Luminosity and Radiance, by Alicorn: A Reviewing Double-Bill

This is a bit of an unusual piece to review, not actually being a real book and being, in fact, fanfiction. Now, I don't have any problem with fanfiction - in my opinion, a lot of authors get started with fanfiction, write fantastic other fiction, and sometimes they even get their fanfiction published as canon. As far as I'm concerned, pretty much every Star Trek tie-in book is fanfiction. For example, Diane Duane (who I have repeatedly ranted about as being pretty awesome) got her start in fanfiction.

Where it gets weird is the fact that it is Twilight fanfiction. I despise Twilight the canon with every fibre of my being, because it is incredibly misogynistic, abusive and awful. I hate that the characters don't learn anything at the end, I hate that there are no consequences, and I really, really, really hate the fact that is portrays such an abusive relationship as beautiful.

Luminosity, which you can find in full here, is not like that. The major change? Bella is a hyper-rational, intelligent person. Her characterization is consistent - she's always thinking through her problems, and she solves them. She doesn't make decisions rashly, and weighs through the pros and cons. She's a skeptic who only accepts the existence of vampires after spending an afternoon conducting tests on the Cullens. And there are actual, real consequences in this story.

The story starts off the same way that the canon starts off - Bella moves to Forks, Washington and meets Edward. However, that's about the only consistent bit between the two stories - some of the same events happen, others don't. When Bella feels threatened by Edward, she asks her teacher to change lab partners for her so she doesn't have to put up with him. Very early on, she directly calls him out for abusive behaviour and at one point is very close to reporting him to the authorities for harassment. Edward's behaviour, as a result, is markedly different - he trusts her judgement absolutely and lets her make her own choices. He comes across as someone who has some old-fashioned values, but not as a completely abusive jerk.

Bella's characterization is a marked improvement. At first, she definitely seems robotic - almost sociopathic, with her endless need to rationalize all of her decisions. People generally aren't that rational. But her characterization in that respect becomes a lot more realistic towards the end, because she's not a perfect character. She's very proud of the fact she is so rational - and pride turns into her downfall. There are consequences to her actions here, and the ending is not one of daisies and sunshine. There are several major character deaths, and the only reassurance you have at the end is that Bella herself is still alive.

Part of the reason I liked Luminosity so much is just because I hated Twilight so much. Luminosity takes the same premise that Twilight has, and blows up all the awful themes that Twilight endorsed. At some points, however, that can be too obvious; on occasion, the author will write something directly in the text that first, doesn't really make that much sense, and second, breaks up the flow of the text. For example, a major issue with the original Twilight is that Bella acted rather entitled when her father bought her the truck - in the fanfiction, she goes out of her way to write that her father's consideration was worthy of gratitude. These are things that can be shown, not told, and the small paragraph pointing it out took away from the flow of the story itself.


Radiance is the story of Bella's daughter, Elspeth (in canon, you would know her as "Renesmee"). At the end of Luminosity, Bella's essentially kidnapped Elspeth and is mostly running around the world hiding from the Volturi. A series of somewhat unfortunate events (including Jacob's imprint on Elspeth, which occurs when Elspeth is physically 16 and chronologically 5.5), however, forces Elspeth into becoming a key player in a revolution and overthrow of the Volturi.

This book is what Twilight could have been if it were willing to take risks and cause pain. When there's pain, the triumphs feel like so much more because the characters feel real. Things go wrong, and people die, and characters feel actual pain and when they succeed you like it too. If Stephenie Meyer was willing to make her characters suffer, sacrifice things, and change, she might be a better writer - once she got the "consistent characterization" thing down, anyway.

A lot about this book, particularly the mate-bond and imprinting thing, reminds me of L.J. Smith's Nightworld. However, this book is more than that. Nightworld is very focused on the soulmate bond part, and once you've found your soulmate, the plot becomes not being slaughtered by the rulers of the Nightworld. Radiance is more about a generalized plot to overthrow the Volturi. The whole mate bond and imprinting thing is not romanticized - Alicorn makes choice a fundamental part of the book. Despite the fact that Allirea is Demetri's mate, Allirea is given a choice to refuse it and is supported in that choice. That is something that would never have made it into Twilight.

Moreover, Jacob's imprint on Bella's daughter is a whole lot less creepy in this alternate storyline. First, Bella never let Jacob fall in love with her. Knowing she had feelings for Edward, she made it clear from the start that she was off-limits. The relationship is a lot less creepy without the "I was in love with your mother" aspect. Second, Alicorn leaves off the imprinting thing until Elspeth is physically 16 years old. Even though she is chronologically 5, the fact that she's physically and mentally older makes Jacob look a lot less like a child rapist. Third, Jacob admits to Elspeth that he doesn't see their relationship as romantic at all through this book - he says that she's his imprint, but he's not sexually interested in her. End result? Major decrease in creepiness.

Unlike Twilight, throughout Luminosity and Radiance choice is emphasized. The deprivation of choice is always shown as wrong, particular when it's about forcing someone else, magically or otherwise, to love or hate another person. I like that women's choices are actually respected throughout Radiance.

However, in the end, Alicorn has written a very different kind of book that Twilight. Twilight, at its core, is a romance - it's about Bella and Edward beating the odds to have their dream life together. Luminosity and Radiance are, at their core, about overthrowing a tyranny. In some ways, Luminosity and Radiance are a lot more like The Hunger Games than they are like Twilight.

At any rate, don't judge it just because it's fanfiction. It is better written than the original (not that that's saying much), and provides consistent characterization, a solid plot, real consequences, and imperfect characters. If you hated Twilight to the extent I do, you'll love Luminosity. If you liked Twilight originally, you might not like Luminosity because you can't pretend to be Bella anymore (and as I said: major character deaths!), but it'll be good for your growth and development as a person to read it. I'm not sure I could have believed someone could have taken the Twilight source material and made something that wasn't horrifically offensive, let alone highly addictive, but somehow Alicorn has done it.