Years ago, when Twilight was in its prime, someone told me that Breaking Dawn was never supposed to happen. That it was the book where Stephenie Meyer was given free reign to do whatever she wanted because the series was so popular, everyone would buy it regardless of quality, and rake in big dough-cheese for her and her publishers. I don't really know how true that assumption is, but dammit if isn't true for Life and Death.

Disclaimer: I read to about 65%. Skim read to about 90% and read to the end. Also, this review will contain spoilers for the alternate ending that are not in spoiler tags.

A good change that happened as a result of the gender swap is that there’s no Renesmee/Jacob pedophilia crap!! That was one of my biggest issues for this series and it’s impossible for that to happen with the gender-swapped version of the characters. Mirroring the plot of Twilight, Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined follows 17-year-old Beaufort Swan as he leaves the sunny environment of Phoenix, Arizona, where he has spent most of his life with his mother, Renée Dwyer, to the gloomy town of Forks, Washington, to spend the rest of his high school career with his estranged father, police chief Charlie Swan.

I don't think she was very successful. There were times when I wondered what Meyer was truly trying to accomplish here. Was she trying to basically say her novel features an unhealthy relationship even with roles reversed? As in, "Hey guys, my book is horrible either way!" Or was her goal to further highlight how Twilight had a lot of instances of sexism, including sexual violence against women? Because if so, then I suppose, yeah, she was successful. A NEW SPINOFF OF THE TVDU:The Salem Coven takes in a young but exceptional witch that would unearth many long hidden mythical secrets as he grows in power?⛥ I am by no means a "twi-hard" but I also wouldn't call myself a "twi-hater" either. I read the series roughly ten years ago, around the time when the first movie hit the screens. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and while I was by no means "blown away" by the series, I couldn't deny that something about Meyer's writing compelled me to want to continue reading, to find out what happened next. Now all that being said, I also agree with many readers who find some of the themes/situations in the Twilight series to be "problematic". And I think Meyer understood this to a degree as well, which is why, from what I understand, she partially wanted to write a "gender-bent" version of Twilight for the story's 10th anniversary (that, and money of course). But apparently, according to some articles I came across, Meyer was bothered by how some readers saw the characterization of Bella, labeling her as "weak" or a "damsel in distress". Meyer wanted to prove that this had nothing to do with Bella's gender and thought by swapping the gender roles she would prove just that, as well as prove her point that whether regardless of those genders, these two characters would still have as compelling a love story as she had originally written. It would have worked far better if the dog kept some core traits and adopted a few of his new species. Instead, because the dog acts so catlike that wherever he is in the scene, all I can think of is how the dog is a cat.TheDarkSorceress666 Fandoms: Millennium Of Hellfire-Original Series, American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Coven, The Vampire Diaries (TV), The Originals (TV), Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer, Life and Death - Stephenie Meyer, Vampire Chronicles Series - Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire (TV 2022), The Lives of the Mayfair Witches - Anne Rice, Mayfair Witches (TV 2023), Teen Wolf (TV), The Witch (2016), The Ritual (2017), Suspiria (2019), The Conjuring (Movies), Multi-Fandom I could definitely have seen this book as a really great way to play on everyday bias present in society but it just wasn't handled with the finesse needed for such a wild and broad concept. Now that is not to say I wanted to see men get rape in Life and Death. It's just a glaring problem where I now see those scenes as "Literary Rape," used as plot devices to add depth and sympathy to Rosalie's character, and to give Edward a reason to look super heroic in the face of rapists. Maggie Stiefvater said it best in This is a Post About Literary Rape:

TheDarkSorceress666 Fandoms: The Vampire Diaries (TV), The Originals (TV), Legacies (TV 2018), American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Coven, Teen Wolf (TV), Vampire Chronicles Series - Anne Rice, The Lives of the Mayfair Witches - Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire (TV 2022), Mayfair Witches (TV 2023), The Craft (Movies 1996 2020), The Covenant (2006), The Huntsman (Movies), The Conjuring (Movies), The Witch (2016), Hereditary (2018), The Ritual (2017), Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer, Life and Death - Stephenie Meyer, Multi-Fandom, Millennium Of Hellfire-Original Series, Suspiria (2019)

In the afterword of Life and Death, Meyer said the new novel is not just about changing Bella’s gender to become a male. She said she wanted to see what would happen if the series had ended with the first Twilight book and if the timing of the plot had been different. You've heard of Life and Death, the gender/sex-swapped retelling of Twilight written by bestselling author Stephenie Meyer. Now get ready for Euphoria and Agony, a Beau POV retelling of New Moon written by some internet randos (podcast hosts G and Shannon of Three Books One Plot!) Stephenie Meyer was supposed to swap the genders, not turn Beau into a girl. Ctrl+F "She" replace with "He" In addition, I had a pretty big issue was the amount of reused material. So let's talk about the ending. This part will have spoilers beyond this point. This is your one and only warning.