I’ve finally finished Breaking Dawn, the last book in the Twilight Series. Also, I’d read a short review of this book about a year ago in the now-extinct Today’s Christian Woman magazine. I did find the same review online on Christianity Today’s Kyria blog. I do agree with some of what the reviewer said in that post. From my reading the four books, the romance does seem to be more obsessive than a regular romance novel.
SPOILER BELOW:
In Breaking Dawn, Bella is still human at the beginning of the story. She marries her boyfriend/vampire Edward Cullen. They spend a romantic honeymoon on a remote island. Out of the entire book, I enjoyed the first section the best. I especially loved reading about their honeymoon days. The book got kind of weird for me when Bella gets pregnant by her vampire husband. The child makes Bella sick, literally. While pregnant, the child sucks all of the energy from Bella, making her ill, tired, and barely able to move. She drinks blood to nourish the child and once the child is born, it’s apparant that the little girl is advanced in development – she has a full set of teeth and she bites. The child grows several inches per day and develops mentally very quickly. Giving birth to the child kills Bella, so Edward bites her, giving her his venom which ultimately turns Bella into a vampire.
Having the werewolf, Jacob, around, with his pack made things kind of weird too. When Renesmee’s (Bella’s vampire/human child) life is in danger, the vampires, along with their cronies, and Jacob’s pack of wolves prepare to go to battle.
Jacob’s point-of-view dominates the second part of the book, and then the point-of-view switches back to Bella during the last portion of the story. When Jacob phases into his werewolf form, it kind of reminded me of watching The Incredible Hulk when I was a kid! He would rip his clothes when he’d go into werewolf form.
Out of all the Twilight books, I enjoyed the first one, Twilight, the best. It just had more of a realistic feel to it. The romance was strong and riveting and I just couldn’t put the book down I was so mesmerized by it!
The second book, New Moon, was pretty good for about 2/3 of the book but about the last 33% of the book was boring, so I skimmed that last section. I skimmed Eclipse last December and I didn’t like it very much. I read the first 80 pages word for word and that’s when I started skimming the rest of the book.
However, I did manage to read Breaking Dawn word for word. It’s over 750 pages, so it’s a pretty big book. So Twilight was the strongest book, and Breaking Dawn was the second best out of the series. I did think that Breaking Dawn was very weird and science-fictionish, too. Fantasy and sci-fi are not genres that I’m very fond of. I read those kinds of books sparingly.
These stories are not my usual reading fare, but I had to read them because everybody was making such a big deal about the Twilight Series that I just had to read it myself.
You can see my earlier posts about the Twilight series here, here, here, and here.
Have you read this series? If so, which was your favorite book and why?
Hi, Cecelia! I haven’t read the “Twilight” series, but a dear friend has gently insisted that I read them. She has loaned me the entire set of books. It will be a while before I dig in, but your review has given me a nudge.
I’m really posting about receiving my wonderful prize package from your January giveaway! I am especially thrilled that you included your book, “Milk Money”! Awesome!
Thanks so much! Happy Valentine’s Day : )
gcwhiskas at aol dot com
Hi Virginia!
I’m glad you received the package and I hope you enjoy the novels! Yes, let me know what you think of the Twilight series after you’ve read it!
Hi Cecelia,
Yes I’ve read the “Twilight” series and I enjoyed these stories very much. I believe her success is inspiring, and that the underlying themes are basic but gripping. I headed to the library after I’d seen several emails announcing the “Eclipse” release parties, and I’d decided I needed to check it out for myself. At that time “Twilight” the first in the series was nowhere to be found on library shelves, so I picked up “New Moon” and started with that. The librarian didn’t suggest it, but I felt even in a series, a well-written story should stand on its own, and I found that it did. I read a friend’s copy of “Twilight” next, then the last two “Eclipse” and “Breaking Dawn”. I would say that the first and last books were my favorites, but I enjoyed them all. The story did get rather far out when she was pregnant, but I still found myself unable to put the book down. I never considered it a “vampire story” but always a love story and if I remember correctly, she mentions “Romeo and Juliet” somewhere in the story, doesn’t she? I enjoyed the first movie, and will be looking forward to seeing the others. But reading a story for myself is almost always my preference. It allows me to use my own imagination to “see” the story.