Breaking Dawn is the fourth and final novel in the
The Twilight Saga by American author
Stephenie Meyer. Divided into three parts, the first and third sections are written from
Bella Swan's perspective and the second is written from the perspective of
Jacob Black. The novel directly follows the events of the previous novel,
Eclipse, as Bella and
Edward Cullen
get married, leaving behind a heartbroken Jacob. When Bella faces
unexpected and life threatening situations, she willingly risks her
human life and possible vampire immortality to undergo the ultimate
transformation from a weak pawn to the
strong queen with unique powers to fight the final battle to save all those she loves.
Meyer finished an outline of the book in 2003, but developed and changed it as she wrote
New Moon and
Eclipse, though the main and most significant storylines remained unchanged.
Little, Brown and Company
took certain measures to prevent the book's contents from leaking, such
as closing forums and message boards on several fansites and providing a
special e-mail address for fans to send in links to leaks and spoilers
online.
Breaking Dawn was released on August 2, 2008 at midnight release parties in over 4,000 bookstores throughout the US.
[1]
From its initial print run of 3.7 million copies, over 1.3 million were
sold in the US and 20,000 in the UK in the first 24 hours of the book's
release, setting a record in first-day sales performance for the
Hachette Book Group USA.
[2] The book was highly successful, selling over 6 million copies in 2008, and was the third best-selling novel of 2008 behind
Twilight and
New Moon.
Breaking Dawn received mixed reviews from critics and is the
most controversial book in the series, as it explored more mature themes
and concepts. However, the novel was awarded the
British Book Award
for "Children's Book of the Year". It was translated in 38 languages
with rights sold to over 50 countries. The book has been adapted into a
two-part movie, with the
first part released on November 18, 2011 and the
second part released on November 16, 2012.
