James, Victoria, and Laurent in The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide

James made a deal with a devil, so to speak. We all know he was a skilled tracker, but he was that way even before he was changed. He was always up for a bet or a dare, but he competed with the wrong Frenchman one night. The test was to release a deer into the woods, wait an hour, and then track it. The Frenchman brought back the deer in record time and James cried foul, claiming that the man must have some secret power. He claimed that if the playing field were even, he could beat the Frenchman at his own game. So, instead of killing James, the man bit him and said he’d take on a rematch in a decade or so. Let’s just say, the Frenchman never got his rematch, but James won the bet.

The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide shares a great deal more information about how James met Victoria. He was a skilled tracker, but she was skilled at evasion. Because she had been abused as a child, she had learned the art of hiding and that carried over into her vampire life. He spent years trying to get close to her only to be frustrated over and over again when she would slip away. Victoria had learned not only the skill of evasion, but also to be suspicious of other vampires. Having watched her original coven of six female vampires decimated by the Volturi, Victoria had no desire to trust anyone. Once they finally met, she was attracted to James’ gift as a tracker because it was a mirror of her own gift of evasion. She enjoyed the security she felt in James’ presence.

As we know, James was destroyed at the end of Twilight and Victoria spent all of New Moon and most of Eclipse trying to avenge his death. When she first created Riley and a small army of newborns it was merely for protection, not as an offensive. She didn’t get the idea to use the newborns to go against the Cullens until she passed through Texas while Edward was tracking her. Jasper does a good job of telling Bella the concept of newborn armies in Eclipse, and The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide offers little additional information during this sectional reading about Victoria. For a better detail, check out the section about Jasper.

Laurent was the other member of James’ coven. We learn relatively little about Laurent during the Twilight books, so this was an interesting selection for me. Laurent was the third son in an aristocratic family in France. He loved being at court and was always seeking the next level of importance. He had a knack for figuring out the most important person in a room and attaching himself to that person. When he met an ambassador from Russia, he could tell the man was more powerful than anyone he had ever met and was thus drawn to him. When Laurent learned the truth about this Russian diplomat, he begged the man to change him to a vampire so that he could be just as powerful. Once he was a vampire, Laurent realized there were many who were even more powerful. He sought out the Romanians but found that they had little desire to expand their coven. He then sought out the Volturi, but because he had no unusual powers the Volturi didn’t want him either. When he met James and Victoria, he was drawn to them because of their abilities and stayed with them for a time. When they came across the Cullens, Laurent automatically knew he was on the wrong side of the fight and was happy to switch sides. We know very little about his time with the Denalis other than that he gathered as much information about the Cullens as he could and used it against them when he realigned with Victoria. The one powerful force he never anticipated was that of the wolf pack, and this is what ultimately led to his demise.

There is so much more information about James, Victoria, and Laurent that it would take a very long time to go into any more detail than this. This section alone would make the whole book of The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide a good read!

Next we will travel to Mexico and then back to Europe for a closer look at the Romanians. From there we’ll study the vampire hybrids and then it’s on to explore the Quileute reservation! I’m really enjoying this book!

Have you started reading The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide yet? What’s your opinion? -Julie

Complete book review of The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide:

The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide is here!

The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide (Review and Opinions, Part Two)

Third Day's Thoughts on The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide

Day Four of Reading The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide

The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide - The Volturi Guard

The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide (Inside the Volturi lair, then South to visit the Amazon Coven)

From Twilight to Breaking Dawn: Religious Themes in the Twilight Saga

Discovering Alaska in The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide

Exploring the Egyptian Coven in The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide

Journey to Ireland with The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide

James, Victoria, and Laurent in The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide

The Mexican Coven in The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide

The Seattle Newborns in The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide

A Few More Newborn Vampires in The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide
The Romanians in The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide

Questionnaire to Evaluate Your Level of Addiction



If you’ve never read the Twilight series, check out these other Twilight books, music, and movies:

Twilight
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
The Twilight Saga Complete Collection
The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide
Twilight: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion
The Twilight Saga: New Moon: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion
Twilight Soundtrack
Twilight: the Score
New Moon Soundtrack
New Moon: the Score
Eclipse Soundtrack
Eclipse: the Score
Twilight DVD
The Twilight Saga: New Moon DVD
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

I recently lost 42 pounds on the Take Shape for Life program! Want to check out my weight loss transition? Click here! -Julie L. Spencer