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At the tender age of eighteen, Bella Swan has decided her fate. She will marry Edward Cullen and be with him forever. And forever means just that—because Edward is a vampire. He could kill her with his passion before he turns her, but never mind that; she loves him. In the process, Bella will break her best friend’s heart when Edward turns her into what Jacob Black perceives to be a monster.
Jacob is a shape-shifter—but one who’s sworn to protect humans from the bloodsuckers while he’s in wolf form. Jacob has always loved Bella as more than a friend, but she’s made her choice—and there’s nothing he can do but hang around and keep letting her kick him in the gut with her choices.
On Bella’s wedding night, something dire happens—something that could kill her before her vampire life has even begun. It’s also something that can draw the attention of the dreaded Volturi—a clan of vampires who keep the law of the undead by any means, even going as far as to wipe out entire clans for their indiscretions. Once again, Bella has to make a difficult choice between her life and something she loves.
Though I enjoyed Breaking Dawn, I didn’t feel that it lived up to all the hype surrounding its release. It’s just an ordinary and sometimes even bland vampire novel. Not a whole lot happens outside of two major plot points, which I can’t tell you about without giving away a couple of surprises.
The story is mostly about Edward babying Bella and Jacob whining over losing her—but since I’ve had my heart broken before, I didn’t mind his whining as much, because I understand how he feels. And I didn’t particularly like Bella; she’s selfish and manipulative with Jacob and Edward’s feelings. She isn’t necessarily mean about it, but it still appears as if she uses their love for her to get her way.
Near the end, when the mysterious Volturi enters the plot, the story picks up and becomes more interesting. That’s when I thought, Now we’re talking, only to be disappointed by the extremely tame way in which the problem came to a conclusion.
I know that Breaking Dawn is a young adult novel, and perhaps Ms. Meyer is trying to send a different message about how to solve problems. While that’s understandable, the solution didn’t seem very plausible or satisfying. I like my endings with a bit more of a bang, and I like my characters to have to work harder for a happy ending—and that didn’t really happen here.
Breaking Dawn has its good moments—mostly with the Volturi and Jacob, who came more alive on the page than the others—but it didn’t make me want to go back and read the first three novels in the saga.
If you want something with more bite, I suggest picking up The Demonata series by Darren Shan instead.
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