Book review - Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Hmmmm.....it is with unbelievably huge levels of disappointment that I must declare that I don't like this book. In fact, my feeling may be closer to loathing. And you know, I really loved Twilight and Eclipse - I was less enamoured of New Moon. There will be spoilers abounding.

Breaking Dawn is separated into thirds with Bella and Jacob Black, werewolf and best friend (her view)/wannabe boyfriend (his view). Bella Swan finally gets to be united with the vampire Edward Cullen for eternity. And so the first third of the book tells us of Bella and Edward's wedding extravaganza, their (implied) vampire/human sex-fest, and....Bella's mysterious pregnancy and the gory birth of the half human-half vampire Renesmee. The last third chronicle's Bella's coming to terms as a new vampire and mother, as well as the final showdown with the vampire 'baddies', The Volturi.

While I recognise it as a piece of escapist horror/fantasy (I mean, its about vampires), there are several elements to this book which I quite liked and bits that I really disliked.

Likes -

• There's a lot of crazy shit that goes on in this book - did I not mention *vampire/human sex-fest and half human-half vampire babies?! I mean sure, the sex is skipped over because it's aimed at mid teens but I've got an active imagination. The birth scene is also pretty interesting in a blood on the ceiling kinda way. No way will that be able to be made into a teen movie :D
• Believe it or not, while I hate Jacob, I liked Jacob's part of the narration. He's a voice of reason when half human-half vampire babies make their appearance.
• The Volturi. I like a good bad vampire and unrepentant ones are the best. I love the idea of vampires making themselves an army to fight other vampires. They have power and aren't afraid to go get it :D

Dislikes

• BELLA. She just gave me the shits. I've gone on record to say I never understood what was so special about Bella but I chalked that up to the books being seen through her eyes. If we had a narrator talking about how awesome they were, that would be The Devil Wears Prada. I know that this is meant to be an emo-teen fantasy, but really...Bella goes from being an average clumsy teen to the most awesome and skilled vampire ever. In fact, she's pretty much the sole reason why there's no kill-fest; her power is so good that it can't beaten by the baddies. *eye roll* And she's so passive. She doesn't want a huge wedding but lets one be thrown for her anyway. She's happy to see Jacob on her wedding day knowing how Jacob and Edward feel about each other (i.e. they hate each other). She just made me....argh!!!!
• Bella's slavish devotion to Edward needs it's own section - it's as if she refuses to be a separate entity from him. Yeah okay, he's the love of your life and she'd, like, totally die without him. (Hell, she had a nervous breakdown when he left her for her own safety in book 2, New Moon - possibly the reason why I hate that one so much.) MFEO or not, Bella existed before Edward and if Edward went for whatever reason, life goes on. I'm out of the whole teenangsty *oh, I love him, I'd die without him* phase but the thought that some girls might be reading this and thinking *Yeah! That's the way I should treat myself in relation to my partner* is damn scary. Bella would prefer to die than abort her pregnancy because she can't kill something that's part of Edward!!! And then later on, she'd rather die in battle with Edward than to live without him...leaving said child an orphan. MAKE UP YOUR MIND WOMAN.
• Having said that, Edward is also pretty much lost (emasculated?) in this story. He doesn't really do anything. Sure, he's a participant in the vampire/human sex-fest but he wrecked it by saying he didn't want to do it anymore because she got covered in bruises during the fest. But he does it again anyway because its what she wants. How about you make her a vampire so you don't have to worry about it anymore? Problem solved.
• The whole pro-life teen pregnancy thing. You can argue that it's included as a warning against sex (sex can get your preggers, mmmkay?) but it is out of place. Either this book is a full-on fantasy thing, or it isn't. Everyone can make their choices and while I don't agree with Bella's choice, I can understand not wanting to abort your child. Of course, if I had to chose between the baby I want versus my life, I'd choose my life. Selfish, maybe, but pragmatic. But I am an adult, and I'm a good decade older than the audience this is aimed towards. I can make a more informed choice in this. A 15 yo does not know the effort in raising a child, they think they're acquiring something cute who will love them unconditionally (which Renesmee naturally already does in utero).
• The name Renesmee. HAHAHAHAHAH, ahhhh white trash. You never cease to amaze.
• Finally, I really wanted that vampire kill-fest to occur at the end. And I feel kinda ripped that it didn't happen.

So now that I've read this, I'd like to imagine that Breaking Dawn never happened. I'll read Midnight Sun (Twilight told from Edward's perspective) but I think I'll mentally write my own version of this one from now on.