Book Review: Breaking Dawn

Book: Breaking Dawn (Twilight book #4) by Stephenie Meyer

Edition: Paperback

Description:

To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs.

Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating, and unfathomable, consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella's life--first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse--seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed... forever?



Rating: 5 stars

Review:

In this finale book in the Twilight series, Bella Swan and Edward Cullen were preparing for their wedding. With all the planning taking place, there was still Bella's eventual transformation into becoming a vampire to contend with. The decision was made to wait but as the realization started to sink in for Bella it started to seem like she wanted to hold off on changing into a vampire for at least a little while longer. She still wanted to experience a few more things as a human before that happened.

The wedding though small was very elegant and went off without a hitch. However, the reception brought with it one little problem, Jacob Black. In the previous book, Jacob begrudgingly accepted that Bella loved Edward but for some reason the author seemed to have forgotten and he was back to his irrational obsessive behavior towards Bella. Jacob ruined a wonderful moment between him and Bella because he simply could not move on.

Despite the incident, Bella and Edward's wedding was a happy moment for everyone. For their honeymoon, they vacationed at Edward's mother Esme's private island but what started out as a fun and relaxing number of days quickly changed with Bella becoming extremely sick. They cut their honeymoon short and returned back to Forks, WA to see if perhaps Carlisle could determine what was wrong with her. They figured out Bella was pregnant which seemed unbelievable but the baby was growing at an alarming pace. With the situation rapidly changing, Bella was struggling to survive. They had hoped to find a way to help her deliver the baby before it killed her.

When Jacob and the rest of the werewolves found out about Bella's pregnancy, it caused a division in the pack. With Jacob, Leah Clearwater and her younger brother Seth forming a new pack to stop Sam Uhley and his pack from wanting to destroy Bella. Sam and many of the others had a fear of the entity that Bella was carrying. Would it be a danger to not only their people but to the world in general?

So far the only danger from the baby was to Bella, who despite all the pain and suffering, was set on giving her baby a chance at life. Even if there was a possibility that she might not be in it and that was looking like a strong prediction had the baby not needed an emergency delivery. The birth of her baby was devastating on her already drained and ravaged body and she was on the brink of death but thanks to some quick thinking by Edward her death was the start of her new beginning.

Bella had finally become what she wanted to be from the moment she found out what Edward was, a vampire. Everyone thought Bella's transformation would be the usual angry blood thirsty adjustment that all newborn vampire typically go through but for some reason that didn't happen to her. She had a few bouts of anger but nothing that she couldn't calm herself down from and she was also able to withstand the overpowering desire for human blood.

As Bella was getting used to her new abilities she was also trying to get to know her unusual baby, Renesmee or Nessie as everyone calls her. The baby is part human and part vampire and if that's not strange enough she also has a special ability to communicate through images. She can show people whatever she's thinking if she touches you. The entire Jacob obsessing over Bella was apparently fixed once he found a new love which turned out to be very disappointing since, his future love interest is Renesmee. As was mentioned in the other books, werewolves have a sort of love at first sight, it's called imprinting which is what Jacob did with Renesmee. While she's still a baby (who was quickly growing into a toddler) his main concern is of her well-being and nothing more. The imprinting also halted any threats from Sam's pack since she will eventually become Jacob's mate.

Everything seemed to be going amazingly well for Bella, Edward, Jacob and the Cullens. However, a misunderstanding with an estranged ally would soon have the entire power of the ancient vampire coven the Volturi raining down upon them. Was there anyway of stopping the Volturi or was Bella's happily ever after soon to be over?

Despite being 754 pages, this was a fast read, I would have finished it a lot sooner had I not taken a slightly longer than usual reading break. This was a good read as with the other books in the series it was well-written and entertaining. However, I did have some issues with the story.

For instance, I didn't like how Jacob was written throughout this story. In the beginning, he couldn't get over his feelings for Bella which only exacerbated his anger and obsessing over her. Then in trying to be there for her through her difficult pregnancy, it felt like she was taking advantage of his feelings for her to kind of guilt trip him into being there when he would rather not be. And to make matters worse, for some ridiculous reason the author made Jacob's new love interest a baby. If Jacob truly needed a love interest then why could it not have been Leah Clearwater, who despite being an awesome character was so shortchanged in this story. Leah and Jacob's relationship changed so much from the last book where there was so much animosity between them to a point in the story where it looked like they might be going from reluctant pack mates to maybe even developing into something more. Yet for some reason the author thought a baby would make a better love interest. Jacob's personality and behavior completely changed once he imprinted on Renessmee and his pack didn't really seem that important to him now that he found the love of his life.

Another issue with this story was with Rosalie Hale. Earlier during my reading of the Twilight book series I was surprised by how few scenes Rosalie received in the first three books but in hindsight that turned out to be a good thing. Because less is more in regards to her character because throughout this story she was horrible. She seemed more concerned about the baby than Bella's health and well-being while Bella was pregnant. And it's been shown countless times in this series that vampires and werewolves don't get along but she was excessively rude to Jacob. While he was there at the Cullens to be there for Bella during her pregnancy, Rosalie constantly referred to him as a dog and she even gave him food in a makeshift dog bowl.

In the Twilight series, there are vampires who have special abilities and apparently Bella does as well. But it just seemed like she was too special. Not only did she not have to deal with any of the problems of being a newborn vampire, she also had a special ability. I guess she couldn't be a regular vampire especially not since her husband is a mind reader and her baby can show people mental pictures. Edited to include: I wonder if Stephenie Meyer is a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender or The Legend of Korra because there is a vampire named Benjamin who sort of reminds me of Avatar Aang and not to mention he can control all four of the elements: water, fire, earth and air. It was just a thought.

This was a fascinating ending to the series where romance, rivalry and threats were woven into an interesting tale of a teenage girl who found herself in the world of the supernatural. If you haven't read the Twilight series but have been thinking about it, I say give it a read. There are some issues I have with the series but overall it's actually a pretty good read and the writing completely pulls you into the story.