WARNING: This review contains spoilers. DO NOT read if you want to be surprised.
The conclusion to the wildly popular "Twilight" saga has arrived, and with it, the information of the character's fates.
The highly anticipated Breaking Dawn was bought by eager fans at the midnight release. Needless to say, most rushed home to get a start on the lengthy volume.
But for me, as I turned the pages of Stephenie Meyer's conclusion to the addicting vampire love saga, I grew increasingly bored and disappointed. Sure, it was fun for the first five chapters. The wedding was a great scene, made better by the spicy flavor the long lost Jacob Black made by returning. The honeymoon was electrically written, the lust almost tasted. But after the first night, when the bruises started, the book became a stylized, drawn out, ridiculous fan fiction piece. With news of Bella's pregnancy, I couldn't help but growl. It seemed awfully hypocritical of Meyer to insist vampires were sterile and then have Bella become impregnated- by a vampire. That wasn't even the worst of the ridiculous, dramatic, over the top and downright silly events that followed.
First off, after Bella discovered she was pregnant, the couple rushed home to Carlisle. It became clear that Bella was in grave danger, carrying this strong, hungry, hybrid child- half-vampire, half-human. Ridiculous, as I said, and not just because vampires are frozen and therefore not supposed to have the ability to father or mother children. She was in grave danger of losing her life- the baby was taking everything out of her nutritionally, and rejecting the human food meant to feed it. It was also out of control kicking, and breaking Bella's ribs.
Here to witness Bella in immense danger is Jacob, still in love with her. He bears witnessing her in her quarantine, and is distressed. When he reports the news of the hybrid child back to his pack, wolf leader Sam decides that the situation has become too perilous: the child must be destroyed. Jacob balks; he thinks there has to be another way. Siding with Jacob is the sweet and likeable Seth Clearwater. It's nice to see his character grow in Breaking Dawn. When Sam, as the alpha, orders Jacob to attack the Cullens, he bows down under the alpha. There is no other way. Sam's orders also bring Seth down on his knees. Seth sides with Jacob; he's grown closer to the Cullens after fighting with Edward in Eclipse. But then… Jacob realizes he was born to be an Alpha. There is nothing holding him back. He has embraced his birthright. He lifts himself up, and walks away, leaving an astonished Sam in his wake. Seth decides to follow his friend Jacob.
Which leads to another point: oh, NOW Jacob's ready to lead? He was dead set against it originally, and now he's all of a sudden eager to lead? It makes no sense, despite the circumstances, and Meyer's description of the issue in Breaking Dawn makes it seem sporadic and with no thought or reason behind it.
Eventually, an uneasy truce is negotiated between Jacob's pack of himself, Seth, and the fiery Leah Clearwater, Seth's older sister (desperate to get away from Sam, whom she loves unrequitedly) and the main, larger Quileute pack. Jacob, Seth and Leah, now outsiders from the pack, in essence live at the Cullens, and Leah and Jacob form a special friendship.
When Bella goes into the labor, the house it thrown into high alert: Carlisle is out, looking for answers about how Bella could have a child, and Edward and Jacob must save Bella. It's clear that birthing the child could kill her, and she is willing to die for it. She loves it already.
The child comes out, and it nearly kills Bella. Edward races into action, injecting vampire venom into Bella's system and biting her, trying to save her and keep her existing. Before Bella is taken away from her child, a newborn baby girl, she requests that it be names Renesmee, a tribute to Edward's mother and her own.
The conversion process is painful, but yippee! Bella's a vampire. And then the silly, overly supernatural things keep rolling. Jacob imprints on Renesmee, despite the fact that he is a werewolf and she is half-vampire. It's ridiculous and clear that Stephenie Meyer is trying to please all her fans and give them what they want, no matter how ludicrous the outcome.
It doesn't stop there: Renesmee is gifted, too- she is irresistible to all that meet her and can show the truth of her memories through physical contact. By now, Bella is the vampire she's always dreamed of- beautiful, strong and fast. She's able to love passionately with Edward as she's always wanted- and they nearly destroy the house Esme gives to them as a wedding present in the process.
Bella can control herself, too. The thirst is one that she finds quite easy to manage. After hunting and meeting Charlie, it's clear that Bella was almost made to be a vampire. As Aro puts it, "It suits you." Of course, with all the happiness Renesmee brings and the love Edward and Bella make, something bad has to happen. It's the formula for all stories. Sure enough, while hunting one day, with the imprinted Jacob with Renesmee (nicknamed Nessie), the Denali coven vampire Irina glimpses Renesmee- and runs off to Italy.
As it happens, Nessie is clearly no ordinary child- not just because of her hybrid genetics, either. She is not only blessed with her parents' good looks, but with an interesting vampire/human smell, and genius intelligence. By the time she's a month old, she can walk, talk perfectly and read. Which makes me wonder: couldn't Meyer have kept some semblance of normality, reality, life to Renesmee? Clearly not. It's like Renesmee's abilities are some guilty pleasure for the writer. By this point, Breaking Dawn feels like not a Twilight book at all- rather some bizarre, overly-long fan fiction like piece in Stephenie Meyer's style.
Meanwhile, when the Cullens discover what Irina has done, they become worried and tense. The Volturi, protectors of the vampire legends, have a strict policy that any vampire children must be destroyed, for they cannot be controlled with their bloodlust. Irina, having seen Renesmee and her vampire-like beauty and cuteness, assumes she is an immortal child. The Cullens know that Renesmee and themselves will be destroyed unless they find a way to convince the Volturi and little Nessie's true nature.
Long story short: after a drawn-out episode, the Cullens have a gathering of the world vampire covens, friends of Carlisle's, to witness Nessie, her exploding growth, and her goodness.
Finally, the Cullens & Co. have a confrontation in the battle area from Eclipse with the Volturi & Co. Boring, well-spoken words are exchanged. The entire scene is bizarre. Bella is having her own little party, experimenting with her newly discovered power, a shield that can protect those that she wants protected from harm. Fun, fun, fun. Not really. The entire scene is stiff and feels dragging.
At last, the verdict falls (like bachelors for bad luck girls). The Volturi retreat, deciding that Renesmee is not a threat and that they were screwed in a fight anyway, due to Bella's shield. How convenient, that shield. Bella may have been immune to mind games as a human, but I still fail to understand how she gets a shield that she can extend from that. I didn't realize how important her "private" mind was. Disgusting.
The gathered covens say their good-byes and disperse. The creature that got the Volturi to make the favorable decision, Nahuel, lingers. The century and a half old hybrid thinks he is the only male half-human, half-vampire and hates himself. He is venomous, too; however, Nessie and Nahuel's hybrid sisters are not. Nahuel is struck by the family bond Bella and Edward have with their daughter. Jacob is happy with Nessie, who Nahuel says will fully mature in about six years. How convienient. You can almost see how Meyer planned this all in these "coincidences". It's terrible, this lack of originality, reality, and surprise.
Meyer's hyprocritical wrap-up book's absurd happenings aren't done. They have one last unpleasant surprise. Not only does Bella have a shield to protect herself and those she wishes to be unharmed (and she's amazing at it too, how unfair), but when she, exerting effort, removes her shield, she can let other people see her thoughts and memories. Ooh! How exciting! Vampires are supposed to have ONE power, if they even have one at all. But no, made-for-vampirism Bella must have TWO, just because Meyer wants to go back on the basic fundamentals of vampirism that SHE created. The hypocrisy is astounding.
Breaking Dawn reeks of double standards, contradictions, preposterousness, trying too hard, absurd notions, and drawn-out scenarios. It's a read completely alien from the Twilight series we all know and love. It feels like Stephenie Meyer cheated, and I for one do NOT feel satisfied with this cheap, clichéd ending.
RATING: TWO THUMBS DOWN
ONE STAR (out of five stars)