Not since Harry Potter have we seen such a phenomenon as the Twilight saga. Those of you who have fallen under the spell of this obsession are fully aware of the highly anticipated August release of the fourth book, Breaking Dawn.
Fans eagerly awaited the midnight release parties and rushed home to begin reading as quickly as possible. Two months later the Breaking Dawn fire is still being fueled by the release of the Twilight movie coming in November.
This seemingly unavoidable trend all began with the release of the original book, Twilight, in 2005. This was quickly followed by New Moon, Eclipse, and now, of course, Breaking Dawn. For those, certainly temporary, non-readers allow me to give a quick synopsis of the series. The first book introduces us to Bella Swan who is ostensibly like you or me. She soon becomes involved in an unlikely love.
Why is first love between 17 year olds so unusual? Well in this case, it is because the object of Bella’s affections is a vampire, a vampire who clearly has been 17 for a while.
Throughout the series, the reader experiences the hardships of Bella and Edward’s situation. Stephenie Meyer manages to keep things interesting by providing constantly unexpected conflict.
Breaking Dawn certainly manages to keep up the precedent set by the prior three books, this being the sheer inability to put the book down. Fans were insatiably curious to find out where the characters they have so loyally followed would end up. Readers were immediately bombarded by the obvious events they had been waiting for.
Thankfully the author doesn’t draw out the anticipated action any longer than the first three already do. The 756 page book seems daunting at first, but manages to usher in new shocking plot twists.
In the book you can expect closure on many issues you have been following throughout the series. One conflict many readers may be more than happy to see come to an end was the immanent rivalry between Edward Cullen and Jacob Black.
Although there were many fans who were disappointed by the direction Stephenie Meyer chose to take the plot in, there were also those who found it to be the best of the series.
She should be respected for the fact that she chose to take some artistic liberties to create a unique storyline. Despite this respect, some may find Breaking Dawn to be their least favorite of the series.
This doesn’t mean it isn’t enjoyable. It simply means that it doesn’t really compare to the masterful craftsmanship the author manages on the prior three books. In no way should fans regret dedicating themselves to the saga.
In some sense, one must commend an author who is willing to get creative and not take the easy way out by feeding their built in audience a highly predictable conclusion.
Most people who haven’t yet read any of the books often feel that the plot is in really poor taste and often have no interest in indulging in the series.
Many thought the idea of a vampire love story was really ridiculous and for a long time they refused to read them.
When curiosity finally got the better of them, they were hooked.
To those of you who are still skeptical, no one can make you read this book. The decision is yours.
However from a purely objective perspective, this book is highly recommend as the series to anyone looking for something unique with a little action and a lot of unexpected romance.
