Allison Leigh Merrill's Official Breaking Dawn Review

Warning: This review contains spoilers. If you ever plan on reading the book, or Twilight series, don't read this.

So, I finished Breaking Dawn yesterday afternoon. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. That doesn't mean I don't have some qualms with it though. The whole thing just seemed way to easy.

First of all, Bella drives me crazy at first. She's so immature and ridiculous. "I don't want a fancy car." "I don't want to get married" "I don't want a wedding dress" "I won't even look in the mirror on my wedding day" "I actually don't want to be a vampire for like a year now because I want to make out with you with human emotions". She'd been bugging him for the past two books to just make her a vampire right away! Seriously, she's annoying.

Then there's the whole baby thing... First of all, it seems very strange to me that vampires don't have blood or tears, but they somehow have sperm. I mean, really. Secondly, I don't like how the zygote becomes a fetus within an hour and the baby is ready to be delivered after about a month. It's a plot device to speed things up because we wouldn't want to bore the teenage girls with a realistic nine-month pregnancy. And then there's the whole baby breaking ribs/Bella drinking human blood to sustain the baby. It's just weird. And like my little sister said, the people who donated the blood to the blood bank that the family "borrowed" from probably weren't planning on their blood being used to sustain one person and her child. And then there's the birth scene with Edward biting open Bella's stomach... That wasn't awkward. No, not at all. But, I have to admit I was kind of happy they had a baby. That's probably because currently a lot of my thoughts are directed towards my own future baby, but it always made me sad in the previous books that if Bella married Edward she couldn't have kids. I just like babies.

So, previously, one of the driving plot lines was Edward vs Jacob. Bella loves both but can only have one. She chooses Edward and Jacob gets all moody. Then the baby is born. Ta da! Jacob imprints on her (crazy werewolf love at first sight thing) and suddenly everyone is happy. Right.

Now, onto the baby. Renesmee. First of all, what was up with Bella's psychic predictions that she was having a boy for sure and then it's a girl? There was not point. And then there's the fact that the baby is maturing like crazy. At first, Bella's all sad because the baby is only going to have a 15 year life. Then at the end we discover the baby will be an immortal while she's in her prime. What a relief. I'd hate to see these characters have to deal with anything like grief.

I think my main problem with the book is that Bella was required to sacrifice nothing. She becomes a vampire. Suddenly, she's gorgeous, talented, and she doesn't even go through the normal horrible first year most vampires go through because she's extra special. She thought she'd have to give up Jacob. Nope. He's perfectly content to hang out and be her friend. She thought she'd lose her family. Nope. Her dad just visits her and decides that he doesn't want to know why she looks weird now. She thought her physical relationship with Edward would be diminished. Nope. It's more powerful and perfect than ever. Really, she lives a charmed life. It's silly.

Then there's the epic battle at the end. It's good vs evil. All the good vampires have come together to fight the evil ruling vampires. The entire second half of the book leads up to this huge climax. People (vampires...) are going to die. It's going to be painful and heart wrenching, but in our heart of hearts we know that despite the losses, the underdog Cullens will prevail. So, the battle scene opens. Then the two sides talk it over. Then Alice shows up and saves everything. One minor character gets killed. And then they all lived happily ever after. Oh, except Bella has a moment of sadness about the killed character. Wow. What a sacrifice for a happily ever after. I can't help but contrast it to the final battle in HP 7. There a lot of good people die. It's a big deal. In the end, everything is okay, but there is also sorrow. That's how battles between good and evil are supposed to go. There's not supposed to be an easy solution.

Anyway, this wasn't a great book, but it was maybe a good one. I think three words sum it up best: Deus ex Machina. But hey, it worked for Euripedes, why shouldn't it work for Stephanie Meyer?