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: pretty good
Summary: 5 Stars
I would have given this 4 stars but (like another review I read) felt the need to balance it with all the low ratings.
I am totally surprised at how horribly people have rated this. I think when people fall so in love with a series they have a hard time when a story comes to and end and become very nitpicky about how it happens. Stephanie Meyer has a wonderful imagination and she told the story how she saw it and how she wanted it to end. She is the storyteller, she began the story and she gets to choose how it ends. I would not have ended it exactly like this (for instance they would have kicked the volturri's powdery white hiney's)but then again I would have never been able to come up with such a gripping story to begin with.
I loved Twilight it was my favorite. Didn't care so much for New Moon - very depressing, but still pretty good (obviously I kept reading.) Ecllipse was better but still not as good as Twilight. Breaking Dawn may have been my second favorite. It was very interesting (it made me want to be a vampire when I saw all that Bella became.) There were A LOT of love scenes, possibly more than necessary- especially for teen readers. She did keep them pretty clean, but it was very sexual.
When I first looked at the ratings the book had been out for less than 24 hours and there were a ton of low ratings-- the rating has come up since then. This has caused me to decide that the people who read it the fastest seemed to be more dissappointed. I took my time and I enjoyed it. I accidentaly read a few spoilers while reading some comments and so I knew some of the stuff people hated. Knowing those things could possibly have helped me to get use to and accept them better. For instance some people were having a fit about the name Renessmee and although it is not my favorite name I feel like its a little ridiculous to base your feeling for a book on the name of a character. Many of the names in the book are unusual and so I don't see why Renessmee is any more offensive than say Jasper.
It was great to see things from Jacob's point of view, but again it was depressing and I was looking forward to a new perspective and a brighter outlook.
There were many complaints about how unrealistic and not true to life certain parts of the book were. To this I say- hello people! We're reading about vampires and wherewolves and you're asking for things to be true to life!? Also have you even read any of the other books--? Being true to life is not how I would describe any of them! Real life may not end happy or be happy all the time, that for me is one of the main reasons I read, no matter what is going on with me I can leave my world and go into a world where things work out happily.
There are complaints that there isn't some huge life lesson at the end. I agree it was just a happy ending book with few lessons I would consider to be very powerful. While very good books, they are mere stories not intended to be the next Lord of the Rings. That being said they are books with good morals and values and the main characters are good people who care very much about other people and the world around them. It speaks of self dicipline and putting others before yourself. I read where one mother thought it taught girls to give up going to a prestigious colleges they got into in order to follow their boyfriend. I believe otherwise. I believe it teaches them to follow their dreams and what they believe is right and best for them and that when they do, things will often work out. Bella didn't decide not to go to the better college because her boyfriend asked her not to (he wanted her to), she didn't go because SHE didn't want to. We plan our future based on what WE want in our lives not what is expected of us by everyone else. So although these aren't super life changing books, they are extremely fun to read and their messages are not corrupting.
Thank you Stephanie for sharing such an interesting story with me. I spent many hours in enjoyment.
Book Review: Satisfaction
Summary: 5 Stars
Let me start with the fact that I read and I read a lot. Any genre, any year, any book. Yet, as with Harry Potter, I didn't want to give in to some sort of hype, just because it was a hype. Hence I ignored the Amazon bestseller's list for quite some time and read *around* the Twilight Saga.
But about a week ago, just starting my maternity leave and having nothing else to read I went to my local bookstore. Local has a different meaning as I live in Tokyo and most bookstores in the neighborhood only hold about 40 English titles in Fiction and I bought "Twilight" the first of the books, only to return to the bookstore about 5 hours later to buy the rest of the books up to Breaking Dawn.
Why? Because I couldn't stop, I was addicted, I wanted more. It was like opening a box of chocolates and not being able to stop eating. I read the whole series in 3 days. And then reread them again. And then went to the websites and read the unfinished copy of one of her books (Midnight Sun)-- yes I have never been known for my patience -- and reread all the books again to try and figure out what Edward was thinking in all of the conversations. I could not let go and even now I can't.
I am writing this while still being addicted, while my husband looks at me like I have slightly lost control of reality. While hoping that Stephenie will release all of the books once more from Edwards point of view, just to understand the world a bit better. I am writing this not just as a review to this book, but to the whole series.
I have read many of the comments of fans and while I understand the reasoning of people who don't understand some of the plot lines, to me they seem like how a real life sometimes goes as well: unexpected. Breaking Dawn ends in a way that makes everything perfect. There is still danger, there is still an unknown future and there is still so much that can be written about it. *SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER* Will Renesmee choose Jacob? We don't know this. She might see him like her Jacob now, but isn't that the way we can look at cousin or bigger brother? Heck I know I did. Will the Volturi return? And what happens with that war? How will it be for Bella and Edward to have a daughter that will be the same ages as them.. unchanged? Imagine staying 18 forever and having a daughter that does the same? How will Bella be when her other family starts aging, her dad, her mother??
In short, I felt satisfied, I felt relieved that so many choices were made that I would make to if I was in Bella's shoes. I am 7 months at the moment and I would give my body, my life to this little NUDGER inside of me. I would try and stop anyone from inflicting any pain on the baby, but I would also understand it when there would be someone around to give her UNCONDITIONAL love... Jacob is no different than that image (I would probably want to strangle him as well). And well... Bella WAS prepared, she might have been one of the only ones in this world that WAS prepared for what she would have to suffer from. It was from Twilight, from her rare gift and from the way she already fit with Edward in that first look they gave each other a vampire.. just one that wasn't transformed yet. This was her destiny.
I am grateful to Stephenie Meyer for writing these books and also accepting the amount of negative reviews that she must have to go through. Anyone who has ever been criticized knows it is an unpleasant feeling and for her to have her work so hardly judged by (what I feel are unjustified "1") is just heartbreaking to me. There have rarely been 2 characters so alive for me as Bella and Edward have been for me. This review is meant for anyone who has friends and family out there that still haven't read this series. I have already ordered 5 copies as presents for several of my friends in this week and cannot wait to hear how they will be transformed and elated by reading this extraordinary love story.. one that I sincerely hope to hear more about from other perspectives!
Book Review: All things considered...
Summary: 5 Stars
Okay, let me start by saying, I know so many people absolutely hated this book. I cannot escape the bad reviews. Also allow me to make it perfectly clear that, through the first Bella chapter, I hated it, too.
However, something is to be said for the 700-some pages that was Breaking Dawn. In my opinion, after finishing the book, Bella was certainly completely so... un-Bella in the first chapters and I hated it. But now that I am finished, I think this must have been intentional. A pregnant woman becomes someone entirely new and Meyer captured this fact. She did not bend to conform to the knowledge that her fans would want to see Bella as she was known and loved. Bella was a pregnant woman, and Meyer did well with portraying her as such. Though I will say, the dialogue in the first part of the book wasn't her best, Edward and Bella seemed to flow too effortlessly together- there wasn't the expectable amount of conflict like we saw in the other books when Edward's resolve was always left unbroken. I will criticize that much.
Now, as for those who say Bella should not have been a mother, that she was merely a baby herself. How many of you openly objected to her marriage to Edward? Her marriage at all? The fact that she, as a married woman, was having sex? Now tell me how you can oppose her pregnancy, but not her marriage, and not her love life.
And as far as this wasted chance to give Bella all that power goes, I say this. The one undeniable trait that has ALWAYS made Bella Bella, was her inability to sit back and watch her loved ones be hurt. Bella has always been the protector, the one who always put her life on the line to save those she loved. Always. Bella's strongest traits weren't things that would come back as super awesome powers that no one would ever be able to break through- blah blah blah. The whole thing about these extra powers was that a human's most prominent traits would turn into their own unique gift, if they were lucky enough to have traits that strong to begin with. Bella's strongest trait was her love, and her passion for those she loved, her will to protect them. End of Story.
Through the book, the style begins to settle back into the traditional Meyer style and we see our characters becoming more of who we knew all along they were. There should be something said for Meyer's ability to portray a dynamic change, a living ebb and flow in her characters. Each developed as real as any person would.
I believe that, influenced by only the first parts of the book, several reviewers and readers are simply not giving this book the chance it deserves.
And about Jacob imprinting on Renesmee, this is how I see it. When Bella gave birth to her daughter, some part of Bella was essentially passed on. Jake, in all his love for Bella, found that part he loved so much left in her daughter. JAKE ISN'T SEXUALLY ATTRACTED TO HER! HE ISN'T EVEN THINKING OF THAT YET! Did any of you so opposed to Jake and Renesmee scream about Quill and Claire? Hm?
No, this book is not my favorite out of the four, and no I am not defending it only because so many choose the opposite. I beg you to actually sit down and, after finishing this book, think about how the style changes and progresses, and about everything you loved and hated, and in an unbiased, critical way, decide: was this book really worthy of being the final book to the Twilight Saga thus far? Will your disappointments in this work, or any others for that matter, really break your love for Twilight? For Bella and Edward and Jacob? If you answer yes to that, in the end, then you do not have the right to call yourself a "Twihard," or a true fan for the series at all for that matter.
I will stand by Stephenie Meyer and support her book, her entire Twilight works, with a clean conscience, knowing that I really took my time to assess this book, and look at it for what it essentially was. A good damn finish.
Congratulations Stephenie, and thank you for finally giving us some closure.
Book Review: Shocking, lost a bit in the middle there, but very good
Summary: 5 Stars
*SPOILER ALERT!! DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK!!*
*Warning--long review ahead*
It was nothing at all like I expected, but I still loved it. What a wonderful series. Personally I don't put alot of "message" in these books. I read them because I enjoy them more than any other series I have ever read, I'm totally addicted. They're comedy, romance, danger, and action rolled into one. If you want a fantasy series with a ton of meaning, read the Sword of Truth series.
Of course they had to get married and have their ultra-romantic honeymoon. And sure, Bella loves sex. Big surprise there. What totally threw me was the PREGNANT THING!! OMG!!! I read on on either Meyer's webiste or the twilight lexicon--reliable sources I thought--that vampires couldn't reproduce because females have no eggs and the males have no sperm. However, I totally accept the rights of the author to change the laws of her own fantasy world!! I was floored when I read it, and then I couldn't put the book down. As for Bella's reaction, I can imagine a similar mothering reaction if I ever discovered I was pregant when I didn't neccesarily want to be. I don't know about after the baby started killing me from the inside, but who knows? One of the main themes of these books: love is irrational!! Sometimes it makes no sense!! I was also tickled by Bella's alliance with Rosealie.
And then!! A total change in perspective. I love Jake, but I was irritated at first when he took over for Bella. After a chapter or two though, it became my favorite part of the book. I love how he becomes the alpha and makes his own pack. I love that he defends the vampires and eventually befriends them, its perfect. It was also nice to get a break from Bella and the loviness of her and Edward--a little tiring after 3+ books and see it from an outside perspective.
And then came several changes: Jake imprinting on Renesmee, the perspective flipping back to Bella, Bella being changed. As far as Jake imprinting on an infant (though not a normal infant), I don't think its creepy. Its like Jake explanined to Bella in Eclipse (or was it New moon?) about Quil--when she's a baby there's nothing romantic about it. If there was, then sure, it would be way perverted and sick. But how it is, Jake is like a older brother to her--a completely dedicated, intensely loving older brother. When she's older, that will change. And even though Jake will be so much older than her then, how will it be different from Bella and Edward?? After all, he's not aging either.
After this, everything was happy for awhile. The book lost a bit of its appeal for me at this point, but not much. I mean, through these books, Bella, Edward & Jacob's lives have been one enormous, dramtic hell. Finally, here is a stretch where everything works out for them, and I'm really glad the author gave them that. I think, bad as it sounds, reading about happy, functional, non-dangerous lives just isn't as interesting as the opposite. So it slowed down--but it was good.
Then the finale!! Battle with the Volturi!! Bound to happen once again. I liked the way it was portrayed--the 'good guys' (Volturi) trying to get what they want, stay the most powerful, and not lose their image. I also liked how Bella was able to do something other than ordinary, with her shield and extreme control. She did grow up, finally was on equal footing with the supernatural beings she hangs out with, and found her place in the world. I'm glad Jake is still her friend too.
As for the happy ending? I felt the same way after the Host--annoyed at first that, after all that, everything was happy. I realized soon though, that I'm a sucker for happy endings. Its fantasy. And I believe we shouldn't become so cynical that we can't believe in happy endings in real life. Life actually doesn't suck, people.
Over all--wonderful read. Can't wait to go through the series again.
Book Review: Meyer's legions of fans are likely to debate, discuss and dissect BREAKING DAWN for months to come
Summary: 5 Stars
At some point, writing reviews of certain bestselling series seems like a superfluous endeavor. When thousands, if not millions, of readers are going to pick up the next installment regardless of its praiseworthiness or potential weaknesses, we reviewers feel even more irrelevant than we do otherwise. Penning reviews of the later Harry Potter books certainly felt like that. Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga, a publishing juggernaut soon to be made into a series of feature films, also, I would argue, has landed firmly in this category. I've reviewed all four novels for [...], and I've watched as a series that started out as an unusual debut vampire romance took on a life of its own. So this review is, in all likelihood, completely unnecessary --- but since the review has the potential to live online nearly as long as the immortal Cullen family, here goes.
Bella Swan is ecstatic --- and nervous. She's on the brink of marrying the love of her life, the charismatic, devastatingly handsome vampire Edward Cullen. Bella's parents have reluctantly come around to the idea of their teenaged daughter getting married. And the Cullens, particularly Bella's good friend Alice, who plans the event, couldn't be happier. Only Bella's old pal Jacob is upset at losing Bella.
The wedding goes off smoothly and beautifully, and Edward and Bella spend a magical honeymoon on a private island. There, they are finally able to indulge the desire they've always felt for each other (even if their lovemaking initially results in injuries both to Bella and their room, thanks to Edward's uncontrollable passion). When Bella begins to be alternately sick and ravenous, she becomes suspicious that --- despite everything she's been told about the impossibility of such a thing --- she might be pregnant with Edward's child. Terrified that she could lose her life to the ravenous, vampiric unborn child inside her, pressured by Edward and others to rid herself of the baby, Bella retreats into herself, concerned only with protecting her unborn child, even if it means harm to herself.
As for Jacob (who narrates the middle part of the novel), he tries in vain to imprint on other females, but he cannot forget Bella, especially when he learns of her perilous pregnancy and physical condition. When Bella and Edward's daughter is born, is it possible that this half-human, half-vampire can unite the Cullens and Jacob's shape-shifting La Push clan? Could she be the catalyst for Jacob and Edward's reconciliation? Or does her very existence --- particularly once word of her birth reaches the dangerous Voltari vampire clan --- put everything Bella loves at risk?
It was perhaps inevitable that Stephenie Meyer would disappoint some with this final installment. Readers --- who have lined up for hours for author appearances, pushed the series onto bestseller lists, and created thriving online communities devoted to the book --- obviously take the novels, and these characters, seriously indeed. Certain elements of BREAKING DAWN are perplexing, even off-putting --- particularly the scenes of sex, pregnancy and childbirth.
But it's nearly impossible to please everyone --- especially when so much of the series' drama has relied on the tension of Bella's choice between two very different but desirable lovers. Readers who are able, eventually, to gain some perspective will find much to redeem BREAKING DAWN, particularly its new insights into Jacob's inner life as well as its neat resolution to several of the series' pressing conflicts and its realistic (or at least as realistic as a vampire romance can get) portrayal of the complexities and joys of married life.
Meyer's legions of fans are likely to debate, discuss and dissect BREAKING DAWN for months to come --- at least until the film version of TWILIGHT comes out on November 21st, when they'll have a whole new set of creative decisions to consider and critique.
--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl