Beau's Transformation

I've taken the initiative and decided to read Stephenie Meyer's 10th Anniversary edition of "Twilight

Reimagined", AKA Life and Death. Meyer rewrote the story of Twilight with a change in gender roles for each of the characters, except Charlie, Renee, and Phil. I'm unsure as to why she wouldn't consider changing them, especially if she changed every other gender role (even down to the secretary in the high school or the biology teacher). It could be for the simple fact that (despite it sounding genderized), it'd be more difficult to have a workaholic mother who didn't notice every small thing about her child compared to a father. In all regards, however, what reader of the Twilight Saga didn't absolutely LOVE Charlie's character? Maybe it's for that simple fact that Meyer didn't change his role and for that, I can be content with. Despite the gender roles switch, the storyline was fairly similar to Twilight's overall structure. Subtle changes only made sense considering the change in gender roles, for instance going to a movie instead of dress shopping and then being surrounded by a group of people wanting to physically maim the main character as opposed to a group of men wanting to sexually assault the main character. Although, in addition to everything that seemed to change smoothly and make the storyline work, Meyer went ahead and CHANGED THE ENDING COMPLETELY.

Beau and Edythe were separated due to a tracker wanting to torture and kill Beau. The tracker did in fact bite Beau and infect him with venom and Beau began to change. It seemed Edythe was unable to do what Edward had done as far as extracting the venom from the bloodstream--lo' and behold--Beau became a newborn merely days later after an excruciating transformation filled with fire and an overabundance of information thrown his way from Edythe. Beau had a crash-course in understanding what it would be like to become a newborn, let alone full-blown vampire, compared to Bella and her three-more-booked saga line. I definitely think this decision was done by Meyer in order to have fans not harbor her on continuing through the series in the gender role switched view (admittedly I was becoming one of those fans until I'd gotten to the last few chapters and discovered this change). I was enjoying this book tremendously, almost more than the original Twilight edition. However, it was the epilogue that truly upset me.

I wasn't expecting a funeral to happen for Beau, even though it's the only decision that would make sense considering the circumstances that unfolded. I was truly upset for Charlie and heartbroken in having to read his reaction towards Beau's funeral. He got the short end of the stick in this entire story and considering everything he's done for his son within this storyline (and knowing everything he had done for Bella in the original series), I think Charlie got jipped. And for that, I was disappointed with the ending of this anniversary edition. It did feel pressured, pushed, and shoved into a "happily ever after", all things considered it's completely understandable. Meyer may not have wanted to write more in the gender switched roles. I think she could've taken advantage of it in showing more of the main character as a vampire. Readers saw Bella was change in the original saga and become a vampire past a newborn stage, I would've enjoyed to see more of Beau's abilities, if he had any.

Overall, it seems only fair true Twilight saga fans should attempt to read this book. I can't say for sure they may love it compared to the others, as I myself have my drawbacks, but all-in-all--once a Twihard, always a Twihard.