If I didn't know any better, I'd think that BREAKING DAWN, the fourth and final book in the Twilight series, was a parody of the series itself. It is so ridiculous and badly written it almost must be on purpose.
But, it's not. This is, indeed, the finale to the saga of Edward, Bella, and Jacob. And it's unbelievably bad. So much so, I do believe it is the worst book I have ever read. Ever. I am serious. I don't mean Robin Cook bad, or Danielle Steele bad. Meyer's first three books in this series, which I reviewed below, were actually on par with Cook's and Steele's writing. I mean, it's seventh-grade tortured, rambling diary entry and submit it to a fiction contest bad. It's THAT bad and then some.
While some of the writing in Meyer's first three books was often mediocre and amatuerish, I really enjoyed reading them because of the truly intriguing love story she wove. The story itself had depth and the characters were believable and well-developed. By the third book, ECLIPSE, the reader expected certain things from the characters and we knew their motives and desires.
In BREAKING DAWN, not only is the writing terrible, but the events that unfold are ridiculous, unbelievable, and serve no purpose to the story but to fill up pages. The greatest travesty - and the book's major flaw- is that the characters are suddenly mere shells of their former selves. Jacob and Edward no longer fight for Bella and her soul, but give into her every whim. Bella is no longer afraid of anything and does not even struggle as a new vampire. She gives birth to a creepy promiscuous baby who drinks human blood - but the babe isn't a vampire herself and is actually very sweet. Um - why? What purpose does this serve? Well, it serves the same purpose as Jacob then imprinting with Bella's baby, and Bella becoming the best and sweetest and most angst-free vampire in the world. That is, everyone gets a happy ending.
And I, the reader, am so damned bored and disappointed. What happened to Edward wanting to save Bella's soul? What happened to Jacob at all? BREAKING DAWN has minimal conflict, maximum fairy-tale happy resolutions, and zero arc.
I really wish Meyer had ended the series with ECLIPSE.
BREAKING DAWN is not recommended at all (except for a compost heap or bonfire), even if - and especially if - you read TWILIGHT, NEW MOON and ECLIPSE. Just pretend the fourth book doesn't exist and imagine your own ending for Bella, Edward and Jacob. Anything you can think of will be better than this book, trust me.
No comments:
Post a Comment