They still shortened (of course) many of the key scenes from the book but managed to keep the emotion and story intact and logical, finally. The other two films didn't do that, in my opinion (though I still liked them). My companions,who didn't read the books did not, this time, ask many questions like they did with the other two films.
For the uninitiated and the unread, many points could be lost. For example, one scene mentions Jasper's "feel-good" power and a fan would catch that but a non-fan wouldn't. I also sometimes thought Mr. Pattinson could have been asked to speak his lines just a little louder.
I think Kristen Stewart finally was able to show that her acting has teeth (pun intended!) Her sadness was convincing and heartfelt.
Mr. Lautner was still unconvincing as a wolf (jmo) but I give every credit to him for the effort. He was focused and sweet.
The movie is not for non-fans, in my opinion, and I would just ask them to please just hold off from seeing the movie, perhaps altogether. Makes sense to us fans, them, maybe not.