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Re: Breaking Dawn-I didn't like it

Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:15 pm
by ana;
Amivera wrote: I used to as well. I have the same problem— halfway through a novel (the furthest I've ever gotten), I suddenly lost all inspiration. After three months of trying to write for it again, I just gave up.

I used to really respect authors who could pull off an entire novel, but you know what?
NOT SO MUCH NOW, SMEYER!

An author who sits down and types it all up in three months:
-main characters with no personality
-no plot
-useless fluff
-a thesaurus that has been thoroughly RAPED (can you say ADJECTIVE OVERLOAD?!)
-a completely copied, overdone storyline
-Mary Sue's and Gary Stu's

If that's what it comes down to, I don't want to finish my novel. I want a real story like The Kite Runner. I want a story with characters who ruin their lives, who have flaws— not this out-of-my-Why are we talking about a donkey? Happy Ending. :evil:

I know Breaking Dawn incorporated a lot of what was in Forever Dawn, but that was written BEFORE New Moon and Eclipse, which means that it just didn't fit.
I know, while I was reading Breaking Dawn I was so dissapointed, but I didn't knew how ridiculous it actually was until I finish it reading, I was like, wait.. did I just read the ACTUAL 4TH BOOK or a FANFICTION? Because that's exactly what look likes.

And I rather get sued for not completing the 4th book than publish the poorest story ever. Terrible flaws as a writer there, changing POV'S, not stickin to the main plot. Holes in the plot.. No character development. It was a writer's worst nightmare, seriously.

I'm guessing the people that liked it are the ones that love happy endings, I don't have a problem with happy endings if they're well done, but after THREE books anticipating a fight with the Volturi, I expected at least some damage done after that.

And I adore the first three books, so it's way sad for me.

Re: Breaking Dawn-I didn't like it

Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:56 pm
by NKistheshiz
I have yet to finish it, but from what I've read, I don't really like it.

I'm used to reading long novels by now (thanks to the Twilight series.). This one just bored me. I was hooked on it, at first. I read the first book in one night. But now... I'm relucant to finish it. The story just seems to drag on forever. I don't know if I can finish it. Right now, nothing is really happening. They've had the baby but there doesn't seem to be anything else going on. So yeah, that's my opinion.

Re: Breaking Dawn-I didn't like it

Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 9:09 pm
by twilight1909
PLEASE READ (and hear me out):

I never hated BD but, like all of you, there were a lot of things I did not like. I felt robbed and dissatisfied with many aspects of Breaking Dawn. I almost lost the compulsion to continue reading half-way through…talk about an unexpected letdown. Reading those books is like an obsession to me. The sudden pregnancy, Edward being miserable and pushed aside, Jacob’s POV, Bella practically dying, the bloody delivery… I had to chew it over and accept the book for what it was before I could read on. Once I hit Bella book 3, I found the pieces really falling into place, but still not without some disappointments. Ex: Charlie's acceptance of ignorance on the whole matter... I mean really.

:!: :arrow: I urge everyone to listen to her interviews or visit "http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/bd_faq.html" if you haven’t already, and read SM’s responses to some of our irritating questions.

This helped me gain a new appreciation for the book. The “Rob Effect” was actually true for me in both senses: now I love Robert as Edward and BD as the last book. Please don’t cast away my opinion or disregard me because I’m posting on the “I didn’t like it” thread – I WAS one of you, and you are who I’m trying to reach. I am certainly not implying that SM’s insight will change your opinion or alleviate all disappointment; I just hope it will shed some light on Breaking Dawn (no pun intended). We’re all original Twilight fans and this kind of disappointment is frustrating and heartbreaking. Lessoning that, even if just by a fractional amount, might help you be more at peace with the end of an amazing series.

First and foremost, we wrongly assumed that there would be an epic battle . The cover of BD not only depicts Bella’s transformation, but it alludes to the “anticlimactic” ending. Like the art of playing chess, the battle revolved about mind tricks and manipulation, not a physical attack. It was a power game: which pieces could be used effectively? I was initially angry about it too, but SM would be a joke-of-a-writer to have the fight and let the Cullens win (or not) without huge losses. There is no denying that the sheer number, experience, and ability of the Volturi would have made many deaths inevitable. I don’t think I could live with any deaths in the Cullen family, except maybe Rosalie, so I would have been much angrier with that kind of ending. SM even used a page from The Merchant of Venice as a place for Alice’s clue - another story that centers on impending doom but does not end in bloodshed. In BD, each side uses a strategy to hold the other’s words against them. Edward in particular did an excellent job with this. Also, Carlisle repeatedly told everyone that there would not be a fight, only a chance to prove their innocence. They achieved their goal without violence and exposed the Volturi for what they really are. That’s a pretty big feat.
These tidbits helped me be at ease with the anticipated battle, or lack thereof.

My biggest issue with the entire plot, however, was different than most. Of course I had a problem with Bella becoming pregnant (and why so soon?), but I simply could not wrap my head around how Edward was able to have sex, which ultimately led to the meat of the book - Renesmee and the Volturi conflict. SM offers a well thought-out explanation for this on that website. She never said vampires can’t impregnate; obviously, as this was the case with Bella. A lot of you are upset because you think she went back on her words in the previous books. SM said vampires can’t have children. Well, Bella was not a vampire at the time.

As stated in the book, a woman vampire’s body could not adjust to having a baby. Vampire men may not have what we call blood or sperm (they don’t have what we would call skin, either) but in SM's world, they do have genetic makeup in their venomous fluids, which act like blood. She had this figured out from the beginning of the saga when Bella did her vampire research. SM herself stumbled upon the Incubus and knew that’s what Edward would be. She kept it a secret for the element of surprise, but that was at the heart of the story SM wanted to tell. At some point, whether we liked it or not, Bella would get pregnant and have a mutant-like child with Edward. So for the remaining books, SM planned the inevitable and was careful with her words; you can see this when you read those conversations between Bella and Edward. Saying BD was written hastily or sounds like fanfiction might be your opinion but, rest assured, she had the story made up in her mind a very long time ago.

SM said: “It's a hard thing to have people unhappy with you, but there's nothing I can do. Either Breaking Dawn entertains you or it doesn't. If I could go back in time, knowing everything I know right now, and write the whole series again, I would write exactly the same story. (The writing would be better, though—practice makes perfect.) This is the story I wanted to write, and I love Breaking Dawn. It's everything I wanted in the last novel of my saga. People's reactions don't change that.”

You probably disagree, but that gives me a lot of respect for her.

Don’t lash out at me for writing this. I’m simply trying to lesson some of the disappointment, if at all possible, that I initially felt. If this didn't help... then by all means, rant on!

Re: Breaking Dawn-I didn't like it

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 2:52 am
by ana;
You know, I don't have a problem with the story.

I mean.
Every writer is free to write whatever they want right? That's the way she wanted to end the saga, that's perfect. You should stick to your ideas. I may have disliked the story, but she's the writer, not me.

The thing I really hated, is that she didn't stick to her plot.
Breaking Dawn was like a new story, all the way.

Bella changed so much, she's not stubborn anymore, or clumsy. It's not the same Bella. And after becoming a vampire she becomes this confident, flirty person. Really? Bella who?

Edward, don't get me started on Edward. Where was Edward? Nowhere. His old fashion manners where gone, his old romanticism, he let Bella get her way so many times, something he never did.

Changing POV's, for me the Jacob book was the only thing I really enjoyed, but it's not exactly professional to change POV's in the last book, when we were all familiar with Bella's narration.

And so many things: The love between Edward&Bella was not the same, The Cullens were way abscent the whole book, all the new Vampires took away the whole focus of the novel, changing the "Warevolves" to "Shape-shifters".. Etc, etc. Everything was so fast, scenes change quickly, nothing is fully explained, it was like lazy writing.

I know Forever Dawn was written before New Moon and Eclipse, but I think she tried to push this HUGE ending into 600 pages. Probably it would've been better in two books, with more content, more plot.

Re: Breaking Dawn-I didn't like it

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 8:14 pm
by twilight1909
Yes, it would have been much better if it were written as two books. I was upset by some of those things too.
We just have to understand that Bella can't be the same person when she's a vampire. I thought she stayed pretty Bella-like, especially the day after the transformation, though the clumsiness-turn-graceful was a bit much. I guess there's no such thing as an uncoordinated vampire.

I totally agree with the lack of Edward - that was very disappointing for me. Resnesmee overshadowed the love story that is essential to the Twilight saga. Edward was put on the back burner. I don't think he really changed, he was just free to love Bella without caution, but there was not enough time devoted to their relationship. Did Edward really never let Bella get her way? I think we discovered this weakness back in Eclipse: he used to be firm in his decisions regarding her safety around him, but he found it almost impossible to say no as their relationship progressed. (ex: agreeing to have sex if she married him, even though he was very against the thought of it. He could hardly resist her pleas.)

Yeah the change in POV - that took me a long time to get used to. At first I hated it, but in the end it actually made me like Jacob. I found that I'd rather hear his side of the story than Bella's perspective on dying from her pregnancy and seeing Edward so miserable every day. ugh.

The last thing I want to mention... the wolves were never the kind of werewolves we typically think of. True werewolves bite their victims and transform the innocent into one of their own. Jacob and his pack only inherited their transformations. There was a hint about this at the end of Eclipse when Edward says to Victoria (referring to Seth), "Is he really so much like the monster James tracked across Siberia?" There is a distinction between these two, but SM said it was not enough to address until it came to saving their lives. The change from "werewolves" to "shapeshifters" was another strategy. Edward used a play on words to kill the Volturi's threat against the wolves.

I'm not trying to argue with you, and don't worry I won't keep giving my feedback about particular aspects. I do think the book was too rushed. I'm just trying to show that there's a lot more reasons behind SM's decisions than some of us like or want to believe.

Re: Breaking Dawn-I didn't like it

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 9:36 pm
by ana;
Yeah, I know there are.
I did read the FAQ, even before reading BD.
And I was like, wtf? People didn't liked it?
Then I found I was one of them.

But, I don't know.
Is hard to explain, it seemed so different. Like, the books didn't match.
Maybe she should've adjusted BD a little more, so it woul've fit with the previous books.

Re: Breaking Dawn-I didn't like it

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 4:11 am
by mmccormick
I did not enjoy BD as much as Twilight or Eclipse I did like it better than new moon though.
First of all, pregnant. WTF. and yeah Bella wants to be a mom all of a sudden whoa okay, and even the brats name is annoying. Rennesmee or however the hell you spell it.
the honeymoon was hawt, till the whole OHEMMGEE im preggers. and the fight or, oh my mistake the lead up to the confrontation between the Cullens and their peepz vs the Volutri was the longest thing of my entire life, by the last few chapters I had to force myself to read them so I didnt have to bring it on the plane (I was in Hawaii while reading the whole series) I mean I read Eclipse in under 12 hours, 12! and BD took days, and Jacob imprinting on the little nudger, ew and weird and just WTF again, shes a Vampire, maybe half but still she is. And jacob and Edward becoming BFF for life.
I am going to try and read it again when I am more positive and maybe it will grow on me.

Doubt it.

Re: Breaking Dawn-I didn't like it

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:26 am
by crashing_waves
You know, when my friend told me there were quite some negative responses to Breaking Dawn, that there were fans who didn't like it, I was sure I wasn't going to be one of them. Once I'm into something (either a book or a TV series) I pretty much love all the canon stuff, so it was a surprise to me that I found I didn't like BD.

I had been looking forward to reading BD for over 2 months and when I started reading it a week ago, it didn't capture me. I read two chapters and decided to continue with the wedding the next day. And all through that day I was numb. There was no feeling in the book. Bella wasn't the same and the plot was just way too weird.

Of course, like most of you here, I had a hard time accepting Bella getting pregnant. It's just not possible. It shouldn't be possible. I know SMeyer only said vampires couldn't get pregnant and that Bella wasn't a vampire at that time. So I read the FAQ on her website, but I still think that it shouldn't be possible for vampires to have kids with humans.

To quote SMeyer:
However, they don't produce tears because tears exist to protect the eye from damage, and nothing is going to be able to scratch a vampire's eye.
Similarly, throughout the vampire's body are many versions of venom-based fluids that retain a marked resemblance to the fluid that was replaced, and function in much the same way and toward the same purpose.
So my conclusion is that the venom fluids are there for the same purposes as the human fluids were for in the human body. A man's body has seminal fluids to be able to create other humans. But vampire women can't get pregnant, and if vampire men wanna create a new vampire they just bite one, so IMHO there is no need for a vampire man's body to have venom seminal fluids.

You know, I had a hard time thinking Bella was bitten by Edward by the end of Twilight (when I still thought it wasn't part of a series). So I was dreading the moment Bella would be turned into a vampire. It would be a painful experience and I was curious to see how SMeyer would bring that to her readers. And then I was so numb while I was reading the book, the whole changing her stuff went just pass by me. Didn't even make me angry or sad. Zero feeling there.

On to the name of the kid. One word: horrible. If SMeyer wanted something special and combine the names of Bella's two mother figures, she could have given them a different name to make something nice out of it.

And then to have Jacob imprinting on the little thing was just too weird. I was actually starting to like him and Leah together. Besides, it made me wonder if Bella and Jake's friendship was just all a joke, that there was only some kind of bond between the two of them because Jake was meant to be with Bella's kid.

The whole Bella-not-being-newborn-vampire-ish thing. The clumsy Bella, never really top of her class is now skipping the difficult steps of the newborn vampire. Not only that, she also seems to control he powere incredibly fast. Impossible.

And then Edward out of the picture. What happend to the Bella whose world revolved around the man she loved? There wasn't even really a scene between Edward and his daughter. Every girl knows that fathers have a special place in their heart for their daughters, where was the father-daughter bonding scene and Bella secretly watching them scene, SMeyer?

The battle scene was just anti-climactic. In my opinion, there wasn't even really a mental battle. If you give one of your characters a super shield that protects everybody, the outcome of the battle is pretty much obvious, don't you think?

The only thing I did like about the book was Jake's POV. Though unprofessionally, to read his view on things was interesting and I really liked seeing the dynamic of the pack.

Before BD, my least favorite book was New Moon, because Edward wasn't there and it was just a really hard time for Bella. But even New Moon is ten times better than Breaking Dawn, because with New Moon I cried. Breaking Dawn didn't even do that.

Re: Breaking Dawn-I didn't like it

Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:38 am
by bodysnatcher
I reaaaaally wish that i could say that i liked Breaking Dawn. Ever since I finished reading breaking dawn, I haven't been able to pick up another book in the series.
reasons why i didn't like BD:
1) The writing was very bad. I know a lot of people don't like to hear this about Stephenie Meyer, but I have to admit that the writing was amateur and predictable. I liked the series despite it not being literarily savvy. In fact, New Moon has always been my favorite book because I felt like that was SM's best writing in the entire series. (not counting The Host which was an amazing book.)

2) ONE WORD: anticlimactic.
I think that even those who luuurved Breaking Dawn know what I'm talking about so there shouldn't be a need to elaborate on THAT.

3) Bella getting pregnant. that was a giant shock for me, I couldn't believe that SM made Bella pregnant. It's not because of the whole, "vamps can't have babies" thing. I just think it made it so cheesy. As soon as Bella got pregnant and started acting like the archetypal "new mommy" character I felt she was unrelatable.

4) The characters were so different. Wth was up with Alice in the second part of the book??? She was way out of character in the second part of the book. Edward seemed out of character also... he was pretty much a TOOL for half of the book. Either that or a wimpy idiot. He was another character that was ruined by that blasted pregnancy.

5) ECLIPSE BECAME POINTLESSS!

6) Renesme. Y is it so pivotal for writers to make a happily ever after with a child? It's so cliche. Bella and Edward having the child took away the essence of the book. What i once thought was a cute book about innocent, yet wise-beyond their years teens.. became a book about old newlyweds :l

7) MAJOR PLOTHOLES: for example, the question of how the hell the Denali coven found out about the werewolves killing Laurent is never answered or mentioned. It makes NO SENSE!

8) grammar errors, comma splices, etc.

9) No one died. I know I'm weird, but I was hoping that the book would leave me sad over someone. For example, as much as i luuuuurrrvvve Jake, i really wanted him to die. I wanted to mourn him a little and I think Jake would've been the only character that would have had a profoundly deeeep effect on me.

10) really, really, really boring parts. (i.e. training for volturi, bella hunting, anticipating the volturi, the volturi's arrival, lame bella/jacob/renesme parts, bella acting like hot mommy of the year, etc.)

* sorry it was long, i've just had a lot on my chest. :(

Now, GOOD THINGS ABOUT BD!
Jacob's chapter titles
emette's sex jokes
b+e's honeymoon
the last 2 pages of the book <3
Jake's POV

dasss it. my wounds are still healing :/
if anyone is still recovering from the after shock, PM me.

Re: Breaking Dawn-I didn't like it

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 11:25 pm
by sleepingfear
I just found this out and now I'm not so sure I like the book.
Breaking Dawn, pp. 114 wrote:He shrugged, unperturbed. "Kaure's part Ticuna Indian. She was raised to be more superstitious-or you could call it aware-than those who live in the modern world. She suspects what I am, or close enough... They have their own legends here. The Libishomen-a blood-drinking demon who preys exclusively on beautiful women."
When I read the book, I didn't think anything of this. But then I heard about it through a few Brazilian readers.

Apparently, Libishomens don't exist in the native Brazilian folklore. Lobisomens do. And they:
1) aren't vampires. The lobisomem is a werewolf (lobi = lobo [wolf] + somem = homem [man])
2) don't prey exclusively on pretty girls. They prey on whatever is moving;
3) don't go around fathering children. This is done by the "boto cor-de-rosa" (pink boto, a river dolphin), who during the full moon nights gets out of the water in the shape of a beautiful man and seduces pretty women to father his children.
And in Brazilian folklore, women never die from giving birth to half-demon children. They don't go chewing their way out of the their mothers.

I can already hear the people saying, "But it was just a plot device!" or something like that. The Brazilian Ticunas are real people, though, and they deserve to have their stories told accurately. If SMeyer is going to use a real people group, she better be sure she's portraying them correctly and with integrity. I was happy to hear that all the Quileute myths in the books are actual myths. But apparently her researcher took a break for BD.