Saturday, August 30, 2008

Breaking Dawn (Stephenie Meyer)


"Don't be afraid," I murmured.
"We belong together."

I was abruptly overwhelmed by the truth of my own words.

This moment was so perfect, so right, there was no way to doubt it.

His arms wrapped around me, holding me against him....
It felt like every nerve ending in my body was a live wire.

"Forever," he agreed.






My speculations before the book came out:

- Bella and Edward will be together forever.
- Bella will become a vampire.
- The Cullen family will face the Volturi at the end.
- Some characters will die during the violent encounter with the Volturi.
- Jacob will imprint on Leah.

What happened:
- Bella and Edward lived together forever.
- Bella became a vampire.
- Bella became pregnant! Impregnated by a vampire?! (It's fiction, okay?)
- The Cullen family faced the Volturi at the end with very minimal violence.
- A minor character died, Irina, one of the Denali sisters (the only violent event during the Volturi encounter).
- Jacob imprinted on Renesmee, Bella and Edward's daughter.

Events/People I didn't see coming:
- Bella and Edward's daughter, Renesmee.
- Jacob imprinting on Renesmee.
- Jacob becoming an Alpha.

My reactions/thoughts:
- Overall, the book is okay. But I wished there was more: an ending with a BANG!
- The characters (particularly Bella and Jacob) have matured and you couldn't detect the teenage angst they used to have.
- Bella is not as irritating as she was in Eclipse.
- I wished Edward was a little sweet during the first "morning after" or at least pretended to enjoyed what happened instead of being overly concerned with Bella's state even though it was obvious that she's fine and very happy.
- Jacob and Alice have chemistry. I like them together. But that would never happen since the series has just ended. Unless...
- Emmett is another character I like. He still made me laugh.
- I cried a little during the farewell scene - the one where Bella and Edward said their goodbyes to Renesmee and Jacob.
- I found the book too long. It brought me back to the time when I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and felt that the book seems to have no end. But I don't mind. I love reading, anyway. Haha.
- Jacob... well, well, well... Reading his point of view made me love him. He's just a person in love with someone who couldn't love him back the same way.

I never thought that I would love the Twilight series. I like reading love stories, but not mushy ones. As much as possible, I stay away from hardcore romance novels.

When I first encountered the series, I thought to myself: a love story between a human and a vampire? Eww. How cheesy. But curiosity got the best of me so I bought the book. I didn't read it immediately. But when I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. Just like Bella, I was dazzled by Edward - the vampire who is mostly every girl's dream guy. His love for Bella was so intense that I somehow felt it. Weird, but true.

So I read the series to find out the fate of Bella and Edward's story. Like most Twilighters, I rooted for them. And yes, they ended up together forever.

I am really glad that Bella didn't end up with Jacob. She and Edward belong together.

Jacob is MINE. :D

But I also can't ignore the fact that a part of me is sort-of disappointed with Breaking Dawn. It wasn't as exciting as I expected. I think if there was no Jacob's POV in the book, it would be ultimately boring. I'm actually glad that Stephenie included it. I now understand Jacob better.

It is fiction, so ridiculous things are expected to happen (I still can't get over the fact that Bella and Edward conceived a child). It is not a brilliant piece of writing. But that doesn't mean that it's not worth the wait. The whole book is not a total waste. Questions were answered and the characters were given an ending they deserved.

The Twilight series is still a good read.

Anyway, it's time for me to re-read the whole series. I might appreciate Breaking Dawn better on my second read.

Rating: 2/5

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