SPOILER ALERT * SPOILER ALERT(sorry, I can't help it this time)
How can you have the last book in a vampire series end without a fight? Especially when all previous books concluded with some kind of violent, external conflict? I tolerated the first, very predictable half of the book because I figured the end would at least be the wonderful fight with the Volturi the whole series has been building up to. But in the end, the promised battle dissipates because of a Dickensian moment of great timing/coincidence (there's even a nowyouseetimmy statement about bullies being cowards), making whole book an anti-climactic disaster. I know I'm not the only reader who felt cheated.
And though these are things teenagers aren't likely to notice when they're swept up in the plot, I found them disappointing:
- There's really no character development. They all stay pretty much the same from beginning of series to the end.
- Again, Meyer relies heavily on dialogue to carry the plot and reveal information.
- The whole series could have been cut in half with some revision and heavy editing--and probably would have packed more of a punch if it had been.
8 comments:
I haven't read any of the series, but my 12 yr old daughter has, and has loved them. We were at a local bookstore for *Breaking Dawn* at midnight August 1/2!
Thanks for visiting my blog and for your Comment about doing a bookstore guest post - I've sent you an email to follow up!
Thanks for visiting my blog. Glad to know that I am not the only person out there with a declining interest in this series.
Amy
http://readingtoolate.net
I enjoyed the first, but the second was a disappointment, and I had no interest left for Bella or Edward.
OK, I agree about the end - I felt it unfortunate that the whole fight scene ended so abruptly. The only possible reasoning behind this would be maybe Stephenie Meyer plans to start a whole new series involving Jacob and Nessie and she would still need the bad guys to be around. I did feel though that Bella's character grew and she actually aquired a backbone once a vampire. That part of the book I liked!
These books have been totally about escaping and suspending belief for a few hours. I found them highly entertaining even if they are not great literature. I agree that the final scenes were lame. And since Edward was my favorite character, I thought he was sadly overlooked in this volume. Probably why I didn't like No. 2 as much.
I'm like you and just didn't care for the last book in this series. I was disappointed in the way it ended.
=) Thanks for visiting me at Oklahomabooklady.
I agree completely! It's completely annoying that the plot is always moved forward via long, boring, three-paragraph-long monolgues. That never happens in reality!
Same with your point about character development. New Moon or Eclipse (can't remember which, I'm not exactly a Twihard) put some spotlight on Rosalie and Jasper, but nothing changed in this book! (Rosalie was kind of annoying, actually.)
AND I ABSOLUTELY AGREE ABOUT THE VOLTURI SCENE! It. Was. So. Anticlimatic!
Yes! Anticlimatic is Stephenie Meyers' middle name! I completely agree with your review and I'm glad to see someone who hasn't been sucked into the media frenzy.
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