Breaking Dawn: The Twilight Saga, Book 4

 Review

Common Sense Media says

Last book of supernatural soap saga is slightly more mature.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this series is enormously popular with teen and older tween girls. The main characters -- Bella, 18, mortal, and Edward, vampire -- have sex after they're married. Little is described in detail except that broken furniture and bruises are found on the next day (thanks to vampire super-strength). The goriest part of the book is a supernatural birth scene with lots and lots of blood, cracking bones, and near death. Vampires spend half the book fearing for their lives and the lives of family and friends.

  • This book may appeal to fantasy- and romance-loving teens, even those who don't exactly consider themselves to be readers.
  • Sacrificing everything for those you love and embracing your gifts are two big themes.
  • Finally Bella gets to be a stronger character here, an equal to her new husband. How she's willing to get there, though, is a little frightening.
  • One extremely gory supernatural childbirth scene with lots of blood, breaking bones, and a near death. Vampires hunt and feed on large game in the forest.
  • After she's married at 18, Bella has sex with her vampire husband, but it's not described in detail. She also has feelings of desire. Werewolves are naked when they transform back into humans.
  • Not applicable.
  • The Cullens own a lot of high-end cars, which are mentioned by brand name. The vampire family buys many extravagant gifts and wears each of their designer outfits only once.
  • Morphine is given to a human in pain.

What's the story?

Despite Bella's initial reluctance to be a teen bride, she and her beloved vampire Edward tie the knot at the beginning of BREAKING DAWN. Then comes the honeymoon ... which leaves Bella pregnant with a baby that saps her strength and health as quickly as it grows inside her. The baby's birth leads to massive changes in the lives of all of the series' main characters, particularly werewolf Jacob and Bella herself. It could also lead to more trouble from the meddling Italian Volturi -- which prompts the Cullens to recruit a virtual army ready to stand by their side at any cost.


Is it any good?

 

Fans finally get what they want at the beginning of this fourth book in the bestselling Twilight Saga: a fairytale wedding, a honeymoon, and s-e-x. Once that's out of the way, teens who are just in it for the romance shouldn't go any further. The small percentage of readers who are in it for the blood and supernatural creatures will find both, but one of the creatures turns out to be pretty bizarre and ridiculous, and there aren't enough compelling plot twists and suspenseful moments to carry the book through the full 755 pages. There's plenty of talking, though. And fear that something really sinister is coming for all of them. But when the force they all fear does finally come for them, all the build-up goes nowhere.

 All the books in the series always ran too long, but they made up for the length with fun fantasy characters, plenty of romantic tension, and a good final battle at the end. This time the characters get everything they want at the beginning of the book and leave fans hanging at the end.


What families can talk about

  • Families can talk about the popularity of the series. What draws so many super fans to the books? The romance? Melodrama? Supernatural elements? Very handsome characters?

  • This is the conclusion to a series that already included three verrrrrry long books Did it live up to your expectations, or did you think this book is too long? How would you have written it differently?


This review was written by Carrie R. Wheadon
Kid, 12 years old
March 27, 2011
 
If your mature it's fine
Okay, everyone says that this book is like, "Super inappropriate" or something, but it's really not. I'm 11 and I've read it and they don't go into detail with, you know. But there is a very bloody violent scene in which Bella gives birth to a vampire baby. I would still say a mature 11 year old could read it.

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Adult
October 3, 2009
 
Bella a poor role model.
I've read all four books in this series. Stephenie Meyer, get thee to an editor! This is just plain bad writing. The sentence and paragraph structure is chop-suey, descriptive narrative non-existent. I don't like Bella. She is a whiny, mean-spirited, and has a death wish. On her first day in schoool, Eric offers to help her find her next class, and she says he's over-helpful, compares Mike to a golden retriever. Edward has all the warning flags of being an abuser. Girls, if a boy sneaks into your room to watch you sleep, commands all your time, isolates you from others, physically restrains you, run-fast-in the other direction. That is not love.

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Adult
July 18, 2009
 
Good for adults and 16+
The twilight saga is meant for a adults and late teens. The fan base is way to young. I believe this book and the others can negatively effect young girls. Bella is helpless and hopeless with out edward. She quits school, doesnt go to college to be with him. She also get married and pregnant at 18. This makes here out to be a damsel in distress and is anti- feminism. Worst of all this protrayal of a weak female obsessed by love is treated as to be perfectly fine by the writer rather then unhealthy as it is. Bella and Edward have violent and rough "relations". "Relations" are protrayed many times in this book. After one time she is left bitten, bruised, and scratched by edward. Bella, of course, gets pregnant with a supernatural baby of some sort, which steals away all of her strenght and life as it grows. The birth of the child is highly gory, with blood breaking bones, and a near death. There is also nudity in this book. My 12 year old sister will have to wait to read this one.

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Teen, 15 years old
July 22, 2009
 
Some things to know: 1. Bella and Edward get married right out of high school. 2. Edwards family has an ISLAND. 3. When things are broken, Edward doesn't care at all. 4. S*x is mentioned alot in the book. 5. All Bella thinks about is having s*x with Edward. 6. Bella has an unexpected pregnancy. 7. Bella almost dies(again). 8. Bella becomes a vampire. 9. Bella has some weird baby(half human half vampire-strange). 10. Bella acts drunk when thinking of names for the weird baby(ex:EJ(Edward Jacob), and Renesme). 11. Unrealistic(The baby talking at a week old;growing rate;baby's weird power). 12. Bella's dress tears way up her thigh, while hunting. 13. Rare vampire "powers" become very common. 14. Bella has many powers, because she has to, or else the book wont be interesting(uh huh...ya right!). 15. Vampire "powers" adapt from reading minds, and seeing decisions, into superhero powers, which makes the whole story seem more like a comic book. 16. Bella forges papers. 17. Bella isnt very smart (ex: Bella doesnt think that after she had s*x with Edward that she might be pregnant, and alittle bit sooner, due to the fact that Edward is a VAMPIRE! 18. Bella doesn't follow through with the whole "newborn vampire horrible first year". 19. Bella's life is perfect(impossible!) 20. Everything that Bella does turns out positive for her team in the end(ya right!).

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Teen, 16 years old
February 13, 2011
 
This book isnt bad. Honestly my parents dont know what I read so........ Yeah : D
..........................All the reviewers are 12 O_e I personally dont like the Twilight series. Its VERY poorly written. The last book revolves around Bella and her want for sex. Jacob and his need to have sex with Bellas newborn. Edwards controling,as usual. And around 200 pages of it is them talking about a war. Another 100 is about a war that doesnt happen. And about 300 describing how sexy Edward is. I bet most younger kids wouldnt even understand what was going on. I hardly did : /

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Adult
November 15, 2010
 
This is what usually follows eating ...
If you don't know where I'm going with that let me give you a hint: you have to sit down to do it. I found nothing positive about any of these books or the movies. Product placement runs rampant throughout the entire series and the basis of the relationship between Bella and Edward is stalking, moping, depression and attempted suicide. This book isn't for anyone under fifteen and anyone over fifteen should be smart enough to veer far away. The prose in this book is on a third-grade level and, what's worse, the author based it off of a fantasy she had with her and a seventeen-year-old boy. It's terrifyingly one-dimensional characters are not only idiotic, but, if they were in a horror film, would all be dead just before page one ended. Unfortunately they all survive, Bella and Edward have a child who, regrettably, is named Renesmee and is doomed to be tormented for her unfortunate name for the rest of her life, and Jacob falls in love with said infant, which is just disgusting. I don't know what possessed the author to write this garbage but one thing's for sure: she needs an exorcist before anymore green vomit explodes from her throat! Not only that, but even the fact that there's mentioned sex in this book makes it inappropriate for anyone below fifteen. The only good thing, though, is that it's so poorly written I had a hard time realizing what was happening until I went back and read it a few more times. Poorly educated readers might find this a joy to read simply because it's probably the only thing they've ever read. Here's a tip: pick up any other book. Any one. Half of the people who've read this and think it's a work of art don't know Anne Rice, Mercedes Lackey or even J.D. Salinger. Educate yourselves, people. Don't waste your time on this drivel.

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Teen, 18 years old
March 25, 2011
 
If your sensitive may not be for you, if not great read =]
I read this book when I was younger, so my review of it now might be a little off for some... I personally loved the saga. I was emerged each in every page, in fact it was such a page turner for me i read the 700 pg book in one day! There was a bit of intimacy but nothing major.. Stephanie did not go into grave detail about the honeymoon, in fact Bella forgot what happened and only bruises reminded her of what happened. As a parent this may be enough to tell the teen, no don't read it, but to me it wasn't really serious. As far as the birth.. that was a bit intense and some can even say gore(if your that sensitive) but nothing someone 14 or older can't handle =]

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Kid, 12 years old
April 25, 2011
 
very bad
I HATE IT! Very gross. Most parts are very bad and show bad things in a good light.

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Kid, 12 years old
April 7, 2011
 
BELLA IS NOT A ROLE MODEL WHAT DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!
Dear Twilight fans, Read a good book you know one day.This book is some misguided interpretation of true love.Listen twitards this is not true.True love does not include several pedophiles and an abusive vampire boyfriend.HERE READ A GOOD BOOK

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Teen, 15 years old
April 14, 2010
 
Worst one yet - and that's saying something!
Not only does Bella get pregnant as a teenager and have an incredibly gory birth scene (very disgusting), but her best friend falls in love with her baby. I wouldn't even want my younger sisters reading this. To learn about how Twilight is anti-feminist, google "amplify your voice feminism doesn't sparkle".

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This review was written by Carrie R. Wheadon
Topics:magic and fantasy
Author:Stephenie Meyer
Book type:Fiction
Genre:Fantasy
Publisher:Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:August 2, 2008
Number of pages:755
Hardcover price:$22.99
Publisher's recommended age(s):12 - 14

This review was written by Carrie R. Wheadon
 

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

 

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