8/11/2008

Breaking Dawn By Stephenie Meyer

This review was originally written to go on Toad Hill, but I, Twyla Lee, sneakily stole it to put it up on 3 Evil Cousins. After this review, we just might have to adopt Briar Kasvi.

Breaking Dawn is the fourth, and last book in the Twilight Saga, books focusing on clumsy, lovable Bella Swan, and her supernatural boyfriend, Edward Cullen. If you haven't read these books yet, run away from this review, dash to the store, and pick up Twilight. As Boodle's awesome review expressed, Twilight is super.

See, for the past year, I was totally obsessed with Twilight, loved the characters, the world, the books, obviously. My friends and I made up Twilight games, pretended we were werewolves (go ahead, call us geeky), and just basked in the glory of these books that were, ultimately made of coolness. Bella, in the first three books, was easy to identify with, klutzy, human, and with the luck to be adored by an amazing supernatural being, whom any girl (including me) would easily fall in love with. They were great, with fierce fights between vampire and werewolf, vampire and human, vampire and vampire. So of course, I looked upon the release of Breaking Dawn with mounting anticipation.

I was deeply disappointed.

The first 100 or so pages consisted of little but lengthy descriptions of the birds and the bees, followed by bloody, violent, graphic pain coming to our much loved heroine, Bella. I cringed to read it, disappointed in the lack of interest or focus on the supernatural, feeling it was inappropriate to include so much about sex in a book that was aimed at not just teens, but tweens as well, like us.

True, the second half of the novel improved a good bit, with the introduction of a wonderfully lovable new character (who, by the way, possessed one of the worst names known to man, toad, or vampire), and the reappearance of the Volturi, exciting villains hailing from Italy. Though the resolution to their visit was not as exciting as I wished, I enjoyed watching Bella discover her vampire power.

So. I was just really, really sad to see a series that I loved with so much devotion close with a novel that I found to not be much better than any sappy love story… just… disappointing is clearly the operative word here. It was interesting the way they introduced the point of view of another character, and, living amongst animals, I found it quite a useful insight into the world of wolves. The second part of the book is pretty good, not as good as the first book, and not good enough to redeem the whole thing, but pretty good all the same. I liked learning about all the different vampires.

Anyway. Though I ADORED the first three books, and would certainly give them a full five stars, I feel I have to do this, as an honest reviewer… It pains me to give a book in the twilight saga anything less than a million stars, as the world of vampires, and all but the last book deserve, but I am going to give Breaking Dawn two stars.

And yes. This book has dulled my imagination, spirit, and overwhelming awesomisticness (modesty too, it seems), enough so that I am not even creative enough to come up with anything cooler than stars.

Note: This book is seriously, unpleasantly gruesome, I described one of the scenes to my sixteen year old sister and showed her the passage, and she was cringing and whining (at me, grr) for the rest of the day. I wish I hadn't read this book—the more I thought about it afterwards, the worse it got.

...so

Briar Kasvi

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

I struggled through Eclipse and now refuse to get Breaking Dawn. What I've heard has completely disgusted me. Now, I am rebelling.


I am still going to watch Twilight when it comes out.

Disgustedly yours,
Twyla Lee

Anonymous said...

Hey, no judgement about werewolves because werewolves are awesome, if Twilight werewolves are less awesome than most.
...My friends say I have a werewolf fixation. I say they're lying.

I have to say I'm kind of amused by the BD backlash, though it is kind of everyone's worst nightmare.

Samuel said...

Wow! And I thought Stephanie Meyer was resisting pressure to put too much sex and violence in these books!

An interesting perspective. I am going to read Twilight myself, soon – perhaps I should just read the first three books in the series and then stop.

Apparently she's writing another one now, isn't she?

Anonymous said...

I'd say read Twilight. Then, if you want to, read New Moon, but after that, don't go any further.

I believe she _is_ writing another book. Midnight Sun, it's supposedly Edward's view of Twilight. I'm quite scared of it.

The Host is supposed to be really good though. Many people have recommended it to me. I have been slow about snatching the one floating around the house though.

Yours Truly,
Twyla Lee

Anonymous said...

your kidding me right????????! you are freaking crazy if you dont think that bd is the best book ever if you love the twilight series. how could you give it a bad review?!?!?! although i do agree about the name. meyer could have thought of something better. but still. it was a great ending to this part of the series.

Anonymous said...

It sounded a little too happily-ever-after in a weird not-right sort of way for me.

What made you love it so much?

Twyla

Anonymous said...

The Host was pretty good, if waaaaaayyyy too long. I liked it better than the Twilight series, easily.

Anonymous said...

Personally, I enjoyed the finale to the series. Not nearly as much as I wanted to (as mentioned, the excitement factor wasn't there, and the gore was just aggravating.)As cookie cutter as the ending was, it was sort of nice to know that klutzy little Bella would finally be able to look after herself.

Anonymous said...

Interesting, my fellow anonymousity. Personally, I found the gore too much to be overlooked, too much to be seen of as aggravating. Especially since there are eight, ten year olds reading this book. Not to say that ten year olds aren't mature enough, it's just that the previous three books provided no warning for the grossness to come. I suppose it is sort of nice to know Bella would be happy, but to me, it just seemed much too nice. Sort of like the epilogue of Deathly Hallows-- though I, unlike a lot, still worshipped that book. But anyway.

ramblingly,
Briar Kasvi, evil little guest from Toad Hill

Anonymous said...

My name is Milena Morgret, 17 years old, and I am from Germany. A minute ago, I stumbled across your page and read the Breaking Dawn review by Briar Kasvi.

I don't really know who I am talking to, and it is late (at least for me) and I'm really tired, but I still have the need to talk to someone about the book. Sorry if I annoy you, but I cannot help it! I was searching for a person like you for a week nonstop now and now you have to suffer, sorry again^^

So, I read the book, and I felt the exact same way! I was waiting
for it for months, I read the first three books again and again, and in the wee little time I wasn't reading, I listened to the talking books. I guess I know all of them by heart now, but I still love it. Well, then the book arrived and I was bored! The wedding and honeymoon-parts were too long, the pregnancy too gruesome to read and all in all it was disappointing. You're right. I hoped for something much better. and I dont know who I can tell how BAD I feel right now, everyone else is just complaining about bellas sex life XD

But I hated something else. Did you notiice that every other book
was "based" on another book? Like Romeo and Juliet or Wuthering
Heights. I wondered for weeks which one would appear in the fourth, but nothing. and Renesmee's name is just stupid! And the other books were fantastic, because they had a really interesting story entwined around great characters and developing their relationships. They had spirit, fire and passion.

Breaking Dawn just went on and on and on. Nothing fascinating or
outstanding absorbing. It just was. I hoped for somethig better, but Breaking Dawn cannot keep up...I expected a great ending for the greatest story ever. But no.

Although I have to say that I liked the character Renesmee and that Bella is a vampire now. ( I didnt think she would, I thought Meyer would find a way to make Edward human again. Sounded fitting): The happy end was nice too. But still not good enough.

Thanks for reading this, I feel much better now, knowing that
somebody knows how I am feeling. I can sleep in peace now *muharhar* Good night! or evening or morning or whatever you have across the world roght now. I apologize again for annoying you and for my long email in general
and the senslessness and my funny english^^

Greetings from Germany

Desperate,
Milena

ilikepie2414 said...

Shame on you! I loved BD dearly! It was clearly the best written of all all Stephenie Meyer's books, including The Host.

Anonymous said...

What I have to say is this:
If you're expecting perfection you will most definitaly be disappointed. I am not a crazy Twilight fan but I enjoy the books, and breaking dawn was a great addition to the series. I also happend to like the 7th Harry Potter quite as well as all the rest. like I said, your expectations can't be too high, or you will be frustrated no matter the quality of the novel.

Anonymous said...

Renesmee Carly? what the hell? I totally agree about the name thing. can we get someone who can actually come up with an origional name in here.

Anonymous said...

I liked Breaking Dawn hate to tell you all. It was how Stephenie felt like ending the series. I've got to say though, there was no description of the birds and the bees. All that ever happened was ....NOTHING... no descriptions what so ever.

I do not recommend The Host for people who thought Breaking Dawn was too descriptive. It may be to loving at times.
^sarcastic voice

The Host is good though. I was surprised by many of the events in BD but I don't hate it.

Anonymous said...

I don't understand why you all hate Breaking Dawn so much. It wasn't the best it could have been, I agree with that, but come on. What did you expect. It's hard to meet a date for a book to be done and have it be perfect. Stephenie Meyer wasn't expecting to have a forth as we all know, she didn't know it would be a saga until she started writing Breaking Dawn, she had no preparation at all, maybe if you considered that, you wouldn't hate it so much.

Thanks for your time.

Anonymous said...

Breaking Dawn, if not the most tense book i have ever read then i don't know what is. I was practically ripping the pages apart when i read it and now i'm bursting to get my hands on Midnight Sun.
Seriously though, if your not going to read the WHOLE super series then don't bother starting Twilight.
There extremely addictive.

My greeting from Liverpool, England.

said...

Sigh. It breaks my heart to say that I totally I agree with this review. Breaking Dawn was a huge disappointment for me - enough that I can't even begin to put it into words.

-Love Daisy

Anonymous said...

Breaking Dawn was very good, and I loved reading it. But I think you have to realize that the book is from the point of view of an 18 almost 19 year old, so yes there are more grownup things in Breaking Dawn. But you get that when you grow up (and it was not as strong as it could have been, and we all grow up). And when I was in my pre-teens I was read stronger stuff then what was in BD. I agree about the name of the new one, thou.
Point of view from a 17 year old, who loves the Twilight saga.

Anonymous said...

I didn't believe what I just read.
I can not truly believe that so many of you are disappointed by breaking dawn!

I love the twilight series and Breaking Dawn is a wonderful end of it!

I loved the wedding and the honeymoon.
I was a bit disappointed when I realized there is a lot of the book written from Jakes point of view but when I read it I found most of it so funny (all the Jacob - Rosalie stuff) that I couldn't be disappointed any longer.
And the part after Bellas transfiguration was just brilliant!
I loved to see how she discovered her vampire abilities.
It was like becoming a vampire myself!
And the pain when Bella changed was something we could have seen was coming!
They all told her that it is extremly painful and she felt it herself in twilight when James bit her.

I recommend the whole twilight series (including Breaking Dawn) to everyone who likes fantasy storys (especially with vampires) and a good lovestory.

Sorry about my english. I'm from Germany so it isn't easy for me to write something like this but I was really shocked to see so many people disliking Bd, so I had to tell what I think about it!

yours, leni

neva said...

i loved breaking dawn!!! i like twilight the best and think breaking dawn is second best though i admitt the first half was not as good as it could have been but the second half more then made up for it. if you have not read this book READ IT!!!
meadow

Anonymous said...

OKay, speaking as an observer of all these things you guys have just put, I have to say I COMPLETELY disagree with anyone who said the book was good!

MY favourite is twilight, yes, but BD went WAAAY too far. I think Edward should have become human again and then they could have had human babies with proper names!
The ending is too perfect and then you think about the fact that it will be perfect forever and ever and ever and ever....
It gets a little tiring just thinking about how they will have nothing exciting to do.... EVER!
Greetings, Hull England x

Anonymous said...

I read twilight and loved the yumminess of the romance mixed with action. I read new moon and cried at the sadness of Bella, I read eclipse and laughed at Jacob's persistence and then i find out another book is coming out soon. I immediately go on the website and find out 50 days to go...

Instantly I wanted BD. I read all the books again and gain and again (much to the annoyance of my school library)went on ALL the well known fan sites read all the outtakes (see stephs site) and even make up mini stories with my mates and then.....

i read it. It was amazing in its own little way but honstly not much happening. Did you know ten year olds read it? In America where i went 4 my hols when BD came out (I read before my mates cause England couldnt release it till monday)I read an article in a paper. It said that Steph REALLY WANTED an age warning of 15 and over but her publishers wouldnt agree so mabye before you go slaggin off my fave writer check out ALL the facts if you please!!!

Soul Mirror said...

Breaking Dawn. It could have been a Disney's version of a vampire story. If only she got rid of Bella's hormone for sex. So it suxs....she murdered it.

book lover said...

I read alot of these and it seems like so many people did not like bd.I do not agree it was not 2 out of 5 it was 9 out of 10 for me. people said it had nothing exiting but every 5 pages something new happened and it did not have anything to bad if you hide something tell me where in the book it is soo bad.i really did like it it was not as good as the others for me because i found jacob's part a bit long and borring, but every other thing was good.

P.S. if you read the others do not stop ther because even though some people do not like it that much it is worth the read to see what you think and it may surprise you how much you do like it.

Anonymous said...

It makes perfect sense to me that people would dislike Breaking Dawn. It has nothing to do with high standards... The book was poorly written, although I understand she had a deadline and had to wrap up Bella's story in the one novel. And there was nothing that even remotely resembled a "sex scene" in the story.

Unknown said...

i personally am appalled that you didint like the ending to the series, as it my favorite. i will agree that renesmee is a digusting name, and that the gore was a turn off, but i think that the ending gives you some comfort in knowing that bella and edward lived together happily ever after. its kind of cliche, but i believe that if you are a edward fan( like myself, and 10 million other tweens and teenagers) and NOT a jacob fan(ewww!!) then you'll enjoy the book.

i enjoyed Max, the junkee with a crush on bella in BD.

werewolves can go die in a hole for all i care,just so u no.jacob just made things complicated for edward. there's only one piece of advice edward should take from jacob, no shirt necessary.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I'm sorry, but we don't agree with the review. BD is a GREAT book, Renesmee is an original name, and EDWARD WOULD BE A 'SEXY' PILE OF ASH IF HE WERE HUMAN i mean think of it he'd be over 107 years old!

I don't think we should be judging Stephanie Meyer cos this is her story we can't tell her how to write... It comes from her imagination.

Also what is a vampire book without the gore? I mean come on there are worse things in playstation games than in this book... and there were no sex scenes... So lil kiddies should PUT THE BOOK DOWN if they think its too much for them!!!

So in conclusion the books are facinating, original, and SIMPLY AMAZING! We think if you didn't enjoy the books... SHAME. And if you haven't yet don't let other people stop you, read them and decide for yourself!

AyOhBa!!

Lots of love,
South Africa!
(Yaseera & Candice)

Unknown said...

It disgusts me how anyone could enjoy the Twlilight series to the amount some do, whichever book they are unfortunate enough to pick up.

Sure, the first read-through they're easy to get sucked into, no pun intended, but it doesn't take long to realize that these books are terrible.

The fact that Stephenie Meyer wrote Twilight in three months is a testament to that. Writing a book should be a careful process that takes much longer than that, especially if you plan to put any thought into it.

And now that she plans on not only re-writing the series from Edward's perspective, but also creatign a manga series, only proves that now she's in it for the money.

Please, dear lovers of literature, take a moment to reconsider this series. Take a moment to see how fake the characters are, how cheap and unreal the romance is, and how there is absolutely no plot in any of the four books.

I'm begging you.

Unknown said...

im on page 279 of breaking dawn and i'm refusing to go on... i knew it was bs before reading this review, i just needed assurance that it was really that bad and that im not really losing my taste.