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Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)

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Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$22.99~~
Buy New: $12.64
You Save: $10.35 (45%)

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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 24 hours

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 6-10 of 100

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Huge Disappointment!!! December 2, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

I hated this book. It was hard for me to swallow that Bella got pregnant(so fast???) and Jacob made a claim on the baby to be his mate. (sick! he can't have bella so he going to be with her daughter?)To me there was never a love triangle. The author tried but we all knew about the love Bella and Edward shared. I am shocked and what a let down. My last book in my mind is Eclipse. I think that there is a reason that the actors only signed on for the next two movies. And in these next two movies they better have a lot of onscreen time with Edward because the draw is not Jacob --not even Bella. It is Rob Pattinson playing Edward. This should all be interesting. I hope the movies make up for my huge disappointment--after seeing twilight, i am a little doubtful but I have hope ---hope that with a little more money they can do it right!!--- with out making the audience laugh(bad visual effects in twilight.) It's funny hearing the author say that she knew the ending when she was writing twilight. It is hard for me to imagine why she ever wanted Bella pregnant. There were so many better options then a baby getting ripped from her mother by her husbands teeth--it does not flow with the other three!! It does not make sense!! Is this the same author?????

4 out of 5 stars

Not the best of the series, but still satisfying December 2, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful

"Breaking Dawn", the fourth and final installment of Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" saga, follows the story of 18 year old Bella Swan through her uncovnentional journey into newlywed life and motherhood with her gorgeous husband, Edward Cullen, who just happens to be a vampire. In this volume we rediscover Edward and Bella's epic romance which was first told from Bella's perspective in "Twilight"; then in "New Moon", and again in "Eclipse." "Breaking Dawn" however, which is divided into three books over its 754 pages, is told from two different points of view. The first and third books are told in the familiar voice of Bella, but in the second book we see the small town of Forks Washington through the eyes of a bratty teenage werewolf named Jacob Black. Jacob is Bella's best friend who just happens to be harboring an all-consuming love for her. br /br /The story begins shortly before Edward and Bella's wedding day. Edward and Bella have an old-fashioned wedding before their friends and family, vampire and human alike. The happy couple then jets off to a private island for a picturesque honeymoon, where Edward makes good on his promise to make love to her before changing her into a vampire. Everything seems to be perfect, until Bella learns she's pregnant, something believed impossible and dangerous for a vampire and human. br /br /The story is then told from Jacob Black's perspective. Through his telling we hear the minds of the rest of his werewolf pack as well as his own. Through Jacob's eyes we also watch Bella essentially give up her life to have a baby who is already stronger than she, while still in the womb. Jacob is disgusted by this and because of that the reader is too. Despite his objections, Jacob is still drawn to Bella and stays with her through most of the process, even though she is surrounded by his mortal enemies -- vampires. br /br /Bella has her baby in nothing less than gruesome fashion, with dramatic scenes of her baby ripping open her stomach. In the process of birth, Edward is forced to change Bella into a vampire in order to save her life. The third book, told by Bella, starts with her painful transformation from human to vampire and follows the relationship between her and her half-vampire, half- human daughter, Renesmee. The book ends with vampires and werewolves joining forces to fight for Renesmee's life against the Volturi, a brutal group of Vampires who uphold the laws of their kind. br /br /This installment is quite a departure from the rest of the "Twilight" saga. The previous three novels focused on the head over heels romance between the plain human and the dazzling vampire. "Breaking Dawn" is harder to identify with, much darker and at some points just plain bizarre. In the first three novels Bella was a normal clumsy girl but in "Breaking Dawn," when she becomes a perfect vampire, it is harder for the reader to connect with her character. br /br /While this may not be Stephenie Meyer at her best, "Breaking Dawn" is still well worth reading. Her polished use of language in depicting many situations from the steamy romantic to the horrifyingly gruesome will still have teenage readers ripping through the pages. br /br /Quill says: Although it is flawed, "Breaking Dawn" will leave you satisfied and smiling at its finish. br /

5 out of 5 stars

Great Ending to a Mesmerizing Series December 2, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful

I'm a Twilight newcomer. I was initially hesitant to read the books because I figured that they were probably just trashy teen vampire novels like the ones I was into back in high school. After several friends in their 30s insisted that I read the books, I picked them up...and couldn't put them down. All four of these books are some of the most mesmerizing books I've ever read. The Twilight Saga is one of those rare series that envelops you in the world that the author has created and haunts you for days after reading them. Actually, I must admit that I've become embarrassingly obsessed with them. My husband is beginning to suspect that I'm insane. It's just impossible NOT to become obsessed with these books, though. Meyer has a rare gift. I'm quite jealous of it - I wish that I could create such a powerful world full of characters that seem so absolutely real, regardless of the improbability that such beings might exist. br /br /On to the book at hand. I have to say that I am very disappointed about the negative feedback that this book has received. When I began reading Breaking Dawn, my initial reaction early on was, "No...No...What's going on here? I don't like the direction that this is headed." Yet the further on I read, the more I realized that this book was the perfect resolution to the Twilight Saga. After a second reading of the series, I was absolutely convinced that this was true. Breaking Dawn pulls together all of the uncomfortable hanging threads that arose throughout the other three books and weaves them together into a perfect ending. In fact, upon a second reading I realized that everything was heading this way from the very beginning, and that there was no other way that it could end.br /br /Meyer's writing improves with each offering, so Breaking Dawn is definitely the most well-written of the saga. The prose is excellent, and just like the others before it, the book sucked me in and immersed me in Bella's world. This book is quite a roller coaster ride, so I went from feeling elated, to uncomfortable, to depressed, and so on. The moods in this book are in a delicately balanced, constant flux, which Meyer handles excellently.br /br /Bottom line: Read this book. Ignore the negative feedback. This is how the saga should end. The book is riveting and well-written. It left me clamoring for more stories about the Cullen family. I hope that Meyer chooses to continue writing about them. I'm desperately curious about where the future takes them.

1 out of 5 stars

Heartbroken Twilight Fan December 2, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Here are my impressions of this sad, sad "book":br /br /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. br /br /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!br /br /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.br /br /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.br /br /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! br /br /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????br /br /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. br /br /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?br /br /9. Renesme Carlie - Need I say more?br /br /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.br /br /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!br /br /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.br /br /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.br /br /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.br /br /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.br /br /16. Bella the Non-Heroine - This one has two parts:br /br /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.br /br /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.br /br /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.br /br /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. br /br /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!br /br /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.br /

1 out of 5 stars

Sometimes it's a good thing to know............. December 2, 2008
4 out of 5 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.

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