Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4) by Stephenie Meyer
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Book Reviews of Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)
Book Review: Good book, & don't blame the author flamers!
Summary: 5 Stars
Although I went to the release party, I pre-ordered my copy on Amazon and had to agonizingly wait until yesterday for my copy to arrive. Curiously, I checked to see how many stars readers were giving this book, and was horrified to see just how many 1-stars it had (and this was hours after its release). I didn't read the reviews but was prepared for the worst.
I just finished reading it.
Let me first say that I read books for enjoyment, not to analyze them for messages they may be sending out to readers (I'm an English major- I reserve that stuff for work not pleasure). I noticed that people complain a lot by the decisions Bella makes and how the author is somehow `copping out' by giving her "everything" she wants in the end. Readers should remember that these characters are fictional. It seems kind of silly for me to judge their decisions as if they were real. But you must take a character's personality, their character, into consideration with their decisions. Some reviews made it sound like Bella simply wanted to have her husband, become a vampire, and have a family; and that it all turned out that way so easily for her made this book terrible. (Can't imagine what those reviewers have to say about classic fairy tale's endings where princesses always end up with their princes.) It's not that Bella simply wanted these things and then BOOM she got them. She was a zombie for months in New Moon, willing to commit suicide to distract Victoria in Eclipse, risking her life to reach Edward in Italy, agonized over and over countless times about the pain she was causing, or the pain she was feeling. She suffered through a lot and fought pretty damn hard to try to acquire her dreams, bring happiness to others, and feel happy herself. Personally I am very glad she got her happy ending! Wouldn't it just break your heart if our endearing Bella suffered through all that to only fail at the end and conclude her story alone and miserable trying to put up a facade to keep loved ones from worrying about her?
Something that really bothers me is when reviewers say things like Stephenie Meyer let them down or disappointed them! As an aspiring writer myself, such remarks really irk me! Real writers, who truly enjoy writing, don't write to please readers. They write for themselves; they write because they enjoy the process and enjoy giving birth to these amazing stories and characters. Some writers don't want their work read. They don't want the attention or the criticism. If Stephenie really wanted to, she could have easily milked out these books, have the love triangle last longer. She would have made a lot more money and fame. But that wasn't the goal here. If Stephenie ever reads this by some off chance, I'd like to thank her for publishing her work. She has a gift for storytelling, and I was impressed not only by the compelling fluidity and vividness of the way she tells stories, but of the endearing characters she creates and the way that they grow and develop as the story progresses. I admire all that she's done and if I happen to disagree with anything in her books I'm certainly not going to complain to the author that she's a let down and a cop out.
I think Breaking Dawn was well written and holds the same style as the rest of the series. True it is a little fast paced at times when suddenly a week or month has passed here or there. I was a little thrown off by the sudden perspective change to Jacob 100 pages in (but in terms of storyline, the plot would be impossible if it remained in Bella's perspective, or shifted to anyone but Jacob, because until Jacob went to the Cullen's house, the characters were at a standstill in their situation). Readers have judged Bella for getting married at eighteen, for deciding she wanted to live a little longer because she discovered her sexual relationship with Edward, or because she became so maternal when she found out that she was pregnant. Bella's always been a mature character and became a legal adult. She knew she wanted to spend her life with Edward and had both his love and support as well as that of his family. In that circumstance, being so sure, why is it wrong for her to marry him? If she thought that once she became a vampire all her senses would change and she wouldn't be herself again for a very long time, is it wrong for her to want to stay human a little longer to enjoy her new physical relationship with Edward? I myself don't plan on having kids yet, but if I loved anyone as intensely as she loved Edward, the thought of having his child (after discovering it was already conceived) would not really freak me out after realizing it was possible. She loved Edward so much and here she had the opportunity to have his child- an Edward Jr.
I don't know, but it seems to me that some of the complaints on why this book is bad seem to be thought only from what the reader him/herself perceives to be the action they would or should take were they in that position without considering the characters themselves or the world they live in.
I think all Twilight fans should give the book the chance it deserves. Watch how characters grow and come together. Don't analyze it as promoting wrong messages to teens or judge a character's actions. Just enjoy it for what it is- a well-told and creative story.
Book Review: Delectable
Summary: 5 Stars
I am OBESSESED with this saga!! I literally devoured this book in a day and found it delectable and satiating. I am concerned, however, with the copious amount of negative reviews on the book and I do understand many of their reserves although I do object.
First, many have complained about the lack of reality in the story, how certain things seem impossible such as tumultuous "wild ride" readers were taken on in a completely unrealistic book to begin with!! it seems contradictory to complain about realism in a fantastical world filled with vampires and werewolves!
Second, many saw the book to have lost the concept of sacrifice on the part of Bella and were deterred by her bearing a child at 18, getting hitched and being sex driven... I can understand their discretion considering the age group targeted by the saga and the influence it may have, however, having a 15 year old sister myself and being a 15 year old once, REALITY holds that these are evident concerns and concepts such an age group is plagued with at this day in age as much as we would rather not grasp the fact. I dont think it is a detrimental influence to their hold on morality or that it is telling them it is okay, but rather an eye opener to the responsibilities that arise from such decisions such as Bella's need to protect Nessie and be the best mother she can be. It is a huge 180 from my initial impression of her being completely immature. It shows the growth that comes with responsibility. Through my own observations of pre-teens who have become pregnant, they fail to understand the responsibilities in order to adapt to our innate maternal nature as women and thus do not exhibit that love and devotion all mothers should feel, as Bella did. Such is evident in young girls that are not pregnant as well as they contemplate doing adult things without an adult conception. Also, although I do not condone sex among such an audience, we must remember that despite Bella and Edward's urges to be sexually active (Which is involuntary and inevitable at any age) they decided to wait until MARRIAGE before they were active. Not only did they wait until marriage, but they also chose to marry the person they irrevocably loved and pledged to be together forever in her commitment that was displayed by her willingness to become immortal with him. In this case, I find such to target the actual concerns of those reading the story and be a positive influence rather than a negative one.
Back to her SACRIFICE...even though in the end she hadnt sacrificed anything at all for the sake of a happy ending, I was satisfied with her INTENTION and decision to sacrifice herself if need be because I WOULD NOT be content with an unhappy ending. Were people rooting for her to die in efforts to preserve the concept of sacrifice in the story?? She still had choices to make as well, but they were resolved by her decision to solely protect her child!
Onto the flattened image of the rest of the characters... I can see what people are complaining about, however, such didnt even occur until the middle of the story when things began to get chaotic. I actually found this void of the original characters essences to truly feed the tumultuous image of the incidents in my head. Consider our own responses in the event of a disaster and how we are almost not ourselves. In this case, the whole family was in danger...each and every one of them had the notion that everyone they loved may perish. Of course they didnt seem like themselves! they had more important things to concern themselves with than to act "normal." This "wild ride" had to have been expected considering we are dealing with vampires and werewolves. One musnt expect things to remain normal in such an aberrant story.
Like I said, I personally LOVED the book and laid my book down with a complacent smirk upon my face at its conclusion. I thought I would be left disappointed at its end and hungry for more, but I was only left with the thirst to relive the saga again and again. It felt complete! I was satisfied with how stephenie maintained "edge of the seat" content, and even with Jacobs imprinting (although many thought it was disturbing even though he did not have sexual feelings for her...yet, he just wanted to make her happy--> its not like it hasnt happened before with a member of his own pack). I also enjoyed the fact that Bella had the chance to experience the ultimate human experience of having a child created from love that was his and her flesh and blood! I wont say any more so I that I dont spoil it any more than I have already for readers but I applaud stephenie for satisfying me in every way with the events that transpired even though I know we all have our own "taste" preferences. Ultimately, the story still held a strong message inherent in Bella's self growth and maturity as we watched it progress through the books, in her responsibilities as a wife, mother, sister, and daughter and in her strength and courage in the face of danger.
P.S. I guess the only thing I hated was the NAME! I wish Nessies name wasnt so damn complicated and long.
Book Review: The only problem with the book is that it ends.
Summary: 5 Stars
It probably doesn't matter at this point, but this review does contain spoilers.
I wrote most of this in a response to someone's negative review but I wanted to show my support for this story and the way to do that here is to write a review and rate the item.
Perhaps it's because I'm male, and perhaps it's because I'm 30 and I'm not looking for something unexpected and mysterious or tragic. I thought the book was fantastic, and I just can't really understand the negative reviews of this story, when these same people claim the loved the last three books in the series.
I got sucked into the Twilight series when the movie came out and my mother and sister were going to see it. I decided, well, I usually like things having to do with Vampires, and I didn't know much about the story so I went to see it. I immediately liked it. My mother had bought a set of all four books so I started reading, and I was hooked.
It took all of two weeks to read the first three books, and over this past weekend I read Breaking Dawn. I had to buy New Moon on paperback because my mother had lent it to someone at work.
I'd been hoping throughout the first three books that Bella would finally become what she wanted (and what Edward DID want, even though he didn't want to "steal" Bella away from humanity) - to become a vampire. I had a suspicion that this would happen in this book but I was afraid that it would be the last paragraph of the story or something ridiculous like that. Like so many stories and movies. That doesn't happen here.
At first I was a bit indifferent to the story. I enjoy the relationship between Edward and Bella but I wasn't too crazy about the baby idea. But then it got interesting. After the first few chapters, and all through the Jacob book, I just couldn't put the book down. Bella became what she wanted halfway through the story and her experiences were able to be touched upon with some depth. I was VERY glad about that.
Sure, I could find some things to complain about here if I try. The book is about 750 pages and there just seems to be so much more that could have been said, but you just can't make a 1000 page book! (Well, I wish she had. Stephanie Meyer is always saying that she gets too carried away and writes too much and I love that about her.) But, I can't complain much. I guess my biggest complaint is that the book seems a little too perfect; in that everything I wanted to see happen, DID happen. I was as if I were writing the story. That isn't much of a complaint, I agree.
What's not to like? The happy ending? And then I think about that - why not have a happy ending? It's a fantasy world to begin with. Why not?
A lot of people today don't seem to be happy with happy endings.
Too many of the negative comments here revolve around that - that the ending was happy and that's somehow bad. What had to be sacrificed? Why should something have to be sacrificed? Bella fought and scratched and clawed her way to what she wanted. The last thing that she would have been willing to live with was happiness for herself if it cost the happiness of others. Through four books she was unwilling to let that happen and in the end, she was rewarded for that - she was able to somehow maintain happiness in others and have it for herself as well. I think the happy ending in Breaking Dawn is plausible. That's what I love so much about Science Fiction and Fantasy. You're only limited by the imagination.
There's a lot of open doors left at the end of this book and I do believe that the author will continue the story in some form or another. I believe her when she says he has a lot invested in these characters, and you can see that very much as these stories progress. There can be a lot of interesting directions to take the story from here, and I really can't wait to see what's coming.
I think the book was a great ending to this series and my only true problem with the book is that it ended at all. Perhaps that's one of the real reasons for any discord. People maybe seem unhappy because the book just seems so.. final? I didn't see it that way; there's loose ends all over, but I can see that point of view if I try. Maybe I didn't see as big a difference in the characters because I read all four books in such rapid succession? Maybe I didn't warp things as much - as we all tend to do - to my own sense of who they are?
I'm definitely a late comer to the Twilight series, but I was lucky enough to discover it after all four books had been published. I eagerly await the next movie (scheduled to release on my birthday, to boot) and I hope we really do see the entire saga put to the screen.
Stephanie Meyer is a monster of a writer - able to put out this entire series of books in just a few years. She's the third female writer that really interests me (there's just not a lot of women doing SciFi or Fantasy) and I look forward to what she does next - especially if it's set in the Twilight world!
Book Review: It was strangely everything I wanted it to be...
Summary: 5 Stars
WARNING* I guess if you haven't read it then this has some SPOILERS in it*
Consider yourself warned!
Okay, so there are some pretty great points made by people who thought this book was horrid, but I'm just not one of those people! I got everything out of this book that I wanted for Bella, for Edward, and for Jake. I'll admit that by about the time in the book when she started popping up with pregnancy symptoms- I was thinking, "Huh?", but its a piece of fiction- so there is really no such thing as impossible, especially in the mystical, sci-fi, horror genres. If you want to enforce rules, you're just going to ruin the whole principle behind what fiction is! A lot of reviewers feel that it wrapped up too neatly. I agree and disagree. Yeah, she could have let Jake storm off and just cut Bella loose and grieve his loss and she his. It didn't have to be so sugary sweet. I disagree based on my point about fiction- you can't scream for realism- because everyone checked reality at the front cover when we started the story about a vampire and a mortal girl... I feel like in the end when I put the book down I thought to myself everybody walked away with something they wanted and that was good enough for me. I am happy that the characters I loved and hated ended up happy!
I stopped wanting to slap Bella senseless for all her annoying weaknesses and the blantant way she kept copping out with the "We're best friends, Jake"- B.S. She was finally the strongest one out of everyone for the short time she remained human in the novel and when her dreams of having Edward, forever, finally came true. The strength she showed in this novel made up for all the foolish "I need a man" syndrome she was displaying in the two middle books. I'm glad that was worked in there somewhere- because once she thought I want this baby and clearly Edward is leaning toward abortion (I'm pro-choice, by the way)-- She "manned up" and called a woman she knew would help her accomplish her decision. She finally did something for herself- not for Edward. In fact, if you go back and read through Eclipse, she gives him a little push back here or there.
P.S. I loved the fountain of blood vomit- I'm in my very late 20's (maybe that's why I love vampires) I can handle that and frankly, all the 14 year olds out there who watch Grand Theft Auto and Halo can handle it-- too. In fact, I can't handle those video games myself, so the whole birth scene was probably like a Disney film to some of Ms. Meyer's wide scale audience (tragic as that fact is). I'm not even worried about the argument that can validly be mad that this book advocates teen pregnancy- A.) because SM pushed hard with her uncurrent of marriage first then sex and B.) as a parent I'm not looking to SM to teach my kids that lesson in the first place. I expect responsible sex conversations to occur between parents and their teens and re-enforced by a solid sex ed course in school.
I stopped feeling threatened and angry that Jake had to exist and that I felt sorry for him. He got a true love out of the bargain. Not loving the whole in love with infants and toddlers thing- I've got an infant and a toddler, myself. (I concede that point hands down!!- She could have made that happen when Reneesme was 16- she was accelerated aging- so It could have been an Epilogue or something) Honestly, the series was about Bella and Edward's true, forbidden love. She was never going to end up with Jake- no matter how many times she strung him along, admitted she loved him, too or how many times he practically raped a kiss out of her. He was always the REBOUND guy! But, even he ended up happy and I was suddenly happy for him.
Ah, and Edward - he was pretty clear what wanted from day one- Bella, then to marry her, then to have her at his side forever, and in the eleventh hour-a baby! Clearly, Stephenie Meyers (and me and countless other tweens and teens and 20-somethings, etc.) is sooo in love with him that she finally stopped tormenting him and gave him everything he wanted. I've read alot of Anne Rice, so I've had my fill of the Vampire who comes to the conclusion that the grass really is greener on the other side and has a whole world of heart ache and isolation to go with it, so for Edward to have his many decades of feeling like an incomplete half come to an end is exactly what I wanted. I am crazy about him, frankly. I would have shed livid tears if he didn't get everything he dreamed. I was invested in seeing him come out happy from this saga.
I agree with anyone who wanted to see some fighting-- that was A BIG LET DOWN. I'm sorry Bella didn't get a chance to slug Jane! But, am I sorry it ended on a sweet, "Lets get it on" for all eternity note- Hell NO!
Stephenie Meyers is a gifted story teller in my opinion. You can't please all the people- all of the time & believe me I wasn't always pleased as stated above; But, this was a big guilty pleasure for me & I loved the whole series- the good and the bad. I'd read it all again... thats what makes a book or series good to me.
Book Review: Where's Jasper when you need him? Calm down people!
Summary: 5 Stars
I personally loved the book. I couldn't put it down, the same as the first three. There were parts that I was quite shocked, saddened, maddened and also very happy, a books main purpose is to make one feel alive, be it in another world, and some how these books were written in just the right way to let all that emotion through, leaving enough room for ones own imagination to shape it in their own eyes. I recommend it to anyone who likes a good story but isn't afraid to have an open mind or a little bit of imagination. That being said...
Everyone is freaking out about how none of the things that happened are realistic, but hello its a fiction book, it does not have to be realistic, its a imaginary world, and thats the point of imagination, anything can happen. When one reads fantasy or science fiction or even just normal fiction you have to have a certain sense of suspended disbelief. How could you not see it coming? A human falls in love with a vampire and vise versa, that is a sure sign that things may not be a very normal. People are taking this way too hard, and many obviously had already drawn their own conclusions way before the book ever came out on what they thought should happen. But guess what? None of you wrote the book. So it was a different pace than the first three, Big deal! Why write 4 books all exactly alike just because they are part of a series? I like to feel that things are a little new, a little different. Bella grew up in her own sense and so did SM's writing. Things do change, that was part of the whole book! So Bella was different after she became a Vampire, who didn't see that coming? Yeah sure I would have loved more Edward and Bella romance, but at the same time, that was something we all understood, We all know how much they love each other, no need to throw it in our faces for 700 pages, there were other story lines that need fleshing out and finishing off. And honestly, Why is everyone so upset about the name Renesmee? It's weird, it's different and a little hard to take in at first, but that's what makes it a good name because it perfectly describes her, she is both human and vampire, and it is a cross between Bella's Vampire mother (Esme) and her human mother (Renee). And she is hard to take in at first, be it when she was killing Bella before she was born(I'm sure no one was too fond of her at that point)or like when she was being introduced to the witnesses. But once one takes the time to understand that shes something completely different but not necessarily some evil spawn, than she kinda grows on you, for after all, she is the out come of Edward and Bella's love for each other, it would be hard to think of her as anything other than a very lovable child. Just like when she won the witnesses on her side. So in the end the name fits and people need to deal with it. You want her to have some normal name like Jessica? That would be much stranger.
But in the end people need to stop analyzing it so much and just say okay, in Bella's world all of this exists, it is plausible. That is the point of fiction, to see a life or story or world that isn't ours but for that short time that we read the novel we are part of it and get to believe that it is real. Maybe you would have written it differently but you didn't write it. A writer has a certain bit of freedom to do what ever the hell they want. For a wiser take on it I think Ray Bradbury Said it correctly at the end of his book Fahrenheit 451 "The Real world is the playing ground for each and every group, to make or unmake laws. But the tip of the nose of my book or stories or poems is where their rights end and my territorial imperatives begin, run and rule. If Mormons don't like my plays, let them write there own. If the Irish hate my Dublin stories, let them rent typewriters. If teachers and grammar school editors find my jawbreaker sentences shatter their mushmilk teeth, let them eat stale cake dunked in weak tea of their own ungodly manufacture. For Lets Face it, digression is the soul of wit. Take philosophic asides away from Dante, Milton or Hamlet's father's ghost and what stays is dry bones." He sums it up as "In sum, do not insult me with the beheadings, finger-choppings or the lung-deflations you plan for my works. I need my head to shake or nod, my hand to wave or make into a fist, my lungs to shout or whisper with. I will not go gently onto a shelf, degutted, to become a non-book."
SM had a story she wanted to tell, and lets not forget that it is Young Adult reading so yes it is a easy read, It also allows you to easily lose your self in the story too. But it is her story and if people would get over themselves they might enjoy the story she was trying to tell.
Good job Stephenie. I would never be able to write a book, let alone 4. Everyone forgets that she's relatively new to this game. While there may have been a few ruff edges, in the end it was a wonderful story and I was happy to go along for the ride.
(I know that was really long! Sorry my thoughts took control of my hands!)