So, there's been a lot of fuss over the Twilight series. I haven't read it -- in general, it has to be a damn good vampire-based teenaged romance (or... well, any one of the three) for me to not want to throw it against the wall. But, I got to thinking (and I totally blame Journalfen for this)...
Fiction is like cooking. There are very few new foods in cooking -- chances are, if it's at all edible, someone, somewhere has eaten it. Now, some things might not be common, but they've been eaten. Now, you can make new combinations -- last fall, my dad served me salmon with mango salsa and it was pretty darn tasty. And there's plenty of new-to-you things -- I mean, no one's eaten every type of food. You can also make old favorites well -- my mother makes wonderful turkey soup and Irish soda bread, and tasty apple pie.
Now, what's funny about books like Twilight (and Eragon is another one I've seen this for) is that some readers tend to read these and assume that these are New and Original because they have never read much or any Supernatural Romance or Animal-Companion/Heroic Fantasy. Now, I haven't read these, but nothing I've read about them makes me think that these are new and innovative ideas. Both seem to play the conventions of their genres pretty straight, with little innovation or crossover.
Again, I've read neither of these books, so for all I know they fall into the 'old favorite done well' category*. But, reading the reactions of some of their teenaged fans is like taking someone to their first Asian restaurant -- it could be takeout-Chinese or the upscale Thai place downtown, but your guest is too busy cooing over how they never imagined you could make 'meat, rice, sauce and veggies' taste this different to notice the actual quality of the food.
* Granted, the reviews I've read don't agree, but I prefer reading snarky reviews to non-snarky ones.
Granted, in a younger reader, it's kind of expected -- sometimes being introduced to a genre rocks your world. When you get well old enough to be reading books from the Adult section of the bookstore, it's a little astonishing. Especially given how common those sub-genres are.
And you really should do some reading before you proclaim to the internet how New and Innovative said books are. It makes you look a bit silly, especially if you are old enough to have heard of Anne Rice and Laurel K. Hamilton (or, in the case of Eragon, Tolkien, LeGuin, McCaffrey, Lackey, and every D&D tie-in novel ever.)
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