All 7 Twilight books ranked from worst to best

It’s sometimes hard to believe that there are seven Twilight books in the whole franchise. Ahead of a new Twilight TV show on the way, we rank all the books from worst to best in this post.

Twilight introduced us to different kinds of vampires we haven't met before. These ones sparkle in the daylight, which is why they can’t go out. They are also almost impossible to kill, breaking all the traditional rules of vampire mythology.

The first four books tell the story of Bella Swan, who moves to the remote town of Forks, Washington to live with her dad. While there, she meets the Cullens, who are hiding a deadly secret. You know how the story goes. A human girl falls for a vampire boy and she eventually wants to become one herself. And also there's a hot werewolf in the mix.

Since the first four books, author Stephanie Meyer has released a novella about a young vampire having an adventure during the events of Eclipse, a version of the first book from Edward’s point of view, and a gender-swapped reimagining of the first book. How do each of the books hold up against each other. Here’s my rankings.

7. New Moon

I start with the second book in the main series. This is my least favorite book of the lot due to how slow it is when Bella's vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen leaves.

I get that we need to see Bella deal with the loss of Edward, and we need to see her connect with Jacob and learn about werewolves. The problem is that things take too long. We spend way too much time with Bella on her own and in her thoughts.

Plus, I hate the Cullen family for what they do. They should have called Edward out and protected Bella. They all made bad choices in this book. The saving grace for me was learning about the werewolves.

6. Breaking Dawn

The final book in the original Twilight quadrilogy is another slow one, and anticlimactic in the end. The book has a huge build-up invovling a clash with the artistocratic Volturi vampires. The first half of the book is focused on the birth of Bella and Edward's daughter Renesmee. Bella dies in childbirth but is brought back to life as a vampire by Edward. Then we lean into her learning how to use her powers to protect everyone.

The problem is the big battle that is expected between our heroes and the Volturi doesn’t happen. The best we get is a blood-soaked vision that Edward's sister Alice gives to Aro, the leader of the Volturi. The movie lets us see this vision, but because the book is from Bella’s point of view, we miss out. There is too much telling over showing throughout Breaking Dawn.

5. Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined

I’ll admit that I didn’t think a reimagining of the original Twilight book was actually needed. It felt like Stephanie Meyer was running out of ideas and just wanted to keep the Twilight train going. But of course I had to read it.

In this book, the genders of Bella and Edward are switched, with Bella becoming Beau and Edward becoming Edyth. I actually prefer Beau to Bella. However, Edyth is insufferable and worse than Edward, and she makes the whole book difficult to read. We still don’t get to know enough about some of the other characters to really care about them. I know this is a story about the main characters, but some of the others still need development!

4. Midnight Sun

This is another reimagining of the first book in the series. I did enjoy seeing Twilight from Edward’s point of view. I loved finally getting to know more about him and his family. This was so important to me to really understand why he was suddenly so connected to Bella—remember, he's over 100 years old, and this was the first time he had been attracted to someone like this.

My issue with Midnight Sun is that Edward comes off as emo. There were moments that really dragged. I guess this is a problem in most of Meyer’s books. There is too much telling over showing, and it means that I easily find places to put the book down to get on with chores for a bit.

3. Twilight

The book that started it all is next on my list. This is an enjoyable book. After all, I wouldn’t have read the others if I didn’t enjoy this one. My issue is with the lack of development of other characters besides Bella.

I know that the story is about Bella starting over in Forks and her sudden attraction to Edward. I just don’t feel like we even really got to know Edward. I couldn’t understand why she was so immediately drawn to him. Plus, I really wanted to know more about Jacob and the tribe — I am glad for New Moon for that.

This book has a lot of promise, though. I could see which characters would end up being important as other books went on and which ones we would learn more about.

2. The Short Second Live of Bree Tanner

I picked up this novella immediately when it was available for pre-order. I needed to learn more about Bree Tanner after reading Eclipse. I wanted to learn more about this group of fledgling vampires put together to destroy the Cullens.

I wish the Volturi would have allowed Bree a chance. I guess she just wasn’t special enough for them to want her to learn to control her powers. Reading more about who she was and her life as a young vampire made her story all the more heartbreaking.

Being a novella, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is fast-paced. We already know how the story end, but that doesn't make the buildup any less entertaining.

1. Eclipse

The third book is my favorite. That is because Alice and Edward's brother Jasper are my favorite characters. I wanted to learn a lot more about Jasper and where he came from. He had fought so hard to give up human blood, and I wanted to learn more about why it was so hard for him compared to the rest of the Cullens.

This book also gave me a chance to see that Bella would be part of the family. The Cullens made up for leaving her behind in the previous book by fully protecting her this time. Plus, I loved the #TeamJacob and #TeamEdward angle.

Out of the all books, this one felt like it got the pacing down the best. The ending wasn’t completely anticlimactic, even though Bella wasn’t there for any of it. There was enough going on with Bella to remain engaged and fear for our characters as they got into danger, unlike in Breaking Dawn, where the threat is muted.

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