Yet the release of the fourth book of Stephanie Meyers Twilight Saga has set chat rooms alight with teenage disappointment, despite the successful sales...

BY STUDENT REPORTER SARAH HERRON

On August the 4^th, 2008, on Australian shores a new day dawned but for fans of Stephanie Meyers, this Breaking Dawn was unlike any other. Eagerly anticipated by fans and book shops worldwide, the release of the fourth book in the Stephanie Meyer's series has been driving people in the doors since then, causing a complete sellout of the first edition. People are now scrambling to get a copy of the second edition, meaning a dream run for the author.

In fact the series all began in a dream, so it seems only fitting that this dream run of sales bean appropriate ending to the popular series. Meyers freely admits that she met the two characters in a dream and since then has not been able to stop writing about them. 

Although not all the figures are in yet for Breaking Dawn its sales success is already evident, making it is easy to see that this series has been well accepted by fans and critics alike.  In the first 24 hours of Breaking Dawn's release in America alone over 1.3 million copies of the book were sold. Worldwide the saga has sold more than 10 million copies.  Whilst this doesn't compare to J.K. Rowling's wizard adventures, Meyer's is definitely on her way.

Yet upon the release of the fourth and final book of the series, it seems that many fans have now become the biggest critics of all. Chat rooms and discussion forums are alight with the sheer disappointment of Meyers attempt to wrap things up. 

Some of the comments from the Vogue Forum were that it "trashed/stepped on everything the other 3 books had set out to make me believe", and worse as "all of a sudden Bella [the main female character] is this sassy lacy underwear wearing, pregnant girl" and then "stepped into unbelievable, what with them getting married and living forever and having sex all night".

For parents alarm bells should ring now, even if they hadn't already been ringing over the vampire theme. Though previously, the author, a practicing Mormon, claimed in a published interview in The Times, that these books are "vampire novels with little bloodshed and a strong moral message".

In the same interview she also admitted that in the books there is "no premarital sex.... but sex, or the lack of it, is a big part of what they are about". 

It seems the moral message may have been discarded in this one, which is well described and clearly recognized if the many online message boards are anything to go by.

Breaking Dawn is available to order in all good book stores, grab one in store if you're lucky. The film based on Twilight, the first book in the series, will be released early in 2009.