I’m a very quick reader, which is handy when you have homework to do which requires a lot of reading. However, not so useful when reading an 800 page novel because you can’t put it down and thus end up not sleeping for a night.
I’m not quite sure how I feel about Breaking Dawn. On one hand I couldn’t put it down. I was so engrossed that I didn’t notice my grumbling stomach empty for over 24 hours or the weight of my eyelids trying to impair my reading. It took me a few chapters to really get into the book. But, this is typical of all novels.
I was finally interested when Meyer decided to reveal Bella’s “condition”. And then I had to remind myself that this writer knows little if anything about vampires. This is a romance series that just happens to have vampires and werewolves in it. If you have read the previous novels in this series, then you know Meyer has taken the vampire and werewolf mythology and thrown it out the window. Then adapted it for her world. Which I am all for. I love when authors re-create or re-imagine tales or stories we find so typical nowadays… like vampires. So, when I found myself scratching my head and wondering ‘wtf?’ seven or so chapters in, I had to find out how the hell Meyer was going to pull this off.
As I finished the book I felt a let down. I was expecting big sacrifices, epic throw downs with vampires and werewolves, plot twists I was never expecting, something to make this book stand out amongst the hundreds in my collection. Well, it only stands out as the biggest in sheer volume next my translation of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey in hardcover. I really need a healthy does of vampire gore. Some blood, guts, flying limbs, innocent deaths, fearful power that leaves me shaking in my boots, and an epic vampire war. I get none of this in Meyer’s PG-13 world. So I have to judge Meyer’s world on teenage romance, life threatening and difficult decisions, character development, and plot.
It was horrible, fantastic, compelling, annoying, dragged on at times, didn’t have enough in others, and as I like to say, “Craptastic.”
More detailed review to come after second reading…
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