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 enlarge | Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
Category: Book
List Price: $22.99
Buy New: $12.55
You Save: $10.44 (45%)
New (56) Used (12) Collectible (10) from $11.99
Rating:  3540 reviews
Sales Rank: 2
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 768
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 2.5
ISBN: 031606792X
EAN: 9780316067928
ASIN: 031606792X
Publication Date: August 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Heartbroken Twilight Fan December 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Here are my impressions of this sad, sad "book":
1. Edward & Bella's relationship - This was the biggest disappointment in the book. All romance completely and utterly vanished. This book pretty much ruined their romance for me.
2. Different tone - The book had a completely different tone from the previous three. It didn't even feel like the same author/series. What replaced the exhilarating, somewhat innocent romance was disgusting and disturbing (i.e. the pregnancy, birth, transformation, imprinting on Renesme, etc.) I found myself literally gagging at some parts. Don't know how they'll make THIS one into a movie! Actually, a movie could be a good thing. The writer could completely change every dumb thing that Meyer did and fix the story!
3. Inconsistent Characters - This is kind of like #2. None of the characters (with the exception of Jacob) were anything like their former, lively, loveable selves. They were mere shadows of what they'd been in the past. I could go on and on on this one, but it would take too long to go through every character. I'll get to a couple of the main ones.
4. Edward - He was a mopey, brooding non-factor for 95% of the book completely devoid of charisma, charm, and personality. At one particularly low moment, he even suggests that Bella can fornicate with JACOB just so she can have babies!!!!!!!! WHAT?!?!?! I had less love for Edward after this book for sure.
5. The Wedding - My wedding was better than Bella's, and she had endless money, vampire talents, and a writer's imagination and creativity to work with!
6. The Sex - OK, so it's a young adult book (although I don't really think a lot of the material IS suitable for young adults in this one)... I get the whole "fade to black" thing. But, afterward, did Bella really have to turn into a whiney, sniveling twit, begging for it????
7. Disappearance of the Cullens - They were barely in this book at all, except for Rosalie's disturbing, overbearing protection of Bella's stomach. I don't think Esme had one sentence to say the whole time. I couldn't believe how little Alice was involved in the book. She was one of the best characters in the other three. How could Meyer just abandon her? And the whole thing where she leaves Bella a "clue" about her disappearance in a book... Gimme a break.
8. Pregnancy - Really dumb plot line. I can't even believe she went there. Not only is it gross, but pretty implausible considering he's a VAMPIRE. Do they have super-sperm now, too?
9. Renesme Carlie - Need I say more?
10. Jacob The Pedophile - I don't care how she "cleverly" set this up by making Quil imprint on a little kid and trying to explain that away. It is still really disturbing and dumb... and, oh, a little too convenient that he imprinted on Renesme. He was the only character whose "voice" didn't change, which was nice, but I really am offended at the way Meyer resolved his character. He deserved way more after the way Bella figuratively kicked the crap out of him for two books.
11. Bella's Anticlimactic Transformation - For three books we've been told how painful, how awful the transformation is. We were told how difficult it is to be a newborn vampire, and how a person loses himself/herself for a while. Now, granted that Meyer unsubtlely set Bella up to practically not be a human in the first place, since she obviously didn't fit in with humanity for many reasons, but still... it was all so easy! The pain was barely mentioned, and practically from the first second she "woke up," she was THE perfect "vegetarian" vampire. Not even a struggle! What a joke!
12. Charlie - I don't even know where to start with this one. He's perfectly fine with the existence of werewolves and the knowledge that his daughter is obviously not the same as she was AND that he has a granddaughter already who ages at an insane rate........ as long as you don't give him any details. Ignorance is bliss, I guess. So convenient that he can still be in Bella's life now.
13. Renee - I guess Bella didn't need to freak out about what her mother would think about getting married as a teenager. Oh yeah, did I mention that Bella got married as a teenager? I thought we were in Washington, not the deep South.
14. New Cast of Characters - Some of the "vampire army" that assembled at the Cullen house was interesting. But there were so many of them! Meyer just kept piling them on. They ended up not even being necessary and just watered-down the plot.
15. The Non-Battle w/the Volturi - The battle was getting a little tense until the Volturi completely backed down like a bunch of... kitty cats. These Volturi don't seem so scary to me anymore. After all, they didn't kill Edward, Bella, and Alice in Volterra (without much of a struggle or argument at all, mind you) and they took their sweet time to check out the Seattle vampires in Eclipse. Really, it just seemed like all you had to do was "wink, wink" at Aro, and he'd let you slide.
16. Bella the Non-Heroine - This one has two parts:
A) It would have been a little more redeeming if Bella had saved them all with her shield. At least then she would have some point in the book. But she didn't! It was Alice who rushes in from who-knows-where with some ridiculous explanation about finding other vamps like Renesme who saves the day. Really convenient that Meyer made up these new beings at the precise moment that she needed them. Let's write a book and just make crap up from out of the blue AT the climax to save all our characters. No one important died, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but would add depth/credibility to the overall struggle in the book.
B) Bella doesn't have to sacrifice anything. In the end, she gets everything she wants, all tied up with a neat little bow. She doesn't have to give up being a mother to be with Edward (which was a big deal in Eclipse). She suddenly wants to be married, go to college, have kids, etc. She doesn't have to give up her soul, because apparently no one really cared about that anymore or mentioned it much in the book. She doesn't have to give up Charlie. She doesn't give two thoughts about what she'll do about Renee, so I guess she doesn't care. She doesn't have to hurt Jacob anymore because he magically doesn't love her. She doesn't have to struggle with Edward over the notion of her becoming a vampire... he doesn't have a choice in the matter--she'll die if she doesn't become one. She doesn't have to go through any pain, suffering, or uncertainty when she becomes a newborn vampire. She doesn't have to worry about the Volturi. Bella had so much potential to be a great character. Meyer just completely blew it.
17. The Werewolves Aren't Werewolves - Oh yeah, did we forget to mention that they're actually NOT werewolves? They're actually shapeshifters, so, yeah... no problem.
18. The Writing Blows - In Meyer's defense, it always did. There are a myriad of technical reasons I could get into about why Meyer is a terrible writer, but they're really moot at this point. This book lacked what the other three did to make up for it: wit, interesting characters, love, and charm.
Some people are annoyed by the way Bella gets married and has a kid young and that the ending is happy. There are also a lot of sexist notions in the book, but I won't go into that here, and I'm usually not bothered by that kind of thing in general. I don't really mind the ending either, I just wished some of the above had been different. Thank goodness for the movie... It got me back into the series. But I'll probably never read Breaking Dawn again. I'll just pretend it ended with Eclipse and imagine my own ending. It's sure as sh** better than what Meyer came up with! What a cash cow! She should be ashamed!
On a side note, there is another book called Midnight Sun, that retells Twilight from Edward's point of view. She wrote about 250 pages of it and then it somehow got leaked on the internet. She says she's so heartbroken and destroyed over it that she won't finish it or publish it now. I think that's B.S. I think she's so sick over how bad Breaking Dawn is and how so many people slam it and hate it and how she ruined the series, that she's chicken to finish Midnight Sun. Cop-out.
Sometimes it's a good thing to know............. December 2, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
when to leave a good thing alone. In the case of Breaking Dawn such is the case. While books 1-3 were quite enjoyable, book 4 becomes an insult not only to the readers but to the feel of the whole series. It is predictable and just plain silly. Skip this one, if you can resist the temptation of one more visit with Edward, Bella and company, and enjoy books 1-3. Maybe, Midnight Sun (the story through Edward's point of view), if it is published, can help the author redeem herself and the series.
 Fan-FREAKy-Tastic December 2, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'm a 31year old mother of 3 (triplets), so I may not be the standard 'teenager' these books are assumed to target. But Breaking Dawn the conclusion to the series definitely delivers. (mind you my favorite genre is Sci-Fi and I just LOVE a great romantic plot, and I'm a sucker for happy ending). Breaking Dawn to me seemed more mature, more complex, though I have to say some parts were entirely predictable. I liked Breaking Dawn better than the other books in the end. (though Twilight was probably the next runner up).
In Twilight you have the 'heat', of a new relationship. Dizzy headspins over sweet kisses, full on infatuation. It tugs you right along with it.
In New Moon the relationship is challenged, neither sure how much really the other loves them. Heartbreat rings out and you suffer, only later to be pulled out of the flames. Here the relationship is tested.
In Eclipse it's well established that Bella and Edward adore eachother, though Bella is torn by her love also of Jacob. She hurts those she loves, and struggles to make her choices.
Breaking Dawn brings their relationship to maturity. You see more of the sweet, loving, passion, tempered, knowing they can depend on eachother FOREVER love. Knowing your love is knit and will last just like a marriage should be. Edward fearing for Bella's life, haggard, destroying himself by seeing Bella slowly fade away is absolutely moving, her loving sacrifice, his adoration and deep love it shook me to my core. It stands in sharp contrast to happier times.. you see love from all angles.
Sure, there's a 'clean/neat' resolution to the problem that begins in the beginning of the book, before we move onto new problems. Now that Bella and Edward's relationship is knit. And Bella FINALLY seems to have everything she ever wanted. A horrible opponent threatens to take it all away. Not just after her this time, but intent on destroying everything she holds dear. The relationship of all of the Cullen family becomes closer, you see the tenderness, you care so deeply for all of them and you feel pain at the thought of loosing any of them.
(NOT to mention Bella isn't the only perspective from which this story is told.. and it is SOOO SOO FREAKING cool .. to experience the vampire mythos from the eyes of someone exploring a new life for the first time, it really opens up so much more.. you see everything at first from the human perspective then you can see through a vampires eyes.. a werewolf's eyes, and you see Bella through other's eyes too).
Here's a little clippet:
"It was not going to be the end of the world. Just the end of the Cullens. The end of Edward the end of me. "
"I prefered it that way - the last part anyway. I would not live without Edward again; if he was leaving this world, then I would be right behind him."
Disappointed December 2, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I understand that the core of the series is about a teenage girl falling in love and discovering an everlasting love. I, however, did turn a blind eye to the teenage angst and hormones(despite the multiple references that she is supposed to be a woman-child and wise beyond her years) because the main character is a teenager. Overall, I really liked the first three books, especially the third book. Yet, I was really disappointed with the last book. I'll try not to be redundant and will only write about my top three disappointments.
1. Like other reviewers, I lost interest in the book when Bella became pregnant. It just didn't make any sense---women vampires can't have a monthly cycle but vampire men can have sperm (by the way, the book references Charlie Chaplin, a human, not a vampire).
2. I was also very sad and disappointed that Bella and Edward's love was poorly written and very neglected (especially compared to the previous three books).
3. I guess my biggest disappointment with the book was that I really was hoping that Bella wasn't going to be turned into a vampire (maybe it was inevitable). I hoped that Stephanie Meyer was going to allow Bella to actually be wise beyond her years in that she accepts herself as a human and the fact that she will age, but also realizing that her love for Edward (and vice versa) is eternal, regardless of her human "flaws." I guess I was hoping for a different kind of happily ever after.
COULD NOT PUT DOWN!!! December 2, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I started this book the day before Thanksgiving. My daughter and I were both reading it at the same time, unfortunately, she left it at school. She called her older sister in tears after I chewed her out (I was so looking forward to reading it over the four day weekend). Her sister kindly drove over in the pouring rain to let us borrow her copy. Wow, I'm so glad she did, I couldn't put it down. Isn't it interesting that me (47), my stepdaughter (23) and my 11 year old daughter all are reading the same series. What a phenomenon! Yes, I know there are some minor flaws in the story but still an amazing read.
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