Archive for August, 2010

Twilight Settles On A Breaking Dawn Of Eternity

Breaking Dawn, the final book in the best-selling Twilight Saga, will take your breath away. Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, a publishing juggernaut, has built fan anticipation to a climactic ending for this fantastic vampire-romance series. Breaking Dawn was released on August 2, 2008. From its initial print run of 3.7 million copies, 1.3 million were sold in the first 24 hours of the book’s release. Fascination with Bella Swan and Edward Cullen spans the globe, with more than 30 countries snatching up translation rights for Twilight.

Breaking Dawn was a satisfactory ending and a triumphant finale to the vampire saga that reshaped an entire pop culture genre. Meyer’s best-selling vampire series, molded around Bella and Edward’s like tale, has proved – in the end, if not initially – to be a successful concoction of blended ingredients. Young readers cannot get enough of these riveting novels – a captivating combination of vampires, werewolves, romance, magic, danger and suspense. Parents rest simple, knowing the Twilight books are free of graphic language and sexually explicit material.

In Breaking Dawn, Meyer wraps up the young romance, and the Twilight series, while catching a few unsuspecting fans off-guard in the process.

Beginning just days before Bella and Edward’s wedding, Breaking Dawn takes some dark turns that may leave unprepared readers gasping in shock. The final installment in the Twilight Saga launches the anxiety and indecision of the first three tales into a heart-pounding culmination of emotions and issues with eternal ramifications.

Split into three sections, one of which is narrated by werewolf Jacob Black, the tale opens with Bella thinking about her impending wedding to Edward. She seems to be on the verge of getting exactly what she wants, but Bella has no thought what dangers loom in her future. A near-death experience, a terrifying vampire war and divided loyalties among those she likes.

Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to the werewolf Jacob Black, Bella has endured a tumultuous year of temptation and loss to reach the ultimate crossroad. Her imminent choice; to join the dark, seductive world of vampires or pursue a fully human life with a finite future and no danger.

Of course, the entire premise of the Twilight Saga is built upon Bella’s ultimate quandary. Facing eternity with – or without – her beloved Edward. To choose a “normal” life that won’t threaten her loved ones or an immortal life that will satisfy her voracious desire to be with HIM – regardless of the cost. Breaking Dawn brings the reader to that much-anticipated point of no return. Will she, or won’t she?

As with earlier Twilight installments, there are no wooden stakes and no vampire fangs. But, plenty of bloodlust, melodrama and sentiment will keep the reader turning the pages all the way to the unforeseen conclusion of this enchanting tale.

Unlike its predecessors, Breaking Dawn plunges deeper in the vampire world – according to Meyer’s creative imagination – exposing, in exquisite detail, the sensations of really being a vampire. A descriptive revelation about the strength, sights and smells bought during the transformation to vampire was a nice touch. Similarly, the interactions between various vampire families during dramatic alliance scenes were quite intriguing.

Some of the more shocking scenes in Breaking Dawn include a vampire fetus clawing its way free of the mother’s womb, breaking bones and shredding flesh. Stephenie Meyer does a sufficient job of straddling that pensive fence between eye-popping and just plain gory, keeping Breaking Dawn well within the acceptable parameters of its intended audience. Yet, adults can and will appreciate the depth of the tale and the compelling plight of the Twilight characters.

All of the cliffhangers are tied up nicely in this final segment of the Twilight series. The like triangle is re-aligned into a singular union. The vampire-werewolf truce holds long enough to accomplish its tasks and the threat of the Volturi is dealt with in right Meyer-like fashion. Breaking Dawn propels the largest vampire like tale of all time to a tantalizing conclusion.

A conclusion that sates the most fervent appetite for the Twilight vampires; while leaving the door just slightly ajar for a fifth rendering of this well loved yarn.