So, I have to admit it. I read everyone's reviews (even the ones with spoilers) before reading. I just couldn't help myself. I think knowing what I was in for really helped me enjoy the read much better. I didn't have my own expectations of how the series should end to worry about. I was a little scared, though, that I wouldn't enjoy it after reading some negative reviews but I did. I liked it. I couldn't put it down, actually. Especially during the first book. (It is broken up into 3 books.) I read that in one night until 2:30am even though I had to get up at 6:30am for work the next day.
I know most everyone has read this already, but I am going to try and limit myself on spoilers. For those of you who may not have heard about this book (there may be a few, you never know), this is the fourth book in the young adult vampire series by Stephenie Meyer. Twilight was the first. The story centers around Bella Swan and how she meets and falls in love with Edward Cullen, the gorgeous boy in her new high school who just happens to be a vampire. The love, hardache and danger that befalls this unlikely couple is chronicled in the subsequent books, New Moon and Eclipse. Breaking Dawn tidies up all the loose ends and brings the story to an end.
Even after seeing all the reviews, positive and negative, I enjoyed reading the book. I was surprised with some story elements, I called it on others. I was happy with some aspects of the ending, but was also disappointed a little. I really liked the change in narrator in the second book. Bella's personality seemed off a bit throughout the whole book, not quite the same as in the other books. ( A conscious choice I wonder? A way to show maturity to explain Bella's choices?) I wanted more of her humor and sarcasm, less of her Edward obsessive thoughts. Perhaps that is why I enjoyed Book 2 so much. It was fun to see Bella's life and experiences from a different perspective.
I wasn't thrilled with the overly happy ending for everyone. But just because it is not the way I might have liked to see the book end it doesn't mean that it was the wrong way to go. There is nothing wrong with wanting a happy ending, but I would have liked just a little more action before Bella got hers. I really wanted to see a battle take place between the Volturi and the clans. All these great gifts and defenses amongst the vampires and we didn't get to see the results of their use. A friend of mine said that perhaps Meyer was trying to make a statement. That violence isn't always the answer. That we should find ways to avoid wars and conflicts. I don't know.
Anyway, fun read.
I saw some possible open endings that could be written about at another date. Some Jacob centered books to come, you think?
3/5
Twilight is still the best of the four for me, but I think this one was better than Eclipse.
