Book Review: Breaking Dawn
Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga #4)
By: Stephenie Meyer
Published By: Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: August 2008
Page Count: 756
Buy it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound
Source: Purchased by Reviewer
Audience: Young Adult - Paranormal
Ahhh, the book that split the fandom. So far we have avoided reviewing this one at Reading Lark... the girls who had to wait a year for it to come out really didn't like it at all, and we like to be as positive as we can with our book reviews... just as well that I loved it! Why do we feel so differently? I like to think that its because I didn't have a year to wait, to dream what would come next, and to hope for various plot developments, only to see them dashed to smithereens. In fact, if I waited 15 minutes before starting Breaking Dawn after finishing Eclipse, I'd be shocked.
I'm not worried about plot spoilers here, because if by some miracle you have no idea what happened in Breaking Dawn and haven't found out yet, you are probably living under a rock and unlikely to read this review!
So why did I love this? For me, Breaking Dawn is the book that sees Bella finally stand up for herself and kick some butt. By the end, she has had enough and she does what she can about it. Would I have liked there to be a battle, as in the movie (if only in a vision form)? Maybe, but I was so terrified that some of my beloved characters would die that it was a relief that there wasn't one. I did feel that the resolution was a little lacking in closure though - the threat of the Volturi hadn't been dealt with, just put off in my mind. Perhaps that was to leave a tiny door open in case of a future addition to the series, but if that was to happen now I think I would just feel like that was cashing in.
I loved the interaction between Jacob and Rosalie, and my favourite part of all was the chapter where Bella wakes up as a vampire. It was brilliant! I could have lived better with Renesmee if she'd had a less stupid name; something I think which really annoyed some fans - both the name AND the existence of the character. However, it provided the stimulus for the whole story, so I came to peace with it. Jacob imprinting was quite horrid at the start, and it took a little while to get to grips with the whole notion of imprinting. It still seems gross to me that someone who acts as a care giver to an infant will eventually become her lover...
I suppose the reason I love this book, and the other larks don't, is probably that I don't dwell on the things about it that I don't like so much, and I just didn't anticipate it for as long or as hard, because it was right in my lap! The bits I love, I REALLY REALLY love. I could rate this five birdies, but I've knocked it down a little to try and represent the others too. Birds of a feather flock together and all that. *wink*
When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved?
To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs.
Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating, and unfathomable, consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella's life-first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse-seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed... forever?
I've seen all the films. They were just ok for me. I'm the kind of girl that always likes the books better. Not sure what has held me back though. I read the reviews, like yours, and feel like I should read them, maybe I would like it more.
ReplyDeleteI like the books a lot better than the movies - with the exception of Breaking Dawn. The book was just okay for me so the movie was actually better in that case.
DeleteThere was just something magical about these books the first time I read them. I fell in love with the characters and the setting. It was the first time in a long while that I found myself wanting to get lost in fiction. I wanted to immerse myself in every facet of the novel.