Sunday, August 03, 2008

2008 book 117

Stephenie Meyers' Breaking Dawn
I went into this prepared to think it would be cheesy and satisfying. The first part was all Bella and Edward, and they're both a little annoying, so I was like, meh. And the second part was the werewolves, which I liked quite a bit--their group dynamics are fascinating. And then there was the third part--and I was so ready to write a scathing review of how ridiculous so many things were (one minor thing made me crazy! I'll hint at it in the comments)--except that I did, actually, find the end satisfying. And cheesy. B/B-.


PS to Christina--be sure to read the acknowledgements!

THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS. DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS UNLESS YOU ARE PREPARED FOR SERIOUS SPOILERS.

6 comments:

Alicia K. said...

OK, what drove me crazy was the name of a certain new character. Christina always points out that the target audience here is teen girls, and the Bella-Edwad relationship is the sort teen girls imagine, etc. Well, it's the sort of insane name teen girls probably love and it made me nuts! So LAME!

Sociologian said...

I need a rating!!

Alicia K. said...

UGH, I don't know. B/B-?

Specific gripes and spoilers in the next comment! DO NOT READ AHEAD IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED!

Alicia K. said...

OK, so here were a few of my beefs with this book--though I did come around in the end somewhat, these things are still annoying:

--the whole Jacob imprinting thing. The werewolves came to be to fight the vampires, so it's ridiculous that he would imprint on a human/vampire hybrid. Also, it seemed to be that part of imprinting was to pass the genetic imperative/wolf trait along--I doubt that a wolf and a half-vampire can have a kid.

--The whole early Bella/Edward marriage, where she is literally begging for sex and he won't oblige b/c he Knows What's Best For Her. He doesn't treat her as an equal, but as an object.

--After all the warnings about newborn vampires in the last book, for Bella to be able to exercise supernatural self-control is kind of a cop-out. Of course she wouldn't be attracted to her own child in a carnivorous way, but still. Why is she the magic vampire that is able to fight the urge to eat humans so easily?

--On the other hand, it's nice that she gets to save the day for a change. And at least the shield thing was obvious.

Alicia K. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Alicia K. said...

JUST remembered that my comments are posted in the sidebar! Oops!! Sorry to anyone who saw the beginning of the comment and were a little spoiled. Anyway, here it is now that there's some filler in front:
Oh, and I should say the pregnancy thing, though lame, didn't bother me, b/c it really was the only way Meyer could make Bella have it all, or whatever--the vampire stuff and the baby (I was so sure she'd end up human to have a baby, after all).