Breaking Dawn has been out for more than 24 hours. Has anyone finished it? What did you think? Did it live up to your expectations?

Please be considerate of people who haven't finished it yet and warn if you are including a spoiler in your post!

I am about a third of my way thru the book and really wishing I didn't have to work this weekend, so I could just read, read, read!!

I'm almost a third of the way in myself, and wishing I wasn't so tired today! I worked the Breaking Dawn midnight release on Friday (I was a 'terrifying' costume contest judge/prom police) and then had to go back into the store again on Saturday morning for another (unrelated) event. My life - so hard!

I'm wondering if it's just my lethargy, but I'm finding this book slow going. I've always had issue with Meyer's pacing - she puts in a lot of stuff that I would personally cut for fear of boring my readers - but I can't put my finger on why I'm not turning the pages as quickly as I did with Twilight and Eclipse (let's face it, New Moon was a whinefest that I'd rather not endure again).

{{POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD, but I don't think it's anything most of us didn't know ages ago...}}

I think Jacob's PV will prove intriguing, and I'm hoping that as I get into that section of the book, the pace will pick up.

Message edited by its author, Aug 3, 2008, 9:18pm.

I finished Breaking Dawn late last night. I am disappointed. It don't want to ruin anyone's reading experience so I'll be vague.
Some of the old characters behaved uncharacteristically; the new characters are flat. The plot is unbelievable. But not in a good way. The usual witty dialogue all but vanished.
I expected something better, more realistic. Yes, I realize that I'm asking for realism from a book about wolves and vampires, but I felt the others, Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, were.
I'd love to hear from someone who really enjoyed it.

Still not that far into the book (I blame having a headache all day, but I also think I'm just not engaged), so I can't say much yet. BUT I do know what you mean about things being realistic in the other books. You can believe that the occurances are possible, you can suspend disbelief for the sake of the story. And right now, I'm having a hard time with that. This book is very frontloaded where her past novels have been bottomheavy. It worries me, but as a completist, after reading Twilight and not hating it (in fact I really did enjoy it), I knew I had to read the rest of the series. And I'll finish Breaking Dawn, which I'd hoped to do over the weekend, by the end of the week.

i finished breaking dawn last night. i feel the same perchance and pinky. i didn't even start reading this series until 2 weeks ago, and i was a bit underwhelmed from the get go. the thing that kept me plugging away, other than being a completist too, was that i knew a really really spectacular story was in there somewhere, just dying to get out. all the elements were right. but the writing wasn't.

i'm not going to put much on here (my review will probably be full of spoilers and get me put on some hit list), but i really was disappointed in this book. not only does meyer completely destroy her narative flow with the different perspectives at the EXACT wrong moment, but she seems to be setting up 37 different story arcs and then goes with the most completely rediculous of them all. unlike a lot of reviewers, i actually bought the story up until book two, and even a little bit through book two, but then it spiraled off into nothing. crappy nothing. i gave this 2 stars, which is rare for me, and am actually thinking of taking this to the used book store already.

i can't believe this series is being compared to harry potter. meyer quickly kills any magic she manages to create in each book and expects the love element to carry what she can't. i would go so far as to say that i liked the first 3 books fairly well. but i don't think i can recommend a series to my friends that ends SO terribly.

****CONSIDER THIS A SPOILER WARNING*****
(I won't give away anything major, but sometimes people consider anything plot related a spoiler)

Actually I thought the switching perspectives was a good thing in the book. Jacob's voice kept the story going when Bella was "incapacitated". I think it gave a new view of characters like Rosalie and Edward and also brought Seth and Leah into more depth and detail. Without Jacob's narration I don't know that the reader would ever feel fully resolved about his feelings for Bella and the subsequent friendship between Jacob and Edward might have seemed false. (There's more thoughts in my review if anyone is interested)

I do agree that the ending was a little cheesy, but I'm a sucker for a happy ending so I liked that everything turned out okay in the end. I'd love to see Meyer continue the series as I think there is still a lot of potential.

Do you think this is really her final book? What character(s) would you all like to read more about in the future?

I finished it yesterday. I enjoyed it, as I've enjoyed the rest of the series. I reviewed it -- my spoiler-free review can be seen here on my reviews page.

Now, here's the SPOILER WARNING so I can go into specifics . . .

I was expecting a lot more carnage, frankly! I expected Sam, Rosalie, and possibly Leah to die in the final confrontation. I'm glad they didn't . . . but such an unequivocally happy ending came as a surprise to me.

As soon as the first chapter of Jacob's section started, I knew that the baby would be a girl, and that Jacob would imprint on her. I have the same mixed feelings about this that I have about Laurie ending up with Amy in Little Women. I never thought that Bella and Jacob would end up together, but that was an . . . interesting . . . way to keep Jacob "in the family."

I also have to say that, as names go, "Renesmee" is not a favorite.

potential spoiler!

>8 The part with Jacob totally took me by surprise as did the happy ending! Sometimes I have to wonder if I'm just dense about stuff.

I loved the book, started it yesterday morning and finished about 2:00 a.m. this morning (I'm on vacation this week). I've done a non-spoilerific review as well if anyone wants to check it out, but I'm not sure how to do links to specific reviews.

spoilers

elba, i agree with you to an extent. i did like seeing things from jacobs pov. i actually was hoping that meyer was trying to make something really interesting happen within the pack dynamic (like perhaps jacob and leah getting together) but i just couldn't understand why she couldn't have done chapters with bella as narrator in that section too. i just felt like bella's thoughts would have bolstered the whole pregnancy section.

i too, wanted a happy ending, but i guess i have a different idea of happy. getting everything you want is not the only way to be happy. sacrifice and earning your rewards is a pretty good way to find true happiness too. it was just too easy.

i was actually so disappointed with this book that i sent it back and got a refund. it just wasn't worth the $12.

what would you want to have happened?? i agree the outcome was...different then i expected but i'm still glad i bought it...

I don't want to spoil, so I'll simply say that I really enjoyed Breaking Dawn. It lived up to all the expectations I had for it. I tried to keep my review spoiler-free, though don't think I quite did so.

In response to #7, I think Meyer very well might never touch the series again after Midnight Sun. At the same time, I wonder if she just might do so, only this time using some of the characters that we met in their own stories. I would like to see more about Leah's future.

Slight SPOILER warning!

#8 and #9 re Jacob's future
I was really shocked by that, too. I never saw it coming. I don't think I liked the idea of it.

spoilers. Possibly.

I loved Breaking Dawn. I finished it on Sunday. I agree that changing to Jacobs POV during Bella's "incapacitation" was really smart. It was interesting that J was calling Bella his drug like she was calling him her drug a few months back.

I was thrilled when Bella became a vampire. I've always been fascinated by their strenght and lets face it, their beauty! When Bella became one of them I was cheering for her, now she didn't have to feel that she was out of Edwards league, which I can imagine must be very uncomfortable. She had become superwoman to her superman. Wasn't it fab when she first woke up as a newborn and she hugged Edward and he said "ow!"? ha ha ha! I was glad that we got an answer for the mechanics of Bella's brain.

Call me silly, but I felt that if Steph killed off one of my characters whom I fondly refer to as "my peeps" I would have felt like a part of me had died. I took a very bad beating last year when most of my favorite Charcterd is Harry Potter died. I was dreading the same thing happening.

I am also mystified why everyone wants to compare Twilight to HP. But not for the same reasons as some of you because I enjoyed both series tremendously. I also love each of the Twilight books in equal measure. Well, except for New Moon, but only because I pine for Edward too much. Ok now I'm feeling dizzy, good bye.

I don't see why people are SO up in arms over this book.

I finished it last night. It wasn't any worse than her past works, which the same fans rave about.

SPOILER WARNING.

I really think naming the baby Renesmee was lame. Bella is more sophisticated than that. I thought it was lame that no one died or defected. The book was unnecessarily long which basically implies to me that she got to famous for her editor to tell her to cut. And the twists were predictable. I knew it was going to be a baby girl and that Jacob would imprint. I knew Bella was going to have some sort of superpower. And after I had most of the book figured out (about 250 pages in), I only finished it as a formality, really. The first Bella section was the only exciting or interesting part of the story, really. The rest read like a fan fiction, except for the fact that Meyer is a technically sound writer.

END OF SPOILERS

But, seriously, why do people feel entitled to return their books? I can see that being acceptable if they were hand-sold a book by a bookseller, read the first few chapters, and decided it wasn't something they were into. Or if the book is defective. Or if it's a gift they didn't want. BUT, if it's a book that you chose to buy, and chose to experience beginning to end, I don't think you're entitled to a refund. Do you return a movie that you've watched and then disliked? A meal? That's what libraries are for.

I heard this was some sort of mass protest being organized. I think a better protest, if the fans feel the need, would be to mail them to Stephenie Meyer. They wouldn't get their money back, but it would make more of a point. Even still, what on earth will it accomplish? Are people expecting her to rewrite the book? As a bookseller/manager, it just irritates me :(

I don't think I've ever heard so much up roar about a book. I enjoyed it front to back. There are people clamoring for a re-write. Has anyone ever heard of such madness involved with a book release?

What was so wrong about the book? What would people have done different? I neve return books. No matter how disapointed I feel. I can't even remember being disapointed enought in a book to even ponder returning it.

I can't remember anything like this. But the sense of entitlement is unbelievable. Only in America! (And, yes, I'm American...)

But like you, I don't see what the big deal is. I can see people not liking the turnout, but most of what I'm reading on various forums & blogs isn't about the events of the book. People are claiming they were disappointed in her execution. I think someone just planted a seed and now the millions are hopping on the bandwagon.

I didn't particularly enjoy the book. Like I've mentioned before, I only really liked Twilight, and found Eclipse okay. (New Moon was really poor, I thought.) So I'm shocked, mostly, that people weren't apeshit over her previous books, since I think the writing after Twilight has been on the same level.

I don't understand what the big deal is... I loved the book and I plan on re-reading as soon as I get a chance. I'll admit that there were a few cheesy bit here and there, but overall I was very satisfied.

(Some Spoilers...... SORRY!)

I wasn't a big fan of the name Reneesme... but it got better when they started calling her Nessie and Nessa, which Bella hated but eventually embraced.

I loved the sappy ending... and Bella did make a few sacrifices. She doesn't ever get to see her mother again or tell her she had a child who she partially named after her. This is sad for her because she's so close to her mother before coming to live with her father. She doesn't get to see the friends that she made in Forks. And even with Charlie... he's need to know only. All that is really sad when you actually think about it.

I will also admit that the potential showdown with the Volturri was a little anticlimatic, but I'm glad there wasn't a fight... I was biting my nails during the one in Eclipse. I'm also glad that no one died. I love these characters so much that it would be awful to believe that one or more were killed. I cried like a baby when some of my favorite characters from Harry Potter were killed. I know they are not real people, but I've invested so much time and energy to them that they feel real when I'm reading or re-reading the books, whether it is the Twilight Series or the Harry Potter series.

Seriously... is it really necessary to return the book? It wasn't that bad. I've read some really bad books and I've never felt it was necessary to return them. I just either finish reading them and move on or just quick reading them, then donate them to people that can't afford books or give them away to someone that might enjoy them. I can't believe that the book store refunded the money since the book had already been read.

But I LOVED Breaking Dawn and I will miss this series until Midnight Sun is released. Hopefully she'll write a book from one of the other Culllens POV or maybe even Renesme and Jacob!!!!

Message edited by its author, Aug 8, 2008, 11:58am.

i didn't send my book back willy-nilly because it was bad. i received a torn copy (bad shipping practices) and it had to go back regardless. instead, i chose to get a refund because i disliked the book so much.

i hadn't read any of the other books when they came out, so my frustration with the whole series is probably coming out surrounding this book. i did, however, review them for my website, and i break each one apart for it's good and bad points.

i don't feel entitled to anything about this book, or the series. i simply thought it was completely preposterous and i said so. i'm not hurt or offended by how disappointing it was. i was surprised. i don't need, or desire, a rewrite- i'd rather just not think about it again.

Wow...if people are looking for a rewrite of Breaking Dawn then I want a rewrite of the final Harry Potter book. I was totally devastated at, what I consider, a poorly written and totally contrived ending of the Harry Potter book series.

I was thrilled that Stephenie Meyer kept true to her characters and I feel like I've been along the journey to see her writing style evolve over the Twilight Saga. Yes, it's still in an accessible YA style but different in its own right. (I'm not even thinking about her writing in The Host, which I also loved.)

Yes, I found the book predictable, but that's a normal experience for me. (The more I read, the harder it is for me to not know how something will turn out.)

I agree with #19, the last Harry Potter devastated me, making me wondering why I had even been so hooked on the series to begin with. It seemed like a hit list where she killed as many characters as possible, many with no good reason.

Anyway, I enjoyed Breaking Dawn altough I felt that it had envolved into an readership, no longer lower YA. It seemed once Bella became married, so was no longer a teenager at all but a full adult.

I liked how Meyers explained why Bella's thoughts couldn't be heard by Edward.

I loved the whole bickering between Rose and Jacob, I was disappointed when it died down in the middle of the book and wished Meyers could have continued their arguements even with Nessie having been born.

Despite his brief appearance, I really liked Garret, I wouldn't mind if she did a book about him in the future. Anyone else like him?

I thought Garret was a pretty neat character too! An interesting power for a vampire.

I think I much preferred Meyer's approach at the very end to Rowling's as well. That she (Rowling) offed so many characters at the end just made me sad :( I'm more a fan of the defensive, pacifistic approach myself.

I don't understand why so many people disliked the book. My two daughters have read it, I have read it and now my husband is currently reading it. My two daughters and I liked it. The jury is still out as to whether my husband likes it or not. My guess is that he won't like it as well as the first three but that's just him. He probably won't like this sappy stuff in it. I told him to bear with the book during the first part. He skipped over some of the honeymoon scenes but that's just being a man. They don't like all that romantic stuff. I think he will like it when the Volturi comes on scene.

I really do hope Stephenie Meyer comes out with a book on Jacob. I would love to know what the future holds for Jacob and the person he imprinted in this book.

Please folks be careful about giving away too many spoilers in the book.

I would love to see either a series of books on the other vampire covens/families or one book with short stories of them. (I get the feeling that the companion to the Twilight Saga that comes out in December will touch on these characters but won't have the depth of story that I would be happy to read!)

I was definitely interested in Garret, the nomads, and both the Irish and Egyptian covens. I want to know more about everyone's powers. To an extent, I feel that I know the Denali clan but would still like to hear more.

Likewise, I want to know Carlisle's whole story (especially reading from his point of view) and I want to know more about Alice and Jasper!

I totally enjoyed this book. I thought it was the perfect length because I was never bored while reading and I don't feel like it ended too soon. Like another reader here stated, I must just be dense because I wasn't able to see everything coming. The only thing I had an issue with was the new name in the story, but then I remembered how much Bella hated her name, and it seemed right that that issue should come back around. (Still, worst name in a book, ever!!!)

I respect people's right to their own opinions, but as one person who had absolutely no complaints with this book whatsoever, I just wanted to speak up and say I liked it just fine. It's not great, classical literature, but then it was ever meant to be. It was just a really fun read, and for those hours of pleasant entertainment and escape, I am grateful to the author for a job well done, IMO.

Very well put seph! I agree completely with your sentiment!

(Renesmee doesn't bother me TOO much, but I would like to hear it actually pronounced as it's supposed to be. I can see why they call her Nessie!)

I completely agree with #24. I enjoyed the book very much. Its not my favourite in the series but still enjoyable.

I agree with some people. the book was good but not as good as Twilight and Ecplise. New Moon was the worst book in my opinion.

It is so interesting to read everyone's opinions - I actually only started to read the series after reading the reviews of Breaking Dawn here on LibraryThing, so I basically knew what was going to happen all along. I still found the the book enjoyable though. I thought the scene with the Volturi was tense, even though I knew it would all end well.

After reading BD and being at first repulsed and then astounded and completely delighted with the resolution of everything, I went back and reread Twilight, and I found it held up very very well in the second reading. i enjoyed it so much more and understood so much more and sympathized so much more with Bella's choice. As an "English major" (see Garrison Keillor) I well know that some books stand up under rereading and just get better and better and that some don't, and also that a second and sometimes third reading is necessary to really digest a good book. Twilight has gone way up in my estimation since I reread it. i'll now reread the rest!

I thought it was completely ridiculous.

That said, it's my favorite book in the series, because I think the entire series is ridiculous, and this is the ~most~ ridiculous. Bella fighting off a sparkly mutant fetus? It just doesn't get any more loltastic than that.

And I especially found it to be a relief after Eclipse, which practically gave me a stroke ~so~ many times, as I think it's the most blatantly misogynistic book in the series. Despite BD still being misogynistic enough that people are outraged over it (and rightly so), Bella's transformation into Super Mary Sue Magic Ninja Vampire at least forced the series to ease up on Edward's tendency to commit felonies against her.

I do think her ability to get inside the heads of teenagers, idiocy and all, is a genuine strength in her writing, and that she pulled off the change in character POV spectacularly.

Oh, and the awkward sexxin' talk made me snort scotch and soda out my nose. I think it was a bad call in that it totally derailed the story from the 14-year-old girl fantasy and that's probably why some of her fan base is so pissed off, but since I'm not 14 anymore I just found it funny.

#30 -- I laughed so hard at your post! Thank you! :-) Can I use "Super Mary Sue Magic Ninja Vampire" in conversation, supposing I can find a convenient place to work it in, or do you have it trademarked? ;-)

If you can swing it, go right ahead!

And thanks, you just made my day :)

SPOILER ALERT!

(in case you really haven't read it)

To be totally honest, I didn't finish the book because I really just couldn't stand it.

Anyway, had a question about Reneesme. She was growing at a very fast rate, faster than a normal human. (Even as a fetus.) I read a lot of people commenting on how weird that was, how it didn't make sense, etc.

But didn't Christopher Pike do that in his The Last Vampire series? The main character (Sita) gave birth to a child in something like 5 months, and then the little girl grew into a woman in a few years. Her name was Kalika or something along those lines.

Am I remembering that correctly? I read the books when I was in junior high, I think, but they were some of my favorites back then.

I haven't read the Christopher Pike series, but this isn't unusual in the paranormal/supernatural genre in general.

Interesting article in Publishers Weekly. Guess some readers are angry enough to demand their money back. http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/900...

"Guess some readers are angry enough to demand their money back."

I find that absolutely hysterical! I've read some truly terrible books in my life, and I've wanted those hours of my life back but I've never had the audacity to ask for my money back. Part of the fun of reading books is the risk of diving into the unknown. You're just along for the ride on the author's head trip. Reading is not a "satisfaction guaranteed" type activity.

How absolutely blessed someone's life must be if the thing that gets her/his panties in a knot is a YA book about vampire romance that doesn't go the way she/he wants!

I've heard about a lot of people returning their books. I don't think it's that weird. If they thought the book was really bad, then I don't see why they can't exchange it for the money they paid, if the bookstore lets you. I won't have to go through that though, because I'm reading it from the library. But if I was one of the people who didn't like one of the other books, I wouldn't buy Breaking Dawn and expect it to be good. And if I did like the other books, I would probably keep it to complete my collection.

I have read the first book and a half of BD, and I have to say that I found it kind of ridiculous. When I read some things that happened, I had to roll my eyes. I also think part of why I don't like the series it the sometimes-crazy fandom. There were some parts I liked in the books, that always happens, but not very often in these books.

I cannot fathom the idea of returning a book that you "didn't like." If you go to the movies and don't like the movie, do you ask for your money back? If you go to an amusement park and it rains, do you ask for your money back? (You may ask, but odds are you won't get it.)

I just can't imagine this. I've read some pretty bad books in my time. In fact, I've read some downright dreadful books, but never once have I even thought of asking for my money back. (The only time I've asked for a refund was when the book I purchased was misprinted. And of course it was out of print.)

Just my two cents...

I can understand being annoyed or disapointed at a book's ending, but to be angry?

i know this is a wile after your post but i just joined and i love the twilight series i finised the 4 book on the night it came out and it is definitly my favorite. i cant wait until she comes out with the rest it will be so cool to hear the books from edwards point of view and hey if you ever feel like talking about books you know hew to right to.

ya i did to if she made a book about him i would read it to but i wish she would come out with the rest already and i hope they tell a little bit more about nessie though

You know she actually has released the first twelve chapters of Midnight Sun on her website. So you can go read it now (hurrah!) but she's not currently thinking of finishing it (boo!).

I just finished Breaking Dawn and I think it might have been my favorite book in the series! I love the way it was all wrapped up in the end and I liked the way that there was a bit more vampire and werewolf "lore" in this one. It was awesome!!

yeah I totaly agree. But the one thing that buged me was how they left it, just "THE END" I mean come on no telling what els happend in there life it buged me alot.

From my understanding, she chose to end it that way because the story of Edward and Bella was over. There are still more stories to be told (Jacob and Renesmee, for example) but this was the end of their contribution to her world.

Honestly, I'd prefer she end it there instead of dragging on and on with them, especially if she feels that their story is complete (at least for now.)

I understand were your coming from, but I just think she could tell the story about what happen's with renesme. Also if the volturi come back cause something has to happen between renesme and the volturi, that is going to happen so bella and edward will be there so I don't feel it's over yet.

But that would be Renesmee's story not Edward and Bella's. Stephenie has said that she feels the story of Bella and Edward is over (and at least for now seems pretty low key.) Obviously, they would play a part in the stories of the other characters, but would you consider Carlisle's role in Twilight the telling of his story? No, he's just a supporting character.