26 « May « 2009 « Medieval Bookworm

Review: Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer

This review/opinion post is probably going to be dripping with spoilers, so if you are considering reading this series, you may not want to read it.

Bella has agreed to marry Edward at long last so that he can turn her into a vampire and they can spend eternity together. An unexpected arrival on their honeymoon and a bit of vampire history leaves Bella and her family in grave danger to which they have little recourse beyond Bella’s new powers and vampire friends from all over the globe.

I think we’ve all heard how ridiculous this book is. I had it thoroughly spoiled for me so I knew exactly what was coming, and it wasn’t really less crazy because of that. To be honest, it feels like an entirely different series. Bella-as-vampire is a far cry from Bella-as-human although it was SO NICE when she stopped feeling inferior and actually grew a spine. It’s a shame it took her amazing vampire powers to get there, though. Switching the narrator over to Jacob was not even as nice as I would have expected given that he is far and away my favorite character in this series. Instead, we get him complaining, too. I know books need conflict, but honestly, he complains so much about Bella that it just drove me up the wall. So much whining could have been cut out of this book and it wouldn’t have suffered at all, especially given after Renesmee’s birth (disgusting scene, by the way, and not only does she have this ridiculous name but her nickname is Nessie!) he completely switches focus and it’s like he never cared for Bella at all. I don’t like the whole imprinting concept at all, it seems like a way to cop out of more actual love story.

It also particularly irritated me that after all the worrying about Bella turning into a vampire, she’s just absolutely perfect at it. I guess she had to be good at something, but after the complaining and the stress, it turns out to be nothing. So many words are wasted worrying and lamenting over nothing in this book.

I would also like to know how anyone could not notice that their partner was chewing on the bed while they were having sex.

I did like the wedding scene, though. I don’t really think anyone should get married so young after such a short acquaintance, particularly given that Bella didn’t even really want to get married, but wedding scenes always get me, maybe because my own is happening so soon.

So, I guess that’s the end of the Twilight series for now. It’s a shame the conclusion wasn’t, well, better. I have to admit that I spent most of this book sighing over how ridiculous many of the plot developments were.

Buy Breaking Dawn on Amazon.

Weekly Geeks: The Start of Summer

wg-relaxing-url5 Since I have an interview this morning, I’m a little nervous and thought I’d focus on something happier: summer! And so we have my first Weekly Geeks post. I read so much that I have trouble fitting memes in and have decided to go ahead and do the more flexible ones, so I can fit them in between book reviews. Here’s this week’s task:

Again with Memorial Day Weekend here in the U.S. starting traditionally on Friday evening, it also is unofficially the start of summer. You’ve probably been asked this in other meme groups in which you participate, but do your reading habits change over the summer? Do you choose lighter fare? What do you enjoy to take to the beach, for example? What is the ultimate summer book? OR what are your favorite travel guides — official or unofficial guides? Again, an example, I think of Holidays In Hell by P.J. O’Rourke, of places I’d rather not vacation. Along those lines, where do you vacation? Any places you recommend or even don’t recommend?

My reading habits barely ever change. Maybe it’s because I almost never go to the beach, either! Despite living only about an hour away from the Jersey shore while with my parents, I can’t swim. We moved around a lot when I was a kid and I was very shy, so somehow I never got signed up. By the time it became weird, I was already scared of water from an altercation with a floating device attached to my back at a friend’s pool party. I’ve heard they’re no longer sold because of this very problem. I don’t feel the lack much, to be honest. Keith and I want to honeymoon in a very warm place with beaches this fall, but we’re not sure if we can afford that yet, so right now my next few months are very likely beach-free.

Were I to choose some ideal beach reads, though, I’d go with lighter fiction. Inevitably, going to a beach involves traveling, unless you’re lucky, and I know that’s stressful. So who wants to read something angsty or thoughtful when they’ve got their mind on where they’re going? And once arrived, relaxation is surely in order. For me, this means romance, YA, or perhaps some of the urban fantasy genre I’m just discovering. Sometimes regular fantasy works too, as there’s nothing like a great chunkster when you have nothing but time, but I’d prefer to find one that wasn’t too deep. I’d like to calm down, not spend 800 pages worrying over whether my favorite character in the book is going to make it to the end.

I’m not sure if I could choose the perfect summer read. What do you think? Is there a book that I really should read this summer?