Sitting on the Fence - In between loving it & not liking it

[jlorph]

I must say, I almost posted this in the "Stewing over it" thread. However, after I thought about it, I realized that there are a few things that I do like about BD. Let's start with those:

• 1.At least I know what happens. Bella and Edward get their happy ending, which is all I've ever really wanted for them.
  
  2.The Romanian Vampires cracked me up. I wish I had my book with me so I could find the passages, but they were my MUCH needed comic relief at that point in the book!
  
  3.Bella is a natural vampire. I suspected that this might be the case judging by the reactions she had towards Edward and the rest of the Cullens. To me, it just seemed natural that she was meant to be one of them..

And now for my points of contention:

• 1.Superfluous. That is the word that kept running through my head as I read the entire book. There was so much extra information that didn't seem entirely relevant. It felt like every single loose thread needed to be tied up before SM would let go of the story. For me it was just too much of a good thing.
  
  2.Edward, where are you? From the moment he found out about the pregnancy, I felt like had we lost him. It was like the 'real' Edward had left the building or something. And I hated, hated, hated how he kept denying Bella during their honeymoon! (Oh, maybe I shouldn't have used the word hated? Stongly disliked, then...)
  
  3.Renesmee. Um, first of all, I do not like the name. I read the BD FAQs and I understand why SM named her this, but, eww. I guess I pictured her in my head as a little, dainty fairy and the name doesn't really suit her. It's just not ethereal enough. Secondly, I do agree with those who have already so eloquently pointed out that Bella should not have been able to experience pregnancy since she chose immortality instead. Lastly, Jacob's imprinting on her was way too convenient. I grew to like Jacob as the series progressed and I feel like he deserved more than Bella's daughter. He deserved his own female version of Edward.
  
  4.Where was the passion? Was the fire I felt between Edward and Bella caused only by the anticipation of the consumation of their relationship? Sure they continued their physical relationship after Bella transformed, but it didn't feel the same to me. It was almost like they had become too familiar with each other far too soon. When I read online about the Baby Bellas whose conception had been credited to the Twilight series, I completely understood! Of course the mere suggestion of a physical relationship between Bella and Edward would (and does) cause a woman's (my) heart to flutter because they had such a strong level of intimacy! I didn't feel that at all in BD. And I missed it, greatly.

So there it is; my one BD review in one comment! :|

[geepas]

I am a fence sitter. There are points I genuinely disliked and there are points I loved better more so than even in the other books.

Disliked:

I disliked this from New Moon on, but I was quite miffed by Bella and Edward's love being tarnished by Jacob. I like Jacob and the friendship and the end is more of what I would have liked to have seen instead of Bella hurting Edward so much by not being able to contain her feelings for him. Him showing up at the wedding and her disrespect of Edward in her display of affection for Jacob....I didn't like that. She disrespected Edward and their love alot for Jacob...I didn't understand why that had to be that way. She would have died for Edward, but she wouldn't give up Jacob or at least not behave like a twitter-pated pre-teen whenever she was around him? Didn't make sense.

I didn't like reading the book from Jacob's point of view. It was disappointing to me to be reading this entire series from Bella's point of view and then suddenly not know what the crap is going on in her head. I realize SM had to do it this way, because most of what was going on in Bella's head would be focusing surviving and getting through each moment, but it would have been nice to see some more in depth discussions with her and Edward. Some tense moments between Edward trying to save her and Rosalie trying to keep the baby alive and the dynamic of how that played out with Emmett, Alice, Esme and Carlisle. (this would have been a good time to let us inside of Edward's head, not Jacob's)

The absence of the love scenes!!! C'mon!! Talk about frustration upon frustration! I loved the after-description, but I would have liked to have gone in just a teeny bit more. I felt a little gypped after all the build up.

I could have done without the baby. I understand the line of thinking, but as someone else said, that was part of her sacrifice to be with Edward, and it was downplayed. If it had to be done, it should have been an exciting thing, instead they called the baby "it" and "monster" and the birth scene was.....I don't have a word for it.

One word: Renesme??? She nailed every other name perfectly, and the spawn between the two most perfect people in the world has that name. I don't get it.

Liked:

The wedding and honeymoon. I would have liked to hear more conversation with Bella and Edward, maybe them writing their own vows would have been nice. After all the fighting Edward did for that moment, I would have liked to have seen more dialogue between them, however I thought it was all very sweet and the honeymoon scenes where things were being broken really kept my attention.

Stephenie's sense of responsibility to her teen audience. She had alot of physical stuff going on, but it was drilled home that it wouldn't be right without being married. I really respect her for that. Now, if she would have actually included the love scenes to also acknowledge her older readers....that would have been even better.

How SM explained the weird connection with Bella and Jacob (Nessie) when we all knew how much she loved Edward, and how the intensity disappeared after Nessie's birth.

Bella's transformation. It was a little dark, but it would have to be. Edward was amazing and he wouldn't give up to save her. I love the description of her clinging to the burning post, how strong she was to keep Edward from suffering. I liked the weirdness of Bella after she sprung from the table, I would imagine it would be just like that. I loved that she was so good at being a vampire, that she proved to be 'born' for it. I loved her ability.

Fighting the Volturi was perfect. I loved every second of it. And when they all turned to say their goodbyes: I cried. And cried and cried. I had gotten to know all of these character and felt they were family. I cried and said my goodbyes with them. THAT is how there is no doubt in my mind that SM wrote an amazing series, she made me cry over possibly losing part of my family, my fictional family.

The happy ending: At the end, when Bella let Edward hear her thoughts, I cried. I'm so glad that she can do that (when she wants! haha) and let Edward really see how she feels about him. Now he's sure. And she's sure. It was the best ending we could have asked for...even though most of us didn't want it to end!

Fantastic job, SM. Even though I'm a fence sitter, you have added to our lives in a way we will never be able to repay you. :<3:

[DazzlingTiara]

The book was hard to put down just like the others, but I often felt bewildered. It just didn't feel the same as the others. All the conflicts that made the other books so riveting (Edward/Bella/Jacob) were just erased as soon as Renesmee was born (what a name, I found myself saying it out loud over and over to try and pronounce it right so I would stop stumbling over it as I read!) I was glad Jacob finally found someone to imprint on so his pain would be eased, but it felt just a little weird to me. I know, I know -- it wasn't sexual or anything-- but it was still strange. And it was as if Bella almost ceased to exist for him. All this heartache and angst that had me torn up for him were just gone in a poof of smoke. It was just too easy.

What I missed most of all was EDWARD! I wanted more of him, more of his thoughts, more of his interactions. He just seemed to be a secondary character at times.

My thoughts exactly! I have only read BD once, as to be quite honest, I still am not quite sure what to make of it. I know I should read it again as perhaps more of it will fall into place for me. I know that Edward and Bella's relationship changed when she did, but I felt it was almost as though it was turned off like faucet and became something else entirely.

I am sure after reading it again I will be firmly on one side of the fence or the other (although primarily I liked it - there were just a few things I am still struggling with overall).

[AlwaysBella]

Here's what I loved about Breaking Dawn:
-Bella and Edward got married.
-Bella became a vampire.
-Bella and Edward lived happily ever after

That's pretty much all I needed to be happy with the ending. However, I must say that I didn't like that she got pregnant and I don't like Renesmee. Honestly, why did that need to happen? It was just kind of.....disturbing to me. I guess pregnancy/birth kind of disturbs me anyway but drinking blood and having a birth like that. Yikes.

I don't care how innocent the imprinting is; it's creepy for Jacob to imprint on a newborn child.

I wish they had had more of a fight with the Volturi. It just seemed too easy.

That's about it for my complaints!!

[Em4owen]

I did find it was hard a book to put down and I certainly loved parts of it. I'm really happy that Bella became a vampire and her and Edward were happily ever after.

However, I thought the Renesme thing was predictable - I knew Bella would end up pregnant and that Jacob would imprint on Renesmee. It would have been better if there's been less predictable aspects to this part of the story.

Also, I was looking forward to some fighting with the Volturi and there wasn't any. Like the rest of you, I was thinking, is this it?

I'm also sad that it's the last book. I want more!