Top 10 “Twilight” moments
THERE ARE “BREAKING DAWN” SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW. IF YOU DO NOT WANT THE NOVEL TO BE RUINED FOR YOU, PLEASE STOP READING.
There were certain things about “Twilight” and its sequels that made people love it. That made people say, ‘Hey, it may say it’s about vampires, but it’s not. It’s about the most amazing love story ever told.’ There were certain aspects, like Bella’s relatability and her teenage confusions that made people of all ages adore her.
“Breaking Dawn” doesn’t tell that story.
There are mentions of Bella’s high school friends, and a handful of them even appear for a dialogue-less scene in the first 50 pages of the book, but they, like any anchor to the feel of the earlier novels, seem to disappear in the opening scenes. “Breaking Dawn” is a vampire novel in a series that really wasn’t.
When you go to hunt down a copy of Stephenie Meyer’s final installment to her (definitely going to be) on-going vampire saga, don’t worry about not having finished its second and third episodes; “New Moon” and “Eclipse”. Meyer once stated that “Breaking Dawn” was going to be very similar to her original and unpublished sequel to “Twilight”; “Forever Dawn”, and she was right. The events of “New Moon” and “Eclipse” have barely a paragraph of relevance to the entire 754-page giant that is “Breaking Dawn”.
It definitely draws one thing from its predecessors though, and that is the reader having to wait until the last 100 pages for a plot to appear. We saw this in “Twilight”, but the 400 pages of Bella and Edward falling in love was totally worth only the last fifth of the book being about the nomads. (Besides, there were two more books after that to finish off their story). In “Breaking Dawn”, it takes until page 360 for anything exciting to occur, until page 543 for a plot to emerge, and until page 679 for the battle scene that never actually happens. Oh, and then they live happily ever after.
With “Twilight”, I didn’t realize I was almost done with the book and nothing had happened because I cared. Bella and Edward? Amazing! Their chemistry and their passion and their confusion… I gobbled it up. Obviously. The biggest problem with “Breaking Dawn” is how hard it was to care about the characters that we all fell in love with.
The first and foremost (and previously mentioned) reason is that Bella is no longer a relatable character. She is 18 and she gets married. And then has a baby. And then becomes a vampire. I am 19. I am not married, nor pregnant, nor a vampire.
Therefore, I cannot empathize with Bella in Book 2 of “Breaking Dawn” (from Jacob’s perspective) when we watch Bella slowly killing herself while everyone sits around and watches her be a stubborn idiot. There are literally 200 pages of this! Bella has made decisions in previous installments that are hard to wrap the mind around, but at least then the story is from Bella’s perspective so the reader is slightly biased. But having to watch Bella make more seemingly stupid decisions from someone (Jacob) who sees them also as being stupid decisions… let’s just say I know quite a few people who put the book down then.
The driving force behind the success of the Twilight series is the relationship between Bella and Edward. It is beautiful – perfect in its imperfections. “Breaking Dawn” should have been the culmination of these feelings, but it wasn’t; its second big mistake. Here was Meyer’s perfect opportunity to have everything be perfect. We have a wedding, a honeymoon, and a baby.
The wedding was cute, but didn’t have much depth. There is some sign of the undeniable happiness between Edward and Bella as they both got the unbreakable union they so deeply craved for but it still felt like it was lacking. It seemed like Meyer was just racing through it until she could get to…
The honeymoon started off perfect. Bella and Edward, for lack of a better term, did it. Finally. But, of course, there is a problem. Although the passion is of course, breathtaking, Edwards, um, strength, leaves bruises all over Bella, which ruins his mood and makes him the emo-for-a-lame-reason-Edward that we have all learned to love. But even the honeymoon zips by as…
Bella discovers she is pregnant!
And then it’s Jacob being miserable, watching Bella make stupid decisions. This has been mentioned above, and then (we are half way through the book now), Jacob imprints and Bella has her baby/becomes a vampire.
Bella becoming a vampire was the surprising high point of the novel. She seems to be meant to be a vampire, which sort of explains why she has always been on the ‘AM’ frequency. And, luckily for us all, her desire for Edward is greater than before, so we get treated to a few steamy scenes that had been missing during the first half of the novel. They still felt a little lackluster, though; Bella didn’t faint.
Oh, and her baby is adorable, but that’s for you the reader to discover.
The connection between Edward and Bella has always been deep; so deep, in fact, that the reader can feel its pulsing life throughout the entirety of the novels. “Breaking Dawn” suffered from the same affliction its heroine did: blood no longer pulses through its veins.
Another let-down is the hype of Team Edward versus Team Jacob. There was no fight. Jacob imprinted (which we all knew had to happen regardless), but then it was like poof – there was never another mention of Jacob’s two-and-a-half-books long unquenchable and unchangeable love for Bella. Come on, Stephenie Meyer.
Finally a plot emerges involving the only sort-of enemies from the previous two (ignored) books, the Volturi. There is way too much about vampires here, and in some parts I felt I was reading an Ann Rice fiction novel instead of one of Stephenie Meyer’s fluffy young adult romances. Things get interesting for a bit, and then “Breaking Dawn” ends the way it had to. Happily.
Part of the problem is that Meyer seems to have had a switch in focus as to who her favorite person is, much like Bella does. It’s no longer all about how perfect Edward is, but rather how amazing Bella and Edward’s daughter, Renesmee, is. It can only be assumed that the implied sequels-from-other-perspectives (excluding “Midnight Sun”, which is “Twilight” from Edward’s perspective) will be about her. There was way too much set up about her future to be ignored.
I too was convinced that Bella and Edward’s story is old news. The problem was, I was convinced that a little more than half way through “Breaking Dawn”. This was supposed to be their grand, final chapter, but if anything it was the worst of the entire series.
The amount of a letdown that “Breaking Dawn” was slightly overshadowed the fact that there were good parts to the book as well. Bella and Edward finally can be happy together. The angst is over. The love is complete. That was heart-warming.
And “Breaking Dawn” was a good book, it’s just that something better was expected. Something amazing. Something that took my breath away.
In the end, “Breaking Dawn” felt kind of like a muffin bottom. You don’t really want to eat it because you know it doesn’t taste as good as the muffin top, but you know if you don’t just finish it you’re going to stay hungry for a long, long time.
It kind of broke my heart to post this review. I really really REALLY wanted this series to be amazing
. I think I’m going to go reread Twilight now…
Breaking Dawn was the worst book I have ever read. If I wanted to read somthing like that, I would have read a fan-fiction.
I also think that this is not Stephenie’s fault. Fans put a lot of pressure on her to “get it right”. She wrote a book before New Moon and Eclipse as a sequel to Twilight, called Forever Dawn. It had content that was too mature for young adult readers, so she did’nt want to publish it.
Breaking Dawn was a huge dissapointment, but it was our choice to read it. We can’t rally outside the publishing office because we all want a refund. I just hope Midnight Sun is much better.
Cheers
. I’m personally looking forward to the undoubted upcoming sequels about Jacob and Renesmee. But you’re right! It did kind of have a fan-fictiony feel to it.
yeah i agree. i really expected something much much more. the book just didn’t have the same feel as the others. and im in love with bella and edwards story. i wanted it all about them. it wasn’t a terrible book, but definitely not the best ever, nor as amazing as i thought it would be.
I agree that Breaking Dawn is not the best book in the Twilight Saga. However, I think we readers have a tendency to put too much emphasis on wanting to be satisfied, on wanting the author to deliver a “perfect” ending to a series. I personally love the twists Meyer offers in this book. She adds yet another layer of life and love. Renesmee seems an appropriate outward symbol for or manifestation of Bella’s and Edward’s love. While there was a grand build up to a fight that never happens, the same tension felt in the other books is still present in the this one. I love that Meyer remained true to the characters’ established personalities and tendencies, excepting Jacob of course. How could he not imprint on Bella’s daughter?? What a perfect balance of the triangle!! Enjoy this book for what it is, and remember to be thankful for creative genius!!
I thought Breaking Dawn was a really good read. I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy reading Jacob’s persepective. We all knew he was going to imprint on someone else and we expected that his love for Bella would be different. As for the honeymoon scenes “lacking”, I would ask the author of this article consider that this series was intended for a teen audience. How graphic did you expect her to get? Breaking Dawn left me wanting for more.
i felt a little sad when i fished “Breaking Dawn” i was expecting it to be a fulfilling ending one that when the book was done i wouldn’t feel like something was missing. it felt like she crammed way too many things in this one book it was just written weird the main plot was way to close to the end of the book and then it ended too quickly. im still hoping that maybe she will make a new series about jacob and renesmee i think it would be nice to have renesmee as the narrator and get a closer look into her thoughts.
I have enjoyed each book very much. I understand where everyone is coming from, especially how Breaking Dawn is almost like fan fiction, but I think that might have been because of how much us fans wanted this book and we pressured Stephanie Meyer. But no matter what others are thinking, I still enjoyed the book very much- I was so excited when I was done and that I finally found out what was going to happen between Bella and Edward. The only thing I would have liked (if this was to be the VERY last book of the saga, besides Edwards pov) would maybe be a more elaborate ending that really tells us what happens to them further down the road.
The Twilight Saga is amazing, and Breaking Dawn was too.. just… LESS amazing than the previous three books. What I was the most disappointed about was the lack of the ROMANCE that made us fall in love with Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse… There was more intense romance, sure, but I miss the detail and the heart-breaking perfection of Edward and Bella’s relationship. Also, Edward was less central, which was upsetting because we all love Edward
. But I still liked Breaking Dawn… It’s just definitely not my favorite out of the four.
I thought the book was good, and it could of been absolutely wonderful if there just wasn’t as much hype. It was so built up in everyone minds, so much so that it would have been virtually impossible to make it live up to those expectations. Some things could have been done better but other parts were wonderful writing. I think Stephenie did a great job for the amount of pressure that was put on her.
Yes, at the beginning of the book, it did have a fan fictionony feel. But it got better. And for those of you who wanted a huge, bloody fight between Edward and Jacob, you have to remeber that these books are about BELLA. She would never completely forgive any of them for it, and it would be a sad way to finish one of them off. As for the huge battle scene at the end of the book, there was an interview from Stephenie her self saying a few things. The first one was, was that little brown actually asked her to lower the violence in the novel, and yes that was exactly what we wanted. To see our favorite characters in action, but had there been a battle scene, there would have been an age limit to the books. !6,17, and up. And without it, she still wanted a limit. In another interview, she said that she knew exactly who had to die in the battle, in other words, we would see a lot of the characters we love, die. She didn’t want that, so she cut it short. Got it? It was the end of another great series, she can’t satisfy everyone. And it has to be done a certain way. She wanted the characters happy, and they are. Enjoy the fact that she could even give us a novel so quickly.
Please excuse my English but I want to say this…I loved Breaking Dawn. I have to admit it was nothing like what I was expecting, but you have to understand that SM is the writer not us. She is the one creating the world and she can take the story where she wants.
I did love the story, I never expected Edward and Bella to have a child… but can understand the focus to change from Bella to the baby. Unless you have had a child yourself and have some maturity and actually mothered a child, you cannot be expected to relate and maybe that is the biggest problem. Maybe that’s where SM is having issues with some of her fans. Some of the Teen fans (not all of course) can’t see past the all fun High School, Friends setting and try to place Bella in a more adult setting. Maybe?
SM had Bella and Edward get married in this book, therefore she had to add some life experiences and what a better way to do it than with a child.
I don’t understand what the big deal is??? and why so many people are having such childish fits! It was a different book, I’ll give you that. But, it was great! Different is not always bad. Need to get used to changes in life.
The other thing that blows my mind is and I’m not talking about you necessarily… the people having such fits over BD and burning books, etc. They call themselves Twilight Fans and Stephenie Meyer Fans??? What loyalty they have! SM does one thing they don’t like and its to return books, burn books, write bad reviews… with fans like that who needs enemies!!!!! way to be faithful fans guys!!!!! Way to stick together and support the woman. Just saying…. How embarrassing to show this ugly side of our hearts to the world. Lets just keep trashing the woman and her work!
this is exactly the way i felt about breaking dawn. its like you took the words out of my mouth,except there is no way i could have articulated the way i felt so well! im glad you wrote this. i definately am glad i read the book, but i wasnt satisfied. good job!!
I don’t think that not liking one of Stephenie’s books or writing a bad review for it means that fans have turned their backs on her. Yes burning their books is a bit extreme, but fans can support their favorite authors by being critical as well. Sometimes a book or a movie or a CD can really be bad and, while everything else is great, it is just as bad to blindly love something for what it is instead of seeing it truthfully. Some people liked Breaking Dawn, some people didn’t. I love Stephenie Meyer, I just did not like this book.
From everything I’ve read concerning Stephenie Meyer, she’s made it very apparent that she didn’t write these books for anyone but herself. SHE finished Breaking Dawn the way SHE wanted it to end. If you didn’t like the book, don’t complain. It wasn’t written for you.
Fist off I would like to say that I am a Stephenie Meyer fan. I love Twilight and the series but I also love Stephenie and the work that she has done ( like the Host) I understand that many people don’t get Breaking Dawn and that is fine, but it is not ok to bash Stephenie because you didn’t get the book that you wanted. When you start to write books you can have what ever ending you want but this was Stephenie’s books, her dream, her rules. I really can’t stand it when peopel start making naste comments about her as an author. It is disrespectful, if you don’t like it fine…but explain why in a way that is respectful to Stephenie as and auther and remember that if is wasn’t for her you would have the other books in the series.
Now I love this book, I thought it was a great way to end the series and to start a vampire series with Nessie ( if she decides to do that. I think many people are expecting to see the same Bella and Edward and we all knew that wasn’t going to happen. We all knew that Bella was going to get turned into a vampire and once that happen things were going to change. I think if you look at Breaking Dawn for what it is you’ll see that it really isn’t that bad. There are still a lot of things that you can relate to . Like love of family and friends, trust. Isn’t that something. I’m not here to try and change anyones mind or say that they are wrong because ever one is intitled to their thouoghts, but the book isn’t all bad there are some good parts to it. (and I’m not just saying that because I like the book)
It is alway esaier to put something down when you don’t like it, but notice the good as well. Stephenie is a great writer and I think she ended this saga the way she saw it in her head.
I really enjoyed BD, mainly because I felt that it was the culmination of Bella’s character. Rather than focusing on the relationship between her and Edward, SM really explored more of who Bella is. I did not expect her to have a child either, but what better way for both Edward and Jacob to AGREE that Bella should become a vampire. Jacob and Bella were a good match, but Bella and Edward were the perfect match. I love how SM shows that what is perfect for Jacob was still a part of Bella. She is too self-sacrificing to have had a healthy relationship with Jacob. Which is obvious in Eclipse, when Jacob tries to manipulate Bella into choosing him. I didn’t like the part from Jacob’s perspective, just because I like Bella’s voice better. Jacob is WAY too emotional teen boy for me.
Although I may have extended or shortened some things, I think that SM did a wonderful job of trying to make EVERYONE happy.
I disagree heavily with this article…and calling Bella an idiot for choosing to save Renesmee, was really harsh. Real Women make the choice for their kids over their own every day, and many of them actually live through it.
I think the author of this article doesn’t really understand the concept of “growing up and maturing” As these characters did.
When people get married, and have a kid this changes them. It’s called responsibility. I’m not married, nor do I have kids, nor am I a vampire. But I saw the beauty in this book. Edward and Bella confirmed their “love” and brought a child into this world. However unplanned she is. Some people say that Children are the very evidence of love and that’s exactly what Renesmee is…
Of course Bella’s focus would change from her and Edward to Her, Edward and Renesmee. That’s what moms do, from what I’ve been told. They put their children’s lives above their own…and that’s pretty much what this book was about. Renesmee’s life was in danger, and so was the rest of the Cullens…
But I actually felt that Bella and Edward’s relationship was STRONGER than ever before…they had something they both wanted to protect… and they were wililng to DIE for her. We didn’t need those gushy scenes anymore…our favorite vampire/now-vampire couple MATURED. And I was GLAD for that.
I also think the author overlooks who Bella IS as a character. I’ve read countless reviews about how she seemed different…and i have to ask, “how?” In the past three books, we’ve seen a very SELFLESS Bella. A girl who is willing to risk her life to save those she loves. In New Moon it was facing the Volturi, and in Eclipse, she was willing to slice herself open to distract Victoria…
How is doing what she did in this book ANY different, or any less meaningful than those acts? She would risk her life to have Renesmee, and I think that’s very true to her.
As for the Jacob Imprinting and suddenly things were different thing…has it ever occurred to the author that the very reason that Jake felt attracted to Bella in the first place was BECAUSE of Renesmee? That he knew all along that something would happen that would keep Jacob and Bella close?
Because when Renesmee was born, the feelings between the two of them basically vanished… Which I thought was pretty interesting. I’m not saying I’m RIGHT but its what I observed…
As for the “lack of plot” Um…what? There was plenty of plot…so much so I felt a bit bombarded… I nearly cried when Bella was willing to give Renesmee to Jacob so she could live…that was so touching!
I LOVED the Ending… the Volturi scene was great. It wasn’t an epic bloody battle scene but it was better than that. A TRIAL. A Battle of Wits…(which is kind of what the cover illustrates). This scene was intense…and I thought it was really stressful…
The Last two pages sealed the entire series for me. I loved it…I cried it was beautiful.
I’m sorry the author of this review didn’t enjoy this book, perhaps if they would just trust the author instead of relying on predictions and theories the book would have been better for them.
I was not let down. The only reason my heart breaks is because the series is over…
Personally, I think the book was great. You have to consider that it was a little less action packed because Stephenie didn’t want to kill of any main characters–likewise none of us wanted anyone big to die, admit it. Had there been a big fight, she would have had no choice and I’m still bitter about HP7 in which JK took out half of the characters. I mean, sure the book might have been more exciting but it’s the grand finale of a love story not the grand finale of an action novel.
I felt very satisfied and though Bella got married and had a kid at a young age, I still relate to her and I’m 23. All girls want a happily every after, and I think BD was going to be exactly that–a book isn’t good or bad based on the destruction, it’s based the satisfaction with the resolution and I think anything other then the happily ever after would have been inappropriate.
The whole Jacob thing has left less closure I agree, but I am more excited to read about Jacob and Renesmee then I ever was to read about him and Bella–Team Edward obviously.
I found BD to be a page turner that made me anxious, happy, sad, nervous, scared, and satisfied. A pefect ending to the imperfect gravity of Bella and Edwards romance.
I have to agree with you Talene. I understand that some people don’t get Breaking Dawn, but that doesn’t mean they have to trash the book or bash Stephenie Meyer. I also Agree with Beatriz, I think its crazy to burn your books just because BD didn’t go the way you wanted it to. SM has made it very clear that she writes stories for herself, not for the money, not for anything else. She loves to write and falls in love with her characters. I love her and I love her attitude. I think she did a wonderful job with Breaking Dawn. There was so much hype put on that book and all with all that fan expectation, that I think we all had our own ideas of how it was going to end. There was no way she was going to make all of us happy. Somebody was going to be disappointed (Thank God it wasn’t me!!! JK) I just hope we can all unite and put all this silly stuff behind us. I hope we can support the actors what have worked so hard on the Twilight movie. We should unite and support Rob, Kristen, etc and make sure the movie is a great success! We Twilight fans can unit and be a strong community, just like the HP fans are. The HP fans are an inspiration to us or should be. Ok, ok…. I’m off the podium now…. sorry… I just want us to work together and kick some a** 8 – )
I’m not usually one to comment on things like this, but i loved breaking dawn. I guess I might be a sucker for happy endings, but to me, since this book was the end of the series, each character’s story was given the proper ending… a happy ending. I, like most of you, fell in love with edward and bella’s romance. It’s the kind of love story everyone dreams of. In my mind, it is only logical for them to be married and have a child. And OF COURSE jacob would imprint on renesmee… I though that was genius. Now they could all be together without jacob and edward fighting over bella all the time. The only thing I could wish for is for SM to write more about edward and bella… possibly another book (wishful thinking!). I thought this was a great book with a beautiful ending. It had great twists and turns, and it kept me wanting more (which is all we can really ask for from a book isn’t it?). I support SM, I will buy more of her books, and I will see the movie. I was very pleased with the book and the outcome that she gave us. I think it was beautiful, and a job well done!
I didn’t hate Breaking Dawn, but I was very disappointed. I missed the wonderful characters I came to know in Twilight. They mostly turned into cardboard cutouts only there to drive the plot. I did not care for the plot twists….I thought it jumped the shark–deus ex machina. I am glad that Bella and Edward are happy together at last, and I’m going to blow off all the other stuff.
I just want to say that I LOVED the way Breaking Dawn was written and how it ended. I was actually hoping throughout the entire series that they could somehow have a baby together. I think everyone has to understand that the whole series is fictional. There are no such things as vampires, so the fact that this book seemed a little more unbelievable is okay with me. I think the fact that Bella chose to save her baby was showing another kind of love. We all know Stephenie is a big fan of the different types of love. She talks about the love of her best friend, Jacob, her love for her mother and father, her love for the Cullens, who are also her family now, her amazing love for Edward, and now the motherly love for her child. I thought it was beautiful. I think it showed a mature side of her. Stephenie wrote an amazing book, in my opinion, that she is extremely happy with, so I think we should let her enjoy it instead of tearing her apart by our harsh words. Good job, Stephenie!!
Well, I loved Breaking Dawn. The emotions are so deep and sometimes some people could never imagine those emotions as it was not up to their stakes yet. I put it like this for Bella’s ‘foolishness’… “I have a baby with the man I love and that man is my life. The pulse of the baby was his and mine and that is the most extraordinary gift God could give in our cursed life.” Plus it was magical that a mother could connect to her baby even the baby is still inside the womb. Also, the story is about a girl who falls in love with a vampire, a girl who be friends with a werewolf and a girl who picks the chance to be immortal. The whole Saga is about Bella so I don’t see Breaking Dawn being any unrelated towards the other 3 books. Book 2 in Jacob’s POV somehow made me feel Meyer is hinting that Renesmee’s story will be written in distant timing. With Edward’s words on Nahuel’s way in looking at Bella, a lot of stories could be built and the similar immortal he is with Renesmee, somehow we might get a Team Jacob vs Team Nahuel! Haha…
i enjoyed BD for the plot and character development, but yet at the end was left feeling unfulfulled. i wanted to know so much more – where the Cullen family go next, how Bella fits into the whole high school charade, things like that which are not neccessarily the most intersting things to have a book abut, but still things i want to know. i can’t wait to see if SM does actually write about Renesme and Jacob, because i thinnk that the two of them were so sweet. everytime i read the scene where bella gives Renesme to jacob and everyone says goodbye it makes me cry. i think that that is an acheivemnt, considering the fact that i know that it is going to turn out alright. i guess i’ll just have to wait and see what other books SM comes up with, and see if that gives me some closure….