Monday, August 4, 2008

Breaking Dawn

***Warning! This review contains spoilers!***

To say that I was conflicted about Stephenie Meyer's final installment in her vampire series (Breaking Dawn), is putting it mildly. Perhaps it is the fact that I feel I have been waiting for centuries to read the final chapter on Edward and Bella, and my expectations were a little high. Or maybe, I'm just willing to say what no one else who has read the novel is willing to say, that parts of this book were absolutely terrible.

If you need evidence, look no further than the first 350 pages (roughly). I felt that I was reading a cross between a bad episode of the Twilight Zone and Days of Our Lives. It was slow, trite, frustrating, and worse of all I felt that Ms. Meyer strayed too far from her original characters. This was not the Edward and Bella that I knew and loved! I cringed, I cried out, I even threw my book down several times in absolute horror. I honestly wondered what was going on in the author's head (ie: Edward loaning out Bella to Jacob on the weekends?). Ugh. But somewhere in the middle, something happened...The story picked up. The characters came back to life for me. Things got exciting again. It was like Stephenie Meyer came back from the dead, and reminded me of why I fell in love with this series in the first place. In fact the last 400 + pages seemed like a breeze, a Hawaiian vacation if you will, compared to the rest of the book. I was very pleased with the turn of events, and I felt that Ms. Meyer did a wonderful job tying together all the loose ends (ie: Jacob, Charlie, the Volturi, etc.). I loved Bella's transformation and early days as a vampire. I loved to see her relationship change with Jacob, and mature with Edward. I was thrilled to see the entire Cullen family come together to fight for what they believed in, and was happy that Bella finally felt that she belonged somewhere.

So, the bottom line? Taken as a whole, I would say this book is not my favorite. However, there were chapters and snippets that I absolutely loved, and will never forget. Breaking Dawn (the 2nd half) was a wonderful and satisfying end, to an already fantastic series. Happy reading!

P.S. I would love to hear all of your thoughts, opinions, likes, dislikes, rants, raves, and critiques. Feel free to disagree, agree and comment up a storm! -Miss Megan

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I loved it! I agree that the characters seemed a little different, but there was so much going on. I got slowed down with Jacob's point of view, which was an interesting choice for her to make, and the third book was my favorite. All in all I was not disappointed, and of course I love how the story wraps up in the end. By the way, I burst out laughing when Jacob imprinted on Renesmee- I so did not see that coming!!

Suzanne said...

Please go to my blog for my review! -Suzanne

Ann Marie said...

I will do a review either tommorow, or wednesday. I am almost done, but not quite yet.
I feel bad to say that I disagree with you though Meg. I LOVED the wedding, and trip to the Island part. I will blog my review soon.
Love the picture you posted with the review! Love you!

NutMeg said...

Ann- I think I ought to clarify that I did like the wedding and the honeymoon a lot (very romantic!). It was only after I found out she was pregnant that things began to get creepy for me.

Unknown said...

Probably my favorite of the books and I'm happy with how it all turned out, despite it's flaws.

I'm willing to bet she'll write more books in the future. It all comes down to money, and they'll offer her a lot of it to continue the story/stories. It's only a matter of how long that takes...

Ann Marie said...

I posted my review on my blog. I felt much different than you did though. I almost liked the beginning better. The middle ( jacobs side ) was my hardest to get through, but I did enjoy it still. I found myself finding religious aspects throughout the whole book. This would make a good book club book... If you have one on this book, I would definately come! I do have to thank you for getting me back to reading.. You and Stephenie Meyer of course...

NutMeg said...

Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments and insights! As always, it was a pleasure. -Miss Megan

Gardner Family said...

OK I can finally read your review and comment. I am probably like the last person to finish this book. I heard leaks of people's opinions before reading this. I think because I heard so many people say that they did not enjoy the beginning as much as the end, I was not expecting much. I actually enjoyed the whole book. I was disturbed with the details of the birth(eating open her stomach) and her first hunt. It grossed me out. I definately don't think she is done with the twilight series. I just don't think she wants the pressure like J K Rowling to put out a 5th right away and have it not live up to expectations. I have a feeling she is taking her time but not talking about it. I definately see another installment of twilight being released in the future. I don't see why she went into the whole J Jenkins story if there is not more to come about that character. And I felt the ending of the book was a huge lead up to a huge fight and death. But that did not happen. I am glad though because I would have hated the book if bella and edward would have died. I also feel that a lot of the story of the boy who is half human/vampire...I think more will develop of his character in a future book. I just see a lot of space for continuation.

Gardner Family said...

PS - I agree - I was totally like WHAT THE? when edward suggested Jacob for a loan. I didn't like that.