Well, it was inevitable that I wouldn't be able to wait for the paperback - especially since I'd heard that they were holding off releasing it as the hardback was selling so well (greedy bastards!).

So the final part of the Twilight series became my Christmas reading, and it took me longer to read this one than the others - and not because of the length, more as it just wasn't as engaging as the others.

The relationship sparkle between Edward and Bella just didn't seem to be there, and there was very little action until near the end of the book, I'd even go so far as to say that it is overly long. I'll not give the plot away, but needless to say the relationship between the vampires and the werewolves certainly takes a different turn; and of course Bella is under threat again (although this time she's able to defend herself!).

In fact I'm finding it difficult to think what exactly to say about this book except that it finished things off and left an large chance of more sequels. I did enjoy it, and if there are more I'll look forward to them as much as the others, I just hope Meyer can keep the word count down!

24th - 31st December 2009
Bought on Green Metropolis

Full review at:

http://readingthroughlife.blog.com/20...

Snippet:

I had known even before I read the series that the last book, Breaking Dawn, had caused a whole lot of controversy among the Twilight fans, though I hadn’t really known why. Now that I’ve finished reading them, I decided to go looking to find out why people disliked it; here’s a really good summary of most of the major “problems” that some readers have with Meyer’s ending to the story.

Honestly? I rather liked it.

For starters, Bella and Edward finally get laid. Sure, it was off-screen (off-page?), which was kind of annoying, but at least it finally happened. And hey, there’s a fairly large part of me that was really pleased with the fact that Bella woke up covered in hand-shaped bruises. Come on! That’s hot!

This just might be my favorite book of the Twilight Saga. Loved it. ( )

What would you do if your perfect little world was threatened to end suddenly? In the Twilight Saga's fourth and final book, Bella and Edward finally make it down the aisle and before they know it, their seemingly perfect honeymoon is over. The vampire world is in jeopardy, torn in between what is law and what they feel in their hearts is truly right.
A little slow to get into at first, Stephenie Meyer's fourth book winds up being another page-turner that you just can't seem to put down. ( )

I cannot say enough good about this series of books. They are written in such a way that you feel you are a part of the story, you get personally invested. It is why so many, and such a wide range of those many, love these books.

But I have to say this is my favorite. Of course it is the last in which most everything comes to an end and is either resolved or otherwise come to terms with.

I love the way these books are written. It is as if you're reading someone's private journals that weren't meant for public view...

A classic love story. ( )

By far the best in the series. Bella finally grows up, Jake is less annoying, and the vampire world gets much more interesting. ( )

Breaking Dawn is the culmination to the Twilight Saga and it is, by far, the best of the four books. We finally see some long-anticipated events as well as some highly unexpected developments. I just love who Jacob finally imprints on! In addition, Meyer's experience is evident. There is a marked contrast between the first and last books. Breaking Dawn is better written and the characters filled out far more than they were in Twilight. I was very sad to reach the end of this book. ( )

**Spoiler**
The feminist in my prevents me from liking this series of books, though I'll admit (reluctantly) that I enjoyed the love conflicts (I definitely side with Jacob). Meyer's obvious pro-life agenda annoyed me, as well as the general creepiness of Edward and the weakness of Bella's character. Even her special talent is passive. Also, she is happy to settle down in a little cottage in the middle of the woods. Sure, she might have forever to get educated (assuming she's not killed), but you'd think she'd prioritize education just a bit more. I think I could have guessed Meyer's religion even if I hadn't known before reading the books. ( )

I read so many people's horrible reviews of this book and I was bracing myself to be severely disappointed and... (drum roll please) I was. No surprise there. The story actually had potential but Meyer deftly botched it all up. About 100 pages in, I told the hubby exactly what was going to happen and I was spot on! Exactly, dead right! Sheesh! I HATE it when that happens. Meyer has no sense of the unexpected, no sense of humanizing her characters, and no idea how to get you mad at a book - in a good way. Everything ended up so neatly tied up at the end -- I mean come on, at least someone important could have died or had a somewhat unhappy ending!! It's like she said, "Oh, I mentioned this minor character earlier, I have to make a perfect ending for him too." I couldn't stand all the happy "I-might-be-dying-so-let's-declare-our-undying-love" vignettes. Blech. This book left me feeling upset. I am glad I read it so I can stop wondering how it all turned out, but I'll never go back to it. EVER. ( )

I was debating 3 or 4 stars for the book. I settled on three because although it was a rather delicious escapist romp the plot was rather ridiculous at times and some parts dragged whilst others weren't very well explained.

Also the addition of so many new characters made it a confusing read at times. What made this even worse was that she, through one of her characters, acknowledges that she has introduced to many characters by putting in an explanatory chart.

However if you want a good hammock/beach read this is certainly something I would recommend. ( )

** spoiler alert ** I liked that Bella finally became a vampire, but the rest of it seemed like Stephenie was trying to tie up all of her loose ends as quickly as she could. I also had a hard time getting throught the chapters that were written from Jacob's point of view. This was my least favorite of the series, but there were enough interesting twists in the book that I liked it overall. ( )

If you haven't read my previous Twilight series reviews, it may benefit you to read them so you know where I stand with this series.

As with all of the other Twilight books, I didn't enjoy this one. However, this fourth and final installment in the Twilight series was definitely the most interesting. In this book, Bella officially joins the Cullen family. This book is definitely aimed towards an older audience than before. Sex scenes and allusions to sex occur in various parts of the book. From the beginning, it was obvious that this book would be even weirder than the rest. I don't want to give anything away, but suffice it to say unnatural surprises and the formation of bizarre relationships were the groundwork of the final novel in the series.

The book had a painfully slow start, and for the first 138 pages I had to fight off immense boredom and force myself to read through. Most thankfully, the book is then interjected with a section told from the perspective of Jacob. In a series of books where you are constantly stuck listening to the insane blathering of Bella's mind, Jacob's rational thought processes offer a refreshing reprieve.

Had this book been written by any other author, I feel that it would have been relatively enjoyable. Unfortunately, we are stuck with Stephanie Meyer, who possesses the writing skills of a fourteen year old girl. Stephanie Meyer's books would be about 10 pages long if she didn't repeat herself as much as she does. As I said in my review of The Host, there is something in her writing style that reminds me of students who write term papers and add adjectives and repeat themselves a dozen times in an effort to make their papers longer. I could sum up her entire series, not just a single book, in less than a paragraph:

Bella loves Edward. Edward loves Bella. Jacob loves Bella. Bella loves Jacob. Vampires are beautiful. Bella can't live without Edward. Bella has a near death experience in every book.

I mean, seriously... in this book, when Bella becomes a vamp, Meyer goes on for pages upon pages about how Bella's senses are heightened and the Cullens are even more beautiful than ever. She then goes into describing just how beautiful each individual Cullen is with her new vampire eyes. Would it not suffice to just say something to the effect of, "If it were possible, the Cullens were even more beautiful with my new vision than they were when I was a human."? Perhaps not that cheesy, but just about anything else would work! How many times does Bella have to tell us she's freakishly strong, or that she has incredible self control before Meyer trusts that we've got the point? The answer: the entire book. To the end, she continues to repeat such details.

As if repeating herself a hundred times weren't enough, Meyer turned to redundancy in this book! Not only can you learn every five pages that Edward is beautiful, but you also get to experience statements such as this one

"I'm laughing because I am in shock. And I am in shock because I am completely amazed."

Let's pull a thesaurus on this one

Main Entry: shocked
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: startled
Synonyms: aghast, amazed, appalled, astonished, astounded, dismayed, offended, stunned, upset

At one point in the book, Meyer tries to subtly provide an excuse to mention the index at the end of the book so the reader can follow who is who. Many books have means for the reader to follow along, so I'm not knocking the index. My issue is with her feeling the need to add a line in the book. Why not provide the index at the beginning, as most books do? The addition of the line "[Jacob] grumbled to Renesmee that someone was going to have to provide an index if anyone expected him to keep all the new bloodsuckers' names straight.* (The * leading to a footnote regarding the page you could find the index on)" The line almost seems like an afterthought, as though she decided to randomly drop in a paragraph about Jake as an excuse to mention the index (or perhaps an editor commented that it was too confusing).

The end of the book was relatively exciting, but couldn't make up for the slow start or poor writing. As with every other book in the series, danger is always averted and the "Happily Ever After" ending was painfully predictable. I am happy things worked out for Jacob, who was in my opinion one of the only tolerable characters in the series. In the end, the reading was not enjoyable enough for this book to be considered a "good read" in my honest opinion. I was hoping the series would pull it out in the end, but alas, it was a dud!

Clearly teen novel but fun and many messages to be gleaned from the story. ( )

How is it possible that beings over a century old, with the wisdom and experience of several generations of history, never wondered what might happen if Edward, a vampire, and Bella, still a human, consummated their marriage? It’s not a stretch folks, but it seems to have caught everyone by complete surprise, that an unnatural, and quite dangerous, child is conceived. The child upsets not only the balance in the Cullen coven but also the whole vampire world.

My incredulity at Edward and the Cullen’s naiveté aside, Meyer’s choice to have the rest of the vampire culture descend on the story added a good deal of interest. A ton of new characters, mostly vampires, are introduced and carry the story through some very captivating moments. And Bella is forced into the human world to meet and interact with a couple of colorful humans, all the while learning how to wear her new beauty, strength, and thirst. These portions of the story could have carried the book into a dozen new places. Sadly, Meyer doesn’t give enough room to these parts of the story.

Rather, she very abruptly changes narrators, choosing to give Jacob, the wolf, his own first person account in the middle of the last book in the series. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to have had more perspectives or narrators. But throwing a new one in at the end seemed a little disjointed. You really should dance with the one who brought ya.

And Meyer’s penultimate clash between the evil vampires and the good vampires at the climax of this last book promises violence and action that never develops. How is it possible that nearly dozens of blood thirsty, power hungry vampires can stare down dozens of righteous, noble vampires, and a pack of super-wolves, with only one vampire dismembered and charred? The final battle is more of a whimper than a bang.

This brings me to the final thought. The final battle never develops into a battle because of the amount of intellectualization between the opposing vampire forces. This is why I’ve always been more of a werewolf fan. A lot of vampire stories cast vampires as superhuman beings, with superior thinking capabilities on top of their superior physical capabilities. But werewolves are almost always more superanimal, superferal, and superinstinctive. A part of me wishes that Jacob or one of the other wolves had just let loose and followed their baser instincts.

Bottom Line: A little disjointed, but some captivating new characters and storylines. An ending that begs for more action and less intellectualizing. ( )

Was a great book wrapping up the series. Was read for Fall Semester 09 for Youth Lit.

Sherry and Jennifer, Fall 2009

....

I'm not really sure how to review this one. To be frank, the whole Twilight Saga is really awful (in my opinion). The stories are really addicting and fun to read (I read the whole series) but the writing is just bad. This novel in particular is really stupid. I didn't like the switch between Bella and Jacob and back to Bella again for the narration. If anything, I would have thought Stephenie Meyer would have included Edward. Nonetheless, it was nothing that I would have wanted for the main protagonists. Personally, I thought it was really anticlimactic and would not read it again.

Gets a little weird - but did not break addiction :) ( )

I have never in my life finished a book, turned it over, and started reading it all over again. But that's what happened when I finished Breaking Dawn (and then I read it A THIRD TIME - thank goodness for the four-day Thanksgiving weekend). I won't defend this book, the series, or the whole vampire genre to anyone who doesn't think they're any good, because I have no arguments. This isn't literature - it's pure wish fulfillment.

Unlike J.K. Rowling, who inexplicably punished her fans with the crushingly disappointing seventh book in the Harry Potter series, Stephenie Meyer seems to still like her readers enough after four books to give them everything they wanted - an equisitely happy ending for the characters, and some truly magnificent chapters after Bella awakens. The chapters of Bella's first newborn day are just vivid and charming, as are the hilarious chapter headings to the passages narrated by Jacob (they're so good there's no Table of Contents for his section). Jacob and New Bella have wonderful voices, though they are so polished and different from the sputtering, simple Human Bella's narrative voice that I wondered often whether Stephene Meyer had a ghostwriter on this one. It goes way beyond good editing, though that shows too.

I think maybe I've strayed from romance novels too long, and that's why this book left me shaky and altered - and debilitatingly addicted. I really loved the story of Edward and Bella, and I have a feeling I'll read it a few more times before I move on to something else. ( )

An interesting conclusion that ties up all the ends and is a happy ending for everyone. I kept thinking that even though Stephenie Meyer doesn't watch R rated movies, she's practically writing an R rated novel… and little kids read it! ( )

Finally finished the last book of the series. Hmm..interesting! Not sure if I am a huge fan of this series, but did want to finish it since I read the first installment. Glad to be done with it, though! ( )

This has got to be the best book ever. Its definetly my favorite of the Twilight Saga. I can't wait for the movie. ( )

I really like this book. Renesmee is a good character, I like Alice a lot and Jane is creepy but cool. This book is awesome! Most of the characters are Dynamic and Round. The Voultri are the antagonists and Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, Jacob Black, Alice Cullen, Carlisle Cullen, Esme Cullen, Rosalie Hale, Emmett Cullen, Jasper Hale, Renesmee Cullen, and a lot of othercovens/nomads are the Protagonists. ( )

The best one of the saga for me. I liked them all alot, and am sad that I've come to the end and there are no more. ( )

Being in my late twenties, I did not think that the Twilight series would be so entertaining. If you coud get pass the fact that this is not considered to be the highest rating literature out there, then you'll enjoy it for its face value, mere entertainment. In this last enstallment, Bella experiences two life altering experience, faces death again, but his time she actually feels defeated but becomes the central role to maintain everyone she loves alive. A surprising twist is that we get several chapters with Jacob's POV. This book is most intense and keeps you wishing for more by the time you close the book. I would love for Meyer to create another series involving Renesmee and Jacob. This series is definately one of my favorites that I will revisit again. Maybe one day I'll enjoy reading it alongside my daughter for more years to come!! ( )

This book was kinda annoying. After all the hype and excitement over the last Twilight book wore off, I realized that this book wasn't that good. The ending was horrible because nothing happened! After chapters upon chapters of hearing of the fight and the Volturi no one did anything. I absolutely LOVE Edward, but the fact that he kept saying that their triumph over the Volturi was because of Bella annoyed the crap out me since again: nothing happened. Although the book was annoying, it had it's good moments between Bella and Edward's relationship and the funny comments thrown in. ( )