, all other vampires mentioned in the book, The Wolves' and their family trees, The Humans and The Volturi Coven, and even a section on most asked questions to the author. If that is not enough, we also get to enjoy fan art that was submitted at the end of the book from fans all over the world.

I was very pleased with this Official Guide for the series. I am not usually a fan of these, but the author included almost everything you could imagine in the book. If you are a Twilight fan then you are definitely going to want to add this to your series collection!

This is a great comprehensive book. It has an awesome interview with Stephenie. Then there are several sections that are detailed about the vampires, wolves, and cars. They give a plot summary for each book and then there is a playlist with a quote from the book. There are some deleted scenes and some great fan art. They have also included book covers from other countries with the title translations.

There is a lot of detail put into this book. If you are looking to know more about a character, this is definitely the place to go.

from Murphy's Library -- rated 4 and a half there

The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide is not a conventional book. It's a guide, doesn't tell us a story, so I can say it was made just for fans. And, well, even if my time as a Twihard is gone (I was crazy about the series before Breaking Dawn was released), I can consider myself as someone who dedicated time to this series in some point of my life. So, a fan.

What can I say about this Guide? It's fascinanting for collectors, trully. For those who have short memory, this is completely necessary. While reading the characters cards and wolf pack stories I realized a lot of things had escaped from my mind. I erased so many things about Breaking Dawn from my memory that it isn't even funny. While reading about the clans from the last part of the last book in the series, I tried to remember who were those people!

The interview--or chat--with Stephenie Meyer, that takes place in the first part of the guide, just solidified my idea that she is a good storyteller, but as a writer she is not that good. She is a little lost on her ideas, as I thought she was before! And, please, a book about Jacob? Stephenie, no!

Overall, this is some kind of bible that every fan should have. And it is great when you are passing the pages and feel the nostalgia from when you were reading and discovering everything for the first time.

After waiting for a couple years, we finally get the Twilight guide. I am very pleased on how this turned out. The illustrations from manga artist Young Kim are beautiful and reflect the style from the Twilight manga. It's very informative overall, especially adding odds and ends that were not explained in any of the other books. I enjoyed reading this, but there are a couple things I wished was in this guide, or didn't need to be put in.

1.) I think the interview with Stephanie Meyer should have been omitted. As much as I like to read how my favorite authors thought process works, I found her interview to be slightly boring. It was interesting to find out how the story idea came about, and the struggle of being a mom and trying to get the story finished. But the rest of it made me yawn and strayed away from anything interesting. I ended up skipping past the interview after reading half of it.

2.) I think they should have incorporated stills from all the movies (minus Breaking Dawn since it has not been released yet). I remember reading pre-order summaries and that these would be incorporated throughout the book. I know there's books specifically made as "making of," but it would have been nice touch for those who don't own those books to have a taste in this one.

3.) It would have been interesting to see illustrations of all the other vampires and werewolves. I know that might have cause the book to be delayed a bit longer (though it's been delayed for nearly 2 years), but it would be a nice add on.

4.) Some of the summaries of the vampires could have been lumped together, since most explained the same story in a different perspective.

Overall, this guide was a good read and an interesting insight to the Twilight universe. It's a must for any die hard Twilight fan.

I pre-ordered for a friends birthday and saw at WalMart after midnight last night and was amazed how nice this book was. I am glad I ordered from the store, it is $5 cheaper : ) and my friend will definately love it.

I looked forward to the release of this book because I had many unanswered questions regarding the entire Saga. I had hoped the Guide would tie up the many loose ends left in Breaking Dawn. Unfortunately, many of my questions will never be answered because this guide is so lacking in new information. As many others have mentioned, Alice's back story was interesting. I also appreciated learning about how Carlisle and Esme met. But on the whole, if you've read the books, there's isn't anything earth shattering you're going to take from the Guide. The interview at the beginning of the book is shamefully long and rambling. Stephenie Meyers does address the question of how a vampire, who is entirely lacking in human fluids, could impregnate a human. She responds by saying "it's fantasy." That's it. That's all she says. I had hoped for some well-thought out reasoning behind many of the choices she made in creating her story and the world therein but was disappointed. I checked the Guide out from the library and had no trouble returning it. For all of its length, I see no reason to buy it.

Even after reading write ups on The Guide's contents, I still had it in my head that I HAD to have this on my shelf, sitting next to The Saga like it's part of the family. Don't make this mistake! If you've read the lexicon and all the outtakes on SM's website, you really, really don't need this book. I figured surely, after nearly three years of waiting, SM had to put something in here to make it exciting for us die-hards. No dice. Not a single new outtake or character exercise. No new insights. Honestly, it doesn't feel like she had much to do with it at all.

Oh, you might learn some new factoids about secondary vampire characters and wolves, but there wasn't a single thing hard-core Twifans wouldn't know about the Cullens. Don't feel bad for skipping this one, it wasn't written (when I say written, I mean slapped together) for the serious fans.

If you are a hard core Twilight fan, this will be a treat.
I came to Twilight fanhood a bit late, as I started the books after the first movie. However, once I started the books, I was unable to stop.
So once the books were over, I felt a sense of loss-as experienced by most novel lovers.
This book turned out to be a comfort. It's an encyclopedia, of sorts, of all things Twilight. It details the characters and their histories. It goes into those wonderful details that the books are unable to present. Some of the back stories were just as interesting, if not better, than Edward & Bella's story. For instance Alice's story was quite engaging and suspenseful. The history behind how the Volturi come to power is quite captivating.
So if you are interested in all things Twilight, you will enjoy this read. It is very to the point and the without literary embellishments found in novels. So if you are a Twilight novice, this may not be the way to start. However, if you have a serious Twihard you'd like to please, this is the perfect gift.

I think this book is nice if you've never found sites like Twilight Lexicon, or perused Stephanie Meyer's web site. There is a little new information for the main characters, most notably for Alice. It was nice hearing about her human life, but her vampire life before meeting Jasper (28 years) is glossed over. The rest of the new information is in back story for the secondary characters like the Volturi guardsmen, the Romanians, the Egyptians and the other vampire clans. There is also more detail for the werewolves, and vampire history as well.

It should also be noted that this guide covers material in the Twilight books, and not the movies, which diverge somewhat from the book universe.

But the points that get this book marked down is for retroactive continuity, where attempts were made to change existing canon. Also, for what is supposed to be an illustrated guide, there could have been more illustrations of the characters. Only the Cullens, Jacob, James' coven and a few of the humans are illustrated. The cars get more screen time than the characters do.

And although this book isn't a story, there are *** SOME SPOILERS *** below:

PREGNANCY CONTROVERSY

Here are earlier statements made by Ms. Meyer that affect the possibility of vampire reproduction:

"They sparkle because they have turned to substance that is somewhat like diamond. Their bodies have hardened, frozen into a kind of living stone. Each little cell in their skin has become a separate facet that reflects the light. These facets have a prism-like quality - they throw rainbows as they glitter." -- Correspondence from Ms. Meyer to TwiLex, in answer to "Why do they sparkle".

"And since we're talking physiology - I've had tons of people ask if vampires can have babies. The answer is no. When someone becomes a vampire, it's as if they are frozen exactly as they are in that moment. His or her (and we'll go with her because it's more central to this discussion) body no longer experiences change. Hair does not grow, nor do fingernails (if you cut your hair, you're stuck. That's why Alice's hair is so short - it was growing back from being shaved in the asylum). This applies to all changes - so a woman would no longer have any kind of ovulation cycle. If she were already pregnant when she was bitten, both she and the fetus would be frozen in that state. Which would really suck - pregnant for eternity? I'm shuddering at the thought." -- Correspondence to TwiLex, in answer to "What happens to a vampire's blood?".

Compare that to these passages from the Twilight Guide:

Reaction to Sunlight, pg. 68:
"The cellular membrane of the vampire is not as soft or permeable as in a human cell; it has crystalline properties that cause the surface of vampire skin to react prismatically, giving the vampire a glitter-like shimmer in sunlight."

Vampire Hybrids, pg 83:
"Male vampires do have the capacity to pass on genetic material with a human female partner. ... Female vampires still carry ova similar to human ova, but the unchanging state of their bodies results in a total absence of a reproductive cycle. Even if the female vampire could somehow continue this cycle, her frozen body would be unable to grow and change to accommodate a growing and changing fetus."

To me it sounds like she is trying to back away from her original statements, which essentially negate the possibility of vampire-human hybrids. And since over two-thirds of Breaking Dawn involves the baby, that's a lot of story to be wrong about. The phrase "it's not as soft as a human cell" is not as absolute as "frozen into a kind of living stone", giving her wiggle room for the baby to be possible. However there is another passage from the guide that emphasizes the fact that Edward is not making any genetic material:

Physical Change, pg. 71:
"Vampires are frozen in the state at which they are transformed. They do not grow older, taller, or wider, or experience any other physical change, including unconsciousness (vampires never sleep). Their fingernails and hair do not grow."

Ms. Meyer has said that she was being intentionally misleading with her statement that vampires can't have babies, and she was specifically speaking of female vampires. Even in the interview with Shannon Hale, she insists that she has the science worked out, and that male vampires CAN sire babies with humans. But she still doesn't present it in this guide. This was the perfect opportunity to put the critics to rest and she passed. All we are given is a reiteration of the statement "male vampires can create babies, but it's a very rare occurrence." No explanation of how a being that does not generate new cells or experience growth of any kind is going to pass on genetic information. How is it that the female vampire lacks a reproductive cycle, but the male vampire supposedly still has the male equivalent? Well, at least she didn't repeat that nonsense of Edward storing sperm for 100 years.

Some folks may say that it's not possible to keep track of everything that was said on a subject. That these are accidental misstatements, not intentional re-statements. Well at one time that may have been true. But with modern search engines and content being stored on the internet, it's a simple case to research what has already been said, so as not to contradict oneself.

Ms. Meyer also uses the often repeated phrase "it's a fantasy" during the interview while scoffing at people who don't believe her vampires can make babies. But even in fantasy, you have to be consistent with the established rules, otherwise the story has nothing to stand on. It's not that we don't believe, it's that she wrote it out of her universe.

Is this book an attempt to negate some of the criticism that erupted after the publication of Breaking Dawn? Maybe, maybe not. It does seem a little odd that some things are verbatim from Twilight Lexicon, and certain other things are not. Should you buy this book? As long as you aren't too concerned about some things not following canon exactly, this book might be a useful addition to your collection. It is rather pretty and provides back story to what was in the books. But if you've already perused this information on the net, you may be a little disappointed.

"The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide" purports to be a comprehensive guide to the four "Twilight" books written by Stephanie Meyer. It's big, heavy, nicely bound and printed on glossy paper, and filled with a lot of useless information that serves as filler but not much else.

First off, there is a long boring interview with Stephenie Meyer that I skipped over after the first two paragraphs. Sixty pages gone. Then we get a history of each of the major characters, divided into sections: Vampires, Wolves and Humans. The illustrations are almost exclusively of the Cullen family, except for one of Jacob Black, and they are gorgeously rendered; they look exactly as Meyer described them and much like they are represented in the films. There are also a few illustrations of location scenes (the meadow, the honeymoon island, and the Cullen house (which, incidentally, looks nothing like the house shown in the movie). But there are no illustrations of any of the other vampire clans, or any of the wolfpack besides Jacob. An illustrated guide should have illustrations of at least some of them. And aside from Charlie Swan, the humans are a big yawn. They didn't need to be in the book at all.

Then there are the "vampire characteristics" that had me wanting either to retch or laugh out loud. According to Meyer, vampires, no matter what color they were when they were changed, turn white during their transformation. Is this supposed to be a good thing? (Somebody should have told Laurent that when he was undergoing his transformation because he sure looked black in the movie.) Their eyes are either red, black or golden brown depending on the state of their hunger. They don't have fangs but the edges of their teeth are razor-sharp. And so on and so forth. What she never bothers to explain is that since all their bodily fluids are supposedly replaced by vampire venom during their transformation, how is a male vampire able to impregnate a female human if he doesn't have anything to impregnate her with? The mind boggles.

The fan illustrations are just silly and don't belong in the book. This is supposed to be a GUIDE, Steph. And there is no reason at all for including pictures of cover art from international editions. And characteristics and illustrations of each of the main characters' CARS?! I mean, who cares? Is this woman a frustrated reject from "Car and Driver" or what? What's her obsession with the kind of cars these creatures drive? Beats the holy heck out of me.

So all in all it's a weighty tome which will serve as a nice paperweight. One good thing it has is a timeline including a chapter-by-chapter summary of all four books, so if you missed reading one or more of the books, you really haven't missed anything at all. Given Meyer's turgid prose, you're better off bypassing the books, skimming the timeline, and watching the movies.

Judy Lind

I was fascinated by some of the back stories and even found myself hoping for more. I especially loved Sam and Emily's background story. All of the back ground information was enlightening and interesting. I also really enjoyed the section where Stephenie Meyer goes through a list of songs that inspired or that she listed to constantly when writing certain scenes.

On a side note: for an Illustrated guide... it isn't very illustrated. The book is 543 pages long, and if you stuck all the pictures together and put them at the end of the book together, you'd probably still have close to 500 pages worth of reading to do.

I'll be honest, this is not very interesting to read cover to cover, but it does have great information about the saga that any fan would love to read. My favorite part is the interview with Stephenie Meyer at the beginning. It was inspiring to read about how she didn't write to be famous or to have millions of other people read her book. Stephenie wrote Twilight just for her. That was very inspiring to me to stop worrying what other people think and just write for me. Then Shannon Hale points out that if your only purpose of writing is for other people to read it, then the whole point of writing has been lost on you. Then Stephenie talks about how she felt like she was losing herself as a mom of young kids and I really related to that. Writing was a creative outlet that let her be herself. After reading that interview, I decided that I didn't care if no one ever reads my blog - I'm going to write it for me. And she was right. As a mom of young kids, it helps me remember who I am.

However, after that great interview, you get to read a bunch of dry bios about all the characters (who are all apparently at least six feet tall). I do really like the playlists at the end of the book and the foreign covers and fan art were nice to look at. I would recommend referring to it when you are reading the series and just skim through it and enjoy. I have a weird need to read everything cover to cover and I'm happy to say that I did it, but man it was dull sometimes.

Jacob said in the last Twilight book that he needed a guide to remember all the details of the vampires who were crowding the Cullen house. I think he'd have appreciated this book. Just about every character who appears in the Twilight saga gets a description, and many get pages of backstory. Most of the information about the Cullens is already present in the books (a notable exception is Alice's human life - very interesting), but numerous secondary characters have great new information. Many of them could make great novels in their own right. I found Alistair's story particularly dramatic. Some raised additional questions ... for example, we learn old Quil was married to one Molly Swan. Does this mean Bella and young Quil are cousins to some degree?
My one critique of this section is the inconsistencies in the information. eg Jane and Alec transformed in 800AD, yet not meeting Carlisle until Eclipse. The dates given for Peter and Charlotte's transformations, the times mentioned in the book, and in the timeline seem mismatched. It may seem picky and obsessive to be bothered by this kind of thing, but let's face it, people who read guidebooks embrace obsession, even when it concerns a fictional universe. I get the impression a lot of dates were left vague in order to cover the potential of future books.
The interview with Stephenie Meyer at the start would be of most interest to young people considering a career in writing, I think. There's also a section where it details the plot points in books chapter by chapter. Perhaps of particular use to someone trying to fake a book review of Twilight for school without having actually read it.
A highlight of the book was the fanart gallery. It's great to see fan creativity celebrated in this way. I only wish this section was longer. They could easily publish an entire coffee table book of fanart.
Overall, it was a satisfying guidebook, and I recommend it as a gift idea for Twilight fans.

My daughter received this book as a gift so I decided to read it when she finished. This book is not a good read. A significant percentage of this book is the same material repeated over and over with minor changes. Amazing that word processing can increase the size of a book this much. The author to author dialogue in the beginning of the book is a waste of space - a lot of self-analysis. Sixty-five pages that could have been skipped. Can you say "Save the forests"? Save your money and skip this book.

This book is not for anyone who pays close attention to what they read. Most of what is in this comes directly from the books themselves. If you were a fan of the series for some time now, you've probably made your way to her website and have already read any additional info that you would find in this book. If you haven't, save yourself some cash and head over to Stephenie Meyer's website and read the info she has posted. There isn't very much information in this Guide beyond each character getting a page-page and half telling us some stats about them. I am very disappointed that Stephenie Meyer would lend herself to this project but not write anything else new. She has really taken advantage of her fans in this instance and is making a buck from people who were hoping for some new information on the series. This is not something I will be keeping around on my bookshelf.

I had been anticipating this book for the past two years now. So, when it finally got a release date, I finally started counting down the days. Of course, I pre-ordered it and did not receive it until one week later. The anticipation was killing me seeing the books already on shelves and still having to wait. But can't complain about saving a few bucks!

When I finally started reading into the book, I was a little disappointed. The first part of the book is about 60 pages worth of a series of interviews between author, Shannon Hale and Stephenie Meyer. Some of the questions and answers were intriguing, and some made me want to fall asleep. After getting through that part of the book, I was excited to start reading the back stories into the Cullens and the other covens. However, some of the information was knowledge I already knew from reading the books. It was nothing new. Alice's, Esme's, and Emmett's back story was the only three of the Cullens that did reveal some new information, so I was pleased with that.

In conclusion, if you are in love with the Twilight series, I definitely recommend purchasing this guide to add to your collection. Just don't go in thinking it would be contained with "so much new details".

I'm a twilight fan so i had to have this book to read and compare what we missed from the book, like some back history of some of the characters for example Alice's life and how she became a vampire. I did find that the book had many repeated information, but assumed it was just part of the guide and necesity for each description of characters and places.

Many of this info you can search on the net, but its good to have it on hand and make it part of your collection. Plus i like all the pictures(anime)!!And having Stephanie interview in the book is great cause I makes you understand more how she came up and what motivate her to write such incredible books.

I like the book very much for me it complements my books and my collection! Its the perfect GUIDE!

Love The Twilight Saga...TWIHARD BY HEART 100%

So if you like twilight as much as i do....BUY IT!

Like others, I've been anticipating the release of this "guide" since 2008. I was hoping it would help ease (or at the very least, explain) the ridiculousness of Breaking Dawn and maybe clarify some of the "logic" (a term I use loosely) behind Stephanie's world. She does give a pretty detailed explanation behind vampire abilities and characteristics, but it's obvious that most (if not all) of the "science" behind her vampire "logic" is pure BS. The first 50 or 60 pages are a long, drawn-out interview with Stephanie Meyer (nothing new), and the guide FAQ is nothing you couldn't find at the Twilight Wiki or Stephanie Meyer's personal fansite. In fact, I'd say a good 85%-90% of the information presented is something even the more casual Twilight fan would ALREADY KNOW.

There are some interesting bits. Alice's human life, for example, is explained (though it is outlandish and far-fetched), and some of the minor characters like Peter and Charlotte and Maria are given stronger backstories than in the books. Some of the vampire hobbies are listed here as well (I wasn't aware Carlisle collected art), and the guide provides insight into the "daily life" of the Volturi, and the roles they play in upholding vampiric "law."

But these bits and pieces of "new" don't excuse the fact that most of this "guide" is a rehash of already well-known facts. Most of the Cullen biographies are either paraphrased from the novels, or copy+pasted straight from Twilight Lexicon. Alice's human life is explored, but what of the 30 years spent searching for Jasper and the additional two searching for the Cullens? What of Jasper's life as a human? What of the relationship between the Cullen "kids?" What of the events that happened following Breaking Dawn? What of Jacob and Renesmee's relationship as Renesmee grows? What of the new cover story for all these dozens of vampires and werewolves running around in one house? What of Maria's visit to the Cullens in Calgary? What of ANYTHING Twilight fans actually NEED or CARE to know?

The illustrations are nice, though even those are few and not all are even half as nice as how the characters are portrayed on-film. (I feel Alice especially is better represented onscreen.) There are character sketches for the titular cast, including the Cullens and James' coven. Bella is drawn in her wedding dress, though I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to see Alice or even Rosalie's wedding dresses as well (not ALL of Rosalie's, obviously, but perhaps for the initial wedding). In the back is an encyclopedia for the Cullens' various cars/bikes, and even a 5-6 page dedication to fan submitted art (totally useless). I did think the "International Cover Gallery" was neat, but expendable in light of all the useless and already well-known information presented throughout the "guide."

All in all, this "guide" is a joke. Five minutes of research online will tell you the same thing and save you anywhere from $17 to $20 bucks. That this has been a work-in-progress since 2008 and is all the fans receive for their wait, is just an insult to the entire Twi-community. I would recommend only for the die-hard collectors/fans of the series, or as a "general reference." Otherwise, this is an epic pass. You're not missing a thing.

I bought this and was really excited thinking it would contain new information about The Twilight Saga, but I was unbelievably disappointed. This book literally repeats everything from the original Twilight books, and has barely any new information. The only thing I was really interested in was the illustrations, the rest of it I had already read before. Don't waste your money if you have already read the Twilight series. I guess if you don't feel like reading all the books but just want the gist of it, then this will work but otherwise don't bother.

reviewing on my ebook version for the kindle. random sentences were repeated at the top of my page so it led to a somewhat repetitive and confusing read.
as for the book itself i was surprised we had to purchase the thing. most of the information found in this guide is in the books or on the authors website. my primary interest in the series was the authors approach to giving readers more information and outtakes on her website. had i known that i would read back stories in history textbook format of lesser characters i would have refused to buy this book. very little was revealed that wasnt already known or alluded to in interviews etc.
i would library this book if you just have to read it.

An official guide to a bestselling series written by the author seems like a golden opportunity -- it's a chance for the author to reveal parts of their series that didn't make it into their original novels.

Unfortunately, "The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide" doesn't come even close to living up to that promise. Most of the content is recycled stuff you could easily find on any Twilight website or wiki, and it's padded out with endless fluff, disingenuously dull interviews with Stephenie Meyer, and recycled factoids.

Yes, the first eighth of the book is devoted to Stephenie Meyer giving a prolonged interview to her "baffy," far superior fantasy author Shannon Hale. Basically the two women natter on aimlessly about various topics -- Meyer's books, the dream that got her started as a writer, her inspirations, her process, how wonderful Meyer is, blah blah blah. Most of it is nothing new.

There's also a brief Q&A about commonly-asked questions (some of which are REALLY unsatisfying!), cut scenes from the books, fan art, music playlists, profiles of the characters' CARS (I wish I were joking), detailed chapter-by-chapter plot points from the books, a timeline, and character stats and biographies for pretty much everybody in the series, including notable quotes, hobbies, and vehicles (what IS Meyer's obsession with cars?).

"The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide" is a lot like the novels it describes -- lots of self-indulgence, padding and the occasional flickers of interesting information. Now, I will admit that there are some interesting new facts included here, particularly the backstory of Alice, Billy Black, and the Volturi, and some stuff about vampire wars, their divisions, their history.

However, that's about as good as it gets. Even with a whole guide to mess around in, Meyer's worldbuilding remains flimsy, the vampire origin/history is still horribly vague, and it all feels sloppy and halfhearted. Most of the book is either fluff (why does a GUIDE have a fan-art gallery?), or facts that were already revealed in the books (such as most of the characters' backstories).

There's very little consistency in the writing -- some character biographies are long detailed rambling affairs, while others are painfully short and vague. And there is almost no new content for most of the MAIN CHARACTERS. Would it have been so hard for Meyer to come up with a few pages of interesting stories for Rosalie, Edward or Jacob's histories that were NOT mentioned in the books?

Also... THE CARS. I am sick of them. I'm far more interested in historical vampire wars than I am in whatever Edward drives. But guess which topic gets more ink devoted to it!

Meyer also attempts to explain the biology of her vampires and werewolves more thoroughly... and fails miserably as she unloads one biological impossibility after another ("unbreakable" teeth, extra chromosomes, rigid cell membranes, etc). And there's the horribly racist implications of "everyone who becomes a 'perfect' vampire turns lily-white" -- interpret that as you will.

There are some interesting facts in ""The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide," but the author doesn't bother to flesh most of them out enough.

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.

My daughter is a super fan of the series. She was extremely excited to get this book for Christmas and 8 months later she still reads it occasionally. She likes to walk around and quiz me on things that you would only know from reading this very informative book on all the characters history. I'm glad I bought it. She loves it still.

As an adult fan of the Twilight books and movies, I thought this guide was a great resource to look through. It helped pull things together that I didn't notice or pick up on when I was reading... or things I just didn't remember. Plus, the cover and size make the book fit in well on the bookshelf with the actual novels.

When I first heard there was going to be a Twilight Saga guide, I didn't see the point. What was there about the series that a reasonably intelligent person couldn't figure out from the books themselves, Stephenie Meyer's website, or the Twilight Lexicon?

Of course, my skepticism didn't stop me from running out to buy a copy the first day it was available, or staying up past 1 in the morning to finish it!

Let me get the bad out of the way first. My one quibble (not enough to keep me from rating the Guide less than 5 stars, but still mildly irritating) is that there aren't pictures provided for each character. I would have liked to see artist's renderings of the Volturi and all the nomad vampires, for example, and for more of the Quileutes than just Jacob. Also I could have done without the chapter-by-chapter summary of the saga. I've read all the books more than once, and I know the story inside and out by this point, so that felt superfluous to me. But I realize not everyone is as obsessed as I am. :-)

On to what I loved, which would be, oh, everything else. The characters' backstories...just knowing that Stephenie Meyer has taken the time to figure all this out makes it feel so much more real. Some of the stories I already knew, but even then there were extra details that I'd never heard before (like who was Edward's first victim when he was off being a "rebellious teenager"). And the stories that hadn't been told before! Who would have guessed the connections some characters had to each other, or the ways in which they became vampires. It was fascinating to see the vampire world come together even more than it did in Breaking Dawn when some of the characters were introduced.

Having the Sam/Emily/Leah situation fully explained is almost a story in itself. And reading about Billy Black and Harry Clearwater as teenagers made them seem a lot more real to me.

My favorite part, because I always love getting a peek into Stephenie Meyer's head, is the extensive interview/conversation with her that opens the book. Her enthusiasm for the characters, her frustration with people who insist on reading more into the stories than she ever intended, her writing methods, the books she reads and how hard it is for her to let people read what she's written...I loved it!

A few quotes I enjoyed (nothing spoilery, just some random things that stood out):

"Astaroth, whose name was actually George, threw off his cloak."

"When I read about someone like Jane Eyre, I say: 'I want to be stronger. I want to know myself so well, and to know right and wrong so well, that I can walk away with nothing.' I just loved her moral sense. But I don't think that Charlotte Bronte meant for me to use that as a guide to life. If you can find something inspiring in characters, that's awesome, but that's not their primary purpose."

"So I think it's easier just to look at the books as: This is a fictional account - I wasn't trying to teach anyone anything - I just wanted to entertain myself. And I did. I was really entertained."

"All the wolves could experience the nature of his feelings for her, so they knew exactly how deep it was - and also how platonic it was. But they knew it was something that outsiders would not be able to understand, so they kept the imprinting as secret as possible."

The illustrations are wonderful, and though, like I said before, I would have liked to have more character portraits, the ones there are fit more with "my" versions of the characters than the actors in the movies ever have. The picture of Carlisle, in particular, had my heart beating faster!

If you're a fan of the Twilight books you're going to love the Guide.

Twilight fans will enjoy reading this guide, which provides the Twilight series reader with more information on the characters. Stephanie Meyer is such a convincing writer as she shares detailed information about Vanpires and Warewolves, that they absolutely seem real. Character profiles enhance the reader experience with this series.

I was so looking forward to this book just to come away very dissapointed. I learned a few tidbit type things but 95% of the book can be found on Stephenie Meyers website or Twilight Lexicon. Read like a synopsis instead of a story. I will admitt I was expecting "back stories" to be in story form like in the books. There is very little new information and still left wondering about large pieces of time in the characters histories. I did like the illustrations and the interveiw at the beginning but everything else read like a history book. Worth borrowing from the library or friend but not worth paying for.

This book contains lots of interesting little tidbits about both major and minor characters (Alice`s back story and Emmett vs Bear) but overall there was nothing groundbreaking in it. I recommend it to anyone who does not have time or desire to read the books multiple times.

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 the store.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.

I have been eagerly awaiting this Illustrated Guide for almost a year. But what a disappointment. Except for a few minor details (like everyone's birthday), it has very little information not available in the Twilight books themselves. I did enjoy the interview with Stephenie Meyer, and I also appreciated that someone (finally) asked about the effect of Bella's "cycle" on Edward.
If you've carefully read the saga, don't spend your money on this book.

I loved this book and it is even more in depth than the wiki. I am a personal team Romanian coven fan and I absolutely thought it was amazing how they went into their well thought out story even though they are minor characters. 5 STARS STEPHENIE MEYER!

The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide by Stephenie Meyer is a companion guide to the most beloved Twilight Series. It was well worth the wait Twilight fans! It begins with a long interview done with Stephenie Meyer by Sharron Hale. Stephenie comments on her inspiration and how she spontaneously began the series, never before presuming to be a writer. Next the guide provides the logistics of Twilight vampires; their characteristics, history, law, myths, etc.. All the questions that have been asked about what makes Stephenie Meyer's vampires different and unique are answered.

In the next section, the characters are broken down and described, first through statistics and then in lengthy detail providing history, connection to other characters, and favorite quotes. It goes through all the vampires, wolves, Quileutes, and humans. I was amazed to see all the characters listed out like this, as you don't really grasp the amount until you see the pages go on and on. When "studying up" for Breaking Dawn the background behind all the new vampires is great.

Next is a Timeline of the books and a listing of Key Plot Points that summarizes the series well. My two favorite sections are the description and drawings of the cars that appear in the novels as well as the playlists that Stephenie Meyer has released for each book. Along with each song she provides a quote from the book about what that song represents. I love this as it shows what she was thinking and feeling while writing these emotional scenes. Lastly there is some Fan Art, international book covers, alternative endings and scenes from the novels and FAQs.

If you are a Twihard, many of the aspects of this book you may have seen in other forms, such as on blogs, through interviews, and red carpet blurbs; however, having it all officially in one book that is illustrated and planned out is awesome. As quoted "At long last, all the pieces come together..." Enjoy!

This guide is helpful if you have only read the books. If you have read everything in the Twilight webside, read Meyer's interviews, etc., you will find very little new information. The new information is only worth a dollar or two. I was very disappointed over the lack of new information. I love this series, but I wish I had just checked this out from the library.

I discovered the saga late after seeing the movie on premium cable. I immediately purchased all the books and read them repeatedly while waiting for this one. It was a long wait that kept getting pushed back and all I can say is disapponted. Not much new and things were repeated between each character. The sentences that were set before a paragraph were annoying and the interview section could have been left out. I am glad I just got the Kindle version and not both the hardcover too like I have with all the other books.

Wow, this was such a huge disappointment. I can't believe SM really thought the fans will be happy with how the guide turned out. It was so boring, I didn't even read it till the end. I was expecting some new information, maybe even a little bit of what happens after Breaking dawn, but I was left with things I already know. Don't waste your money and buy it, go to twilight wikia and read the characters' biographies and you're done.
Oh, yeah, I forgot about the awesome interview the book started with. "The story came to me in a dream." Really? I SO didn't know that...

ok i geuss lots of info. which was great, but was this book even written by stephenie Meyer? i wanted this book to be told from her personally since she was the one who created the entire world of twilight. This book just doesn't fit well with her series because it didnt all come from her...

I loved the new book!! I wish there could have been more information that could not have been found by reading some of Meyer's old interviews, but I loved the back stories, especially Victoria's and Alice's.

It was OK but not what I expected in the Illustrated guide I had been looking forward too since it was announced it was going to come out. Even though it did contain some information I wanted to know such as more in depth bios of the Cullen family and on the wolf pack and other vampires. However, I was also hoping for more information about why Leah became the first female werewolf and if other female werewolves would be possible. I guess I'll never know. Other then that, the illustrations in the book were amazing and quite fun to look at. I also only see myself reading it once. In my opinion, this book is only worth checking out from a library or borrowing it from someone who does own it.

For all you twi fans you gota have this book along with the Twilight Saga Collection i saw 1&%, Twilight:New Moon then about % of Twilight before i read the series then i saw New Moon again then i saw Eclipes like a million times and im waiting for Breaking Dawn in theaters in October 2011 - Emily Sessions

There's nothing new in it, I think I've read all of it from the internet and the twilight imdb.com page, and it's all repetitive. If you don't care about covens, cars and other minor characters don't buy this book.

The Illustrated guide is an excellent fountain of information for any Twilight fan. Everything from vampire history to character bios to things you didn't know you didn't know. Along with very weel done illustrations, it is a must have for any Twilight fan out there.

I recommend this guide to those who are big fans for it gives a plethora of information that was previously known to only the author. There was some information that I wish Meyer elaborated more on like the vampire who turned Alice.

nice book, but I thought there was going to be more Pictures, and I dont mean the cartoon looking pictures. Dont' get me wrong it really gets into the background of each Vampire/Werewolf, but just would of loved some pictures! =))

The Book is a handsome addition to my Twilight Collection. It is sturdy and beautifully illustrated. However, the content does not give much more information than is already known to most Twihards. For those not familiar with Twilight it is a good introduction to all the characters and Stephanie Meyer. Since the cost is nominal, it is worthwhile.

Sorry but this is going to be a long review, I review my history of this series too!
I am going to start out this review by saying (and dont kill me). That I was never a big fan of the Twilight Saga. Back in 2008 when I heard about it for the first time (or at least I thought I did I actually heard about it in March 2006 just months after the first book was released but I didnt actually read it until 2009.
Let me start at the very beginning, back in 2006 I was going to school, and me and a friend who also like to read would either burrow a book from the library or buy a book and read it. When we was done we would exchange the book with each other and that seemed to work for the longest that way we would always have something to read.
Anyway back in 2006 when Twilight was still practically brand new my friend picked up this book from the library and started to read the book. When she was done I was of course expecting her to hand over the book so that I can read it. But when I asked she told me that I didnt want to read it, because it was a love story and she knew how much I hated romance novels so I didnt question her further. (But let me get one thing straight now: I am a huge fan of vampire books and vampire movies so dont get me wrong).
When she left to go to the restroom I picked up the book and read the back of it, and low and behold it was a vampire novel. (So i am like why would she lie to me about it being a romance novel?)
This book has to be bad if she doesnt like it and dont think that i should read it.
Anyway lets skip to 2008, and by now I plum forgot about the whole Twilight book mess that is until I started working at a center for Mentally Retarded/Developmentally Disabled children. And I have another friend who loves to read, she is a huge fan of romance unlike me obviously. And for some reason (and to this day i still dont understand it) she came across the very first book in the series. And she bought the book and read it, knowing that i liked books about vampires she also suggested that i read it. She wouldnt tell me anything about the book just that it was a vampire novel, and that i should really enjoy it.
So i went to the book store to check it out, and something in the back of my mind told me not to buy it. I think that I might have been remembering from 2006 but for some reason that memory didnt stick and i didnt buy the book. She of course was disappointed because she wanted someone to talk to about the books but i wasnt about to buy them, (now i know the answer behind me not wanting to purchase the book, but back than i dont know why i refused it).
A few months later I was sitting down at the movie theaters (cant remeber for the life of me what movie it was that i was watching though) and I saw a teaser trailer for twilight. It said that it was coming out in December of 2008, and it didnt make me want to read those books anymore than what I did now. I was still confused and that trailer did nothing to enhance my wanting to read that book.
...
Lets skip ahead a few months now: I am now sitting in the theater and i had purchased popcorn and a drink and some reces pieces from the concession stand. And now i am at this point about to get my questions answered about any and all things twilight. finally i thought.
My so called friend wouldnt even tell me the damn characters names, what the movie was about other than vampires i think that she thought that if i knew that vampires in that god awful movie sparkled, and stalked people that i would want to see. Let's not forgot where was my action scenes my vampire hunters? Vampire movies are based primarily on blood and gore and where was that with Twilight. If my friend thought that i hated the book before when i knew absolutly nothing about it. Imagine me after i saw the film.
And even though i had already made her a promise that if the movie was any good than i promised to read the whole book series.
But that's where that ended, i was so pissed off ten minutes into this movie that i almost walked out on it, and demanded where was the real vampire movie.
but i forced myself to stay. and just when i thought that that movie couldnt possibly get any worse than it already was we get to the meadow scene where bella annonces to edward she knows he's a vampire. he asks her is she afraid she say no, (and even though i am gritting my teeth at the moment) I was like you dummy you are in the forest with a vampire and you just told him you knew what he was and you arent afraid. Anyone with common sense would be about to pee themselves at this moment.
And then Edward says you have to see me in sunlight, (I'm not going to lie my curiousity went up a notch). So they get to this patch of sun and he sparkles?
IT TOOK EVERYTHING I HAD IN ME AT THIS POINT TO STAY IN MY SEAT! I WAS PISSED!
Lets just say my good friend got a good tongue lashing that night.
...
Okay skip ahead a few months after the whole movie mess.
My good 'friend' decides that she really needs me to read those books for some reason. saying such phrases as: "You'll like the books better than the movie." And: "Didnt you always say that they take to much out of the movie from the book that really should have been in there." and: "Trust me you will love the book better then the movie."
I am not going to bore you with all the details of how i eventually lost a bet, and if i lost i had to read the stupid books. (plus it will only add about ten more pages to this already crazy long review). So let leave it at that i lost the bet and had to go buy all four books and read them.
I will say that Twilight the book was slightly better than the movie but not by much.
New moon just pissed me off from beginning to the very end.
And Eclipse, well I just about put through my bedroom wall.
Breaking Dawn made me want to go and hunt down every pedophile in the world and kick their asses.
Midnight Sun was a slap to every fan in this world's faces.
We also have the wonderful The Short Second Life of Who Cares out there (do i really have to get into why i hated that book?)
Which now brings me to The Illustrated Guide, the only reason i read this book was that i was hoping to get some answers to questions that were burning through my head.
And to be honest i have only got one out of the (oh i dont know hundred) questions answered. And this is supposed to be a guide everybody. every other guide that i have ever read for a book serious answers tons of questions and stuff plus extras.
If they really put extras in it like scenes never before seen they dont take them off of their website Meyer and put them in a book.
Whats the point of never before read scenes than huh? Especially if you had already read them before the 'Guide' and i use that term very losely was published.
the least you could have done was put in scenes from the infamous forever dawn book that never got published i mean come on.
Moral of this whole review if you stayed until the very end is: that this just shows how lazy an author Stephenie really is. And that her publishers dont seem to care anymore because they know that this series is on its way out the door. (thank you God)!

I really enjoyed getting to read the back stories and additional information on the characters and series. Favorite part is probably the genealogy charts for the wolves.

Quibbles:
* The genealogy charts are so small in the digital version that it's pretty hard to read them on my 3-year-old non-touchscreen kindle.
* Really bugs me that Stephenie Meyer just stuck Embry and his mom in a tiny box in the corner of one of the genealogy charts and didn't attach him to the one he belongs to. If she was giving us all this extra information, then why not answer the huge question that never got addressed in the novels and is the big enduring mystery of the series: what Quileute man fathered Embry but never claimed or acknowledged him? Major fail on her part in my opinion.

This is a very helpful guide to everything to know everything about the Twilight Saga novels but not the films, sorry with some artwork of the characters but bit disappointing if there were more artwork!

Sorry but this is going to be a long review, I review my history of this series too!
I am going to start out this review by saying (and dont kill me). That I was never a big fan of the Twilight Saga. Back in 2008 when I heard about it for the first time (or at least I thought I did I actually heard about it in March 2006 just months after the first book was released but I didnt actually read it until 2009.
Let me start at the very beginning, back in 2006 I was going to school, and me and a friend who also like to read would either burrow a book from the library or buy a book and read it. When we was done we would exchange the book with each other and that seemed to work for the longest that way we would always have something to read.
Anyway back in 2006 when Twilight was still practically brand new my friend picked up this book from the library and started to read the book. When she was done I was of course expecting her to hand over the book so that I can read it. But when I asked she told me that I didnt want to read it, because it was a love story and she knew how much I hated romance novels so I didnt question her further. (But let me get one thing straight now: I am a huge fan of vampire books and vampire movies so dont get me wrong).
When she left to go to the restroom I picked up the book and read the back of it, and low and behold it was a vampire novel. (So i am like why would she lie to me about it being a romance novel?)
This book has to be bad if she doesnt like it and dont think that i should read it.
Anyway lets skip to 2008, and by now I plum forgot about the whole Twilight book mess that is until I started working at a center for Mentally Retarded/Developmentally Disabled children. And I have another friend who loves to read, she is a huge fan of romance unlike me obviously. And for some reason (and to this day i still dont understand it) she came across the very first book in the series. And she bought the book and read it, knowing that i liked books about vampires she also suggested that i read it. She wouldnt tell me anything about the book just that it was a vampire novel, and that i should really enjoy it.
So i went to the book store to check it out, and something in the back of my mind told me not to buy it. I think that I might have been remembering from 2006 but for some reason that memory didnt stick and i didnt buy the book. She of course was disappointed because she wanted someone to talk to about the books but i wasnt about to buy them, (now i know the answer behind me not wanting to purchase the book, but back than i dont know why i refused it).
A few months later I was sitting down at the movie theaters (cant remeber for the life of me what movie it was that i was watching though) and I saw a teaser trailer for twilight. It said that it was coming out in December of 2008, and it didnt make me want to read those books anymore than what I did now. I was still confused and that trailer did nothing to enhance my wanting to read that book.
...
Lets skip ahead a few months now: I am now sitting in the theater and i had purchased popcorn and a drink and some reces pieces from the concession stand. And now i am at this point about to get my questions answered about any and all things twilight. finally i thought.
My so called friend wouldnt even tell me the damn characters names, what the movie was about other than vampires i think that she thought that if i knew that vampires in that god awful movie sparkled, and stalked people that i would want to see. Let's not forgot where was my action scenes my vampire hunters? Vampire movies are based primarily on blood and gore and where was that with Twilight. If my friend thought that i hated the book before when i knew absolutly nothing about it. Imagine me after i saw the film.
And even though i had already made her a promise that if the movie was any good than i promised to read the whole book series.
But that's where that ended, i was so pissed off ten minutes into this movie that i almost walked out on it, and demanded where was the real vampire movie.
but i forced myself to stay. and just when i thought that that movie couldnt possibly get any worse than it already was we get to the meadow scene where bella annonces to edward she knows he's a vampire. he asks her is she afraid she say no, (and even though i am gritting my teeth at the moment) I was like you dummy you are in the forest with a vampire and you just told him you knew what he was and you arent afraid. Anyone with common sense would be about to pee themselves at this moment.
And then Edward says you have to see me in sunlight, (I'm not going to lie my curiousity went up a notch). So they get to this patch of sun and he sparkles?
IT TOOK EVERYTHING I HAD IN ME AT THIS POINT TO STAY IN MY SEAT! I WAS PISSED!
Lets just say my good friend got a good tongue lashing that night.
...
Okay skip ahead a few months after the whole movie mess.
My good 'friend' decides that she really needs me to read those books for some reason. saying such phrases as: "You'll like the books better than the movie." And: "Didnt you always say that they take to much out of the movie from the book that really should have been in there." and: "Trust me you will love the book better then the movie."
I am not going to bore you with all the details of how i eventually lost a bet, and if i lost i had to read the stupid books. (plus it will only add about ten more pages to this already crazy long review). So let leave it at that i lost the bet and had to go buy all four books and read them.
I will say that Twilight the book was slightly better than the movie but not by much.
New moon just pissed me off from beginning to the very end.
And Eclipse, well I just about put through my bedroom wall.
Breaking Dawn made me want to go and hunt down every pedophile in the world and kick their asses.
Midnight Sun was a slap to every fan in this world's faces.
We also have the wonderful The Short Second Life of Who Cares out there (do i really have to get into why i hated that book?)
Which now brings me to The Illustrated Guide, the only reason i read this book was that i was hoping to get some answers to questions that were burning through my head.
And to be honest i have only got one out of the (oh i dont know hundred) questions answered. And this is supposed to be a guide everybody. every other guide that i have ever read for a book serious answers tons of questions and stuff plus extras.
If they really put extras in it like scenes never before seen they dont take them off of their website Meyer and put them in a book.
Whats the point of never before read scenes than huh? Especially if you had already read them before the 'Guide' and i use that term very losely was published.
the least you could have done was put in scenes from the infamous forever dawn book that never got published i mean come on.
Moral of this whole review if you stayed until the very end is: that this just shows how lazy an author Stephenie really is. And that her publishers dont seem to care anymore because they know that this series is on its way out the door. (thank you God)!