A long overdue review of Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn
Spoilers.
Yuck.
I love the Twilight Saga. I'm not very highbrow in my taste of literature. I read what I find absorbing, the first three books in the Twilight Saga included.
However, the fourth book, I'm almost out of words. Almost. There are times when "it sucks" just wont suffice, like when you're talking about Breaking Dawn, the last, the least (though not in volume what with its 1 million odd pages) of the series.
The plot is predictable, and that's not the worst of it. If anything, that is its charm and Stephenie Meyer should have stuck with the formula that worked so well for her in the past, instead of trying something new.
It has all the elements of cute, which makes it, well, cute. That is, until Meyer over estimates her writing prowess and attempts, in vain, to turn it into an epic of sorts. What used to be a straightforward, cute, teen vampire romance book, morphed into this baffling hybrid fantasy, action, adventure, fake passport-producing suspense, sci-fi mess which all takes place in the last 4 or so chapters.
The story lines are linear and yet it manages to be unnecessarily wordy and utterly chaotic. Every tedious line just screams "trying hard!"
Bella is unremarkably flat even for a teen romance novel protagonist. Which is pretty believable and even tolerable. That is, until she transforms into a vampire and you sort of expect something more...more activity...more dimensions. Her mind remains frustratingly shallow. Its not very pleasant, considering most of the book is written through her perspective.
Edward is both underused and misused. So for those such as I whose sole reason for reading is to get a much needed Edward Cullen fix I would say don't bother. If you must then I advice that you stop reading the book after the feathers. You'll know what I'm talking about when you get to that part. It really is such a shame, the meager times when he is in a scene he seems more like a parody of the Edward I so dearly loved from the 1st 3 books.
I don't know what Stephenie Meyer was on when she wrote the ending for Breaking Dawn but like all mind altering drugs, it took her on a different plane of existence where everything, no matter how mindless, makes absolute sense. Its just too much. When you've already suspended your disbelief enough to accommodate the existence of a vampire who looks like an underwear model, she strings together an ending like THAT! It will leave you thinking "wtf?????" Not the good kind of wtf, mind you.
Suddenly all the vampires in the world converge in Forks and they all go through vampire boot camp to prepare for a looming vampire war and each of their vampire super power more ridiculous than the next. When time comes for the good vampires to come face to face with the bad vampires, its already snowballed into to this insane spectacle that you'd half expect Gandalf et al. and maybe even the Harry Potter crew to arrive, brandishing wands. Nothing will surprised you now, or so you thought because this previously unheard of vampire breaks into a corny, impromptu speech about love and how love is all that matters and love is all around and love makes the world go 'round and love conquers all.
Oh, then Bella's measly power, which was hinted in earlier chapters, develops exponentially right on time for her to end up saving everydamnedone's damned lives. Edward can now read her mind when she lets him, they fool around, and they lived happily ever after, forever and ever.
PS. They had a freaky baby girl that she named Renesmee. What'd I tell you? Crazy!
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