Breaking Dawn is easily the best of the four Twilight books – it was mesmerising, and I am disappointed that my Twilight journey has come to an end (it's sad but true).
Spoilers contained herein.
There isn't much to say about these books, because they are not particularly well written with any sort of message or themes that are really worth discussing. But I will just make a few comments about what I enjoyed about this book.
I read Breaking Dawn in two sittings because it was entirely impossible to put down. I just had to keep reading and reading until it was finished. I stayed up way past my bedtime in order to finish it and then dreamt all night about vampires, but it was absolutely worth it.
What I enjoyed most about this book was that Bella did not whinge half as much as she usually did.
We also got to see some of the story unfold from Jacob's perspective which provided some interesting relief to Bella's usual melodramatic tone. Having said, Jacob was equally if not more melodramatic in his own way. His narrative voice was also a little too close to Bella's for comfort but that says more about the quality of Meyer's writing than anything else.
Bella just felt more grown up in this book. The events were a lot more adult. She was dealing with issues that I am beginning to think about at the moment. Maybe not the vampire stuff – but marriage and motherhood very much so. So, at last, she ceased to be a teenager with an attitude problem and became someone I could identify with (more so than usual anyway).
I don't care what anyone says. I know these books are trash. I know they show disturbing relationships to their teen readers, and I worry about what effect it will have on them in the future. I don't agree that it's 'no sex before marriage' message is a realistic or helpful message to today's teens (birth control could have been dealt with in this book but wasn't, surely that is a significantly more practical lesson Meyer could have imparted if she has such an interest in this area of social education).
But I can't help it - I love this series, and I loved this book.
7.5 / 8: Brilliant, couldn't put it down. It was amazing and I recommend that you buy it.
Originally posted 29 March 2011 Page Turners
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