BREAKING DAWN REVIEW BY BLOGCRITICS MAGAZINE
Lisa Damien from Blogcritics Magazine was sent Breaking Dawn early to read and review it. She felt like she needed to read the other three books first (good choice!). Here is what she has to say:
I am pleased to report that I enjoyed the series — Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. The characters and carefully plotted alternate history were significantly developed. My main criticism was that the nature of the main character, Bella Swan, was a bit weak and whiny, almost a mundane stereotype of a teenage girl. While I grew attached to many of the characters around her, I had a hard time sympathizing with Bella herself, even though the stories are conveyed in the first person narrative from her perspective.Ultimately though, I was relieved to discover that my biggest criticism, Bella’s feeble character, found in earlier books was in fact resolved in Breaking Dawn. Avoiding any of those spoilers for those of you who have not yet read it, suffice it to say that Bella truly comes into her own in more ways than one in this final novel. She is a much stronger and more likable girl. The other characters — vampires and werewolves alike, who fans have grown to know and love through the first three books in the series — continued to develop in new ways, diverging from the anticipated plot line to include some new twists.
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Over all, I prefer this review to some of the nastier ones. I don’t feel like the writer is condescending as I have with other reviews.
I do agree with her about Bella. I found her to be a bit whiny. I’m pleasantly surprised to find a favorable review. How do you feel about this review? Agree? Disagree?
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um, the link isn’t working for some reason, so i dont know what the whole review says, but based on the excerpt here, i think i would really like this review- its nice to get something positive and not at all condescending, and also nice that the critic liked BD, since I LOVED it. i know a lot of ppl think of Bella as whiny, etc., but I have 2 admit i never felt that way about her while reading the series- maybe just b/c i related to her in SO many ways, so I felt like she was a lot like me, and therefore i don’t think i was very critical of her- i hope that doesn’t mean IM whiny and annoying? hmmmm. sorry if i am. but neway, it seems like if ppl did think of her that way, BD should have really improved their opinion of her- she really was a very strong character in that book, if not in the others, capable (obviously) of protecting herself and others. So, i guess that based on this excerpt i would have to say that i mostly agree with this critic- and so far i really liked what she had to say.
sorry about that. i fixed it.
I can agree with the review a lot. With the Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn I found the main character Bella just a bit typical of a teenage girl. There was no creativity in that, but found myself just the same absolutely adoring those other characters around her. As clumsy as I am I can relate to Bella on that part, but other than that I think there could have been some work on her as character. I was relieved to find out in the final Breaking Dawn that she finally puts up a front and is devout in saving her daughter and others and has the power just to do that.
I think Bella sounds like a man, and Edward looks like he’s 12 years old. I really like Alice though.
i saw the movie first before actually reading the books because the movies are always WAY different and i didnt want it to ruin it for me. i disagree wit all the criticism on breaking dawn. i thot it was a really good book. i loved how everything worker out for the best and i loved how jacob got to stay in the picture (the end of eclipse killed me when he left). i did wish they had gotten into a fight with the volturi just to see how things would turn out. jane needed to get her butt whooped lol. i also wished that we got to hear more from emmett and alice and the rest of the cullens. i read midnight sun’s first like 264 pages and fell in love wit it. as i read the twilight saga i was always wondering what edward was thinking. when reading from edwards point of view you got to see what the others thought as well and i liked that. the shift in breaking dawn to jacobs point of view was strange at first but i fell in love with it because i always liked jacob and i wanted to hear his opinions on the subjects between him and bella and edward. the only thing that really made me sad about breaking dawn was the fact that IT ENDED!! lol
so i guess what im saying is that people critisize just a little too much because you need to be open minded when it comes to the way people view things, especially when they express their imagination for all to see, like all authors do.
i really doubt stephanie meyer would stoop to the level of staging a catastrophy just to attract attention towards her and her AWESOME books. she seems like a very honest and strait-foreward person and i think its rude for people to judge her like this especially when they dont know if those accusations are true. im sorry if you dont agree with what im saying and im sorry if it seems like im overly deffensive on this topic but you should know that it takes alot to do what stephanie meyer has done and i feel you cant talk trash unless you can prove you can do better. have a nice day
Whereas I LOVED the first 3 Twilight books, BD, for me, was too conveniently summed up for me to love it too. Here’s why: **SPOILERS***
1. Jacob/Bella/Edward love triangle resolved by Jacob falling in love with their daughter!?!?! WAY too convenient. For there to be a truly great love story, like those that SM mentions such as Wuthering Heights, Romeo & Juliet, etc., there needs to be some kind of heartbreak or sacrifice or something. But, I can live with this part of the book.
2. NO BIG FIGHT SCENE!?!?!! It’s the equivalent to JK Rowling sending Voldemort to Hogwarts to kill Harry and then they decide to talk it out over a cup of tea. A total let down. I kept waiting for something tragic (or really, just something) to happen, such as someone getting killed (and again, she could’ve taken the Harry Potter road and not killed off a main character, just someone you could live without, like Jasper or Rosalie) or Jacob and Renesmee having to run off to stay safe because they can’t be tracked by Demetri.
3. EASY ANSWERS FOR EVERYTHING. The 3rd book, Eclipse, was so rife with emotions (largely from the love triangle of Edward/Bella/Jacob), that I was hoping against hope that SM would take a more unseen road, such as Bella or Edward having to kill their child because it was a monster, and Bella deciding she couldn’t live with life with Edward because of it and running off with Jacob/destroying herself. Or, Bella realizing through her pregnancy all the things she was going to miss out on by not being human anymore and staying human and running off with Jacob. I don’t know… maybe it’s my own fear or living forever that makes being a vampire seem like an eternal Hell for me….
Personally I liked the book, no matter how melodramatic it turned out to be. However I seriously disliked the ending of the book and the lack of a final battle (after all the preparations for it). I mean all the third part is about the Volturi’s arrival and the fear of confronting them, but in the end everithing ends perfectly without any loss (excluding Irina). I’m obiously not a writer and I cannot teach Stephany how to write, but if there’s a part of the book that needs to be changed, that is the Cullen vs. Volturi part, it’s so disapointing. If I counld change it, I would make:
Aro never touches Edward so he never discovers the true nature of Renesmee. Instead Aro orders Chelsea to break the bonds among the Cullens and then discovers the mental shield that Bella casts.
Aro orders a physical attack upon the Cullens since both Jane and Alec are incapable of using their powers.
Edward kills Demetri, since he is the worst menace for any vampire who tries to escape the struggle.
Garrett and Kate are killed by Felix (because everybody that has plans for the future dies in almost every movie or book). Emmett fights against Felix but is incapable of defeating him. Bella rages after the death of Kate so she defeats Felix.
Sam dies, so Jacob becomes the only Alpha among all packs (some other wolves die as well).
Jacob escapes with Renesmee but Renesmee fears for her family so she shows Jacob her intentions and runs towards her family.
Renesmee manages to get to Aro and she touches him (Renata is unable to repel her because Renesmee doesn’t represent a threat to her master). The conection between Aro and Renesmee is so strong (due to their contradicting powers) that Aro is able to see the truth.
Aro calls a ceasefire, but Cayo wants to continue. Then Jasper apears to calm Cayo and Alice shows up.
From this point onward the story returns to it’s normal pace.
These are the changes that I would make so the story could have the action everyone was prepared for but that never came.