In the nail-biting conclusion to the Twilight saga, Bella finally gets everything she wants, only to face the possibility of losing it all. In a fight to save her family, Bella will discover depths she didn’t know she had. And she’ll learn that even in the face of immortality, there are some things that are worth dying for. Although it’s nicer if you don’t have to. It’s a new day in Stephenie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn, but will Bella and Edward be there to see it?
[Warning: My review of Breaking Dawn contains some spoilers!]
The problem with dreams is that you have to wake up
Bella’s dreams are all coming true. The nice ones like losing her virginity, spending forever with Edward, and becoming a vampire. But also the nightmare of being a teenage bride. And even dreams she didn’t know she had, like being a mother. It’s a lot of change very quickly. But after a couple of months, Bella is a wife, a mother, a vampire, and happy. Things have worked out in a way that she is able to keep her dad and Jacob in her life. Everything seems perfect.
Part of what has made everything work out perfectly is Bella and Edward’s unexpected daughter. No one thought that a vampire and a human could have a baby together, so no one thought to worry about the possibility of their union. After a short and terrifying pregnancy, Renesmee entered the world. Her birth led to Bella’s death and her transformation into a vampire. It also led to the end of tension between the werewolves and the Cullens. Jacob imprinted on Renesmee, and that was the end of any possible fighting between the two groups.
But of course, this kind of utopia was doomed. One day, Renesmee was seen by another vampire who didn’t come close enough to find out what she really was. They assumed that she was an “immoral child”, a vampire child that is perhaps the most feared thing in the vampire world. This gave the Volturi the excuse they needed to act against the Cullens, and a vampire war is about to begin.
There is a very slim chance that if they can get the Volturi to stop long enough to see that Renesmee isn’t an immortal child but something completely different, the Cullens might avoid a fight. But that doesn’t seem likely. But they’re not going to do anything either. So they begin to prepare the best way they can, but finding others who will listen to them to act as witnesses. Maybe with enough, they can bring reason to the field. But will the Volturi listen to reason, or has the decision already been made? Bella is willing to die to protect her family, but it would be so much nicer if she could actually live some of that eternal life she was promised. Will she be able to find the strength to protect her family, even if she doesn’t survive? How does Bella and Edward’s story end?
Breaking Dawn is a story that’s almost too pat
In Breaking Dawn, Bella finally becomes a vampire and discovers she was made for this second life. Instead of becoming an out-of-control newborn, she’s just a stronger, faster, more graceful version of herself. The other vampires are stunned. Her level of self-control is admirable for an old vampire and unheard of in a fledgling vampire. The Cullens are amazed by the way she takes to being a vampire. And it’s lucky she does take to it so well. Otherwise, they all would have ended up dead. There’s no way the Cullens could have mounted the defense against the Volturi that they did if they were also trying to control an insatiable Bella. And that’s before you factor in Bella’s special defensive ability that she wouldn’t have been able to control as a crazed newborn.
And don’t forget the werewolves’ side of the story. The whole Bella-Jacob love tension gets nicely resolved when Jacob imprints on Renesmee. Bella can still love Jacob and have him around, but she doesn’t have to be in a throuple with him and Edward. The imprinting also addresses the werewolf-vampire mortal enemy problem. Not only do the two sides come to a happy(ish) understanding, they actually become allies, willing to fight and die for each other.
Then there’s Bella’s gift that I mentioned earlier. She is a “shield”, which explains why no one has ever been able to get inside her head. It also explains why the newborn mania doesn’t affect her; her mind is shielded from anything that might hurt her. And then she realizes that she can extend her shield to other people. At first, there aren’t many others, but in the clutch moment, she can suddenly protect every one of her allies in a giant field. It’s about as serendipitous an event as you can get. If she hadn’t been able to protect everyone long enough to make their case, the Volturi would have destroyed them all. Before the confrontation, she was struggling to extend her shield a few feet, but suddenly she could easily push it to cover an entire field. I suppose it’s analogous to a mother lifting a car off her child; the fear and adrenaline gave her the sudden strength, but it was just a little too convenient for me.
As the last few paragraphs probably told you, I found the entire conclusion of Breaking Dawn to be just a little too convenient. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad it worked out, and I didn’t want anyone to die (well, maybe the Volturi, but that’s besides the point), but the fact that nothing bad happened and everything worked out perfectly was a little too unrealistic for me. It was a Disney tale, not a fairy tale. The perfection is what actually made me feel less satisfied with the outcome, because if nothing is ever actually lost, what is really gained? We need the dark to understand light, we need the cold to appreciate warmth, that’s just how life works in this world. Meyer needed that dichotomy to really finish her story properly. It’s still a good story, but it could have been great with just a little tweaking.
Rating: 8/10
Breaking Dawn is now available to purchase at your retailer of choice.
Learn more about the book at the official website for the title.
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