I've started off with a fairly self-explanatory title. Basically, I believe that the Twilight series has a lot of negativity on the fact that it's a bit cliche (you know the whole "girl falls in love with a vampire" thing). Despite this, I don't believe it is truly fair to downscale a good piece of work because it is based on a theme that has already been done before. I've found a lot of the same attitude in other Fantasy books, like "Oh this is typical of Lord of the Rings" or maybe "What is this? Harry Potter?" from authors and readers alike. Well, guess what, I've never read those books, because I have better things to read (such as Northern Lights or the Belgariad to name a few). Just because a book may share a lot of similarities with another book, or if a book ties in a genre closely associated with a more popular book, I don't believe it is fair criticism to to say it is too much like another book. Vampires and werewolves are done all the time, yet that doesn't mean we can't enjoy a good book- it's especially nasty to downgrade an author who put a lot of time, effort and money to produce their work, only so that you can bash them because you're an Eragon fanatic (which I admit I am a little) and think their book is... Too Eragon-y. What do you think? Is it fair to comment on a writer's play on an already heavily done topic? Or should everyone try and do something more original, even if they may have a good idea concerning vampire romance, for example?
