Bitter Disappointment: Review of Breaking Dawn
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Note: If you ADORED Breaking Dawn and don't want to see it criticized, don't read this ;)
Recommended: For those who want to gouge their eyes out. 2.3/10 For the pain of writing 700 pages full of content that's likely to become a "Don't-Do" for every budding author. This is what happens when you love your characters too much and create Mary Sue's and Gary Stu's.
In a nutshell,
Breaking Dawn is akin to the 1,000+ stories on FanFiction.net, probably even worse than some. Word of advice, find a good story there. It's probably less than 700+ pages and some authors there actually make the effort to not create Mary Sue characters, unlike Stephenie Meyer. For a better interpretation of vampire-realm, read Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. The climax was so anti-climactic - I was hoping for more semi-important character deaths.
More Detailed Review
-Spoilers below –
When Twilight came out, I was vaguely interested by the intricate world created by Meyer. I finished New Moon in one sitting, despite being disappointed by the poor characterization. I greatly anticipated Eclipse but it fell short. It left me disappointed enough not to have high expectations for Breaking Dawn. However, Breaking Dawn or B.D created a whole new level of low. It crushed my lowest expectations. Did Meyer's editor not edit this? I found some grammatical errors and I wasn't even looking for them, specifically. This saga sank faster than the Titanic and is the perfect example of what happens when you love your characters too much.
When you create a book series, usually there is an internal underlying plot within the first book that continues throughout the rest of the books, developing until it is finally resolved. The reason Harry Potter survived is because the *plot* was laced throughout all the books and the ultimate climax, few loopholes and resolution were tied in the final book. The plot of the Twilight saga…I won't justify the plot in any of the books aside from the first one. Let's just say, it's a very rough ride. The plot is non-existent. This is a novel about a baby that shouldn't even exist, not by the laws of nature set by Meyer in Twilight-verse.
Where do I start when it comes to characters? I've always maintained that both main characters of Stephenie Meyer are classic examples of Mary Sue and Gary Stu so it's not like I was expecting great development of believable characters with believable flaws experiencing something unbelievable. The only believable dude, Jacob – Meyer manages to ruin him. 1/3 of the novel is in Jacob's perspective and honestly, it is the part I enjoyed the most in this parody of a book. Meyer's ruined her best and most realistic character. Not only did he completely creep me out, he was so haughty and whiny that I started craving the whining queen, Bella. His imprinting the little Nessie monster put icing on the inglorious cake. By now, I was ready to pull a page from Meyer's New Moon, and jump off a cliff to save myself from the rest of the unpleasant surprises the book had to offer.
But I didn't, and now, I realize I really should have.
Let's move on to Bella. The girl gives definition to "Mary Sue" and is the embodiment of self-insertion. She is the epitome of the Too Stupid to Live heroine. Her character, or lack thereof, was declining in the previous two novels; however, in B.D, Bella is intolerable. She is selfish. She whines about everything: From the beautiful expensive car Edward bought her to the wedding preparations, the dress, the ring, and everything else! Pity her – she has to marry the man of her dreams. Oh, the cruel, mean, big bad world!! She's more concerned about people, who she doesn't know, mocking her for marrying young than the happiness of the man she claims to love more than life itself.
And don't get me started on her treatment of Jacob. It's disgusting. The kid had the misfortune of loving Bella. C'mon! She realizes she loves him but she loves Edward more, hence, she chooses Edward. But Bella is paralyzed by the paradox of loving one guy more than the other but wanting both guys. Oh, the agony! Bella wants to have her cake and eat it, too. She hurts both boys, by refusing to cut ties with Jacob. This way Jacob can't move on from her and Edward can't fully have her, either.
She claims she hates herself for hurting him and even goes to the extent of saying it's a crime to hurt him as much as she does but does she love him enough to let him move on? Oh no! She wouldn't feel 'complete' without him so she clings to him, like a koala to a tree branch, even after her marriage. Take extreme selfishness; add lack of consideration for anyone's feelings. Result = Bella refers to her unborn baby as "EJ", not caring whether Edward would be happy about naming his miracle kid after his rival. Nope. Bella want Edward. Bella want Jacob. Bella name kid. Bella get what Bella want. Grrr! She makes Dolores Umbridge seem believable.
A bit about Edward, who made Twilight worth reading, despite being poorly developed and a complete Garry Stu. However, by the time you finish B.D, you either feel terribly sorry for him because he's been steam-rolled by the Bella-rover or disdainful of him for becoming Troll Queen Bella's doormat. I hated him by the end of the book because he took Bella's whims like a slave. I was ready to scream if he said "If it makes her happy, I'll do it, even if it ruins her" another time. Through this, Meyer sends the message that if you're in love, blindly devote yourself to your lover because that's what "true love" is, according to Meyer. It doesn't matter if your lover becomes an overbearing banshee. Worship the very ground she walks on.
Meyer created this universe where Vampires and Werewolves existed. In order to keep everything in control, rules were laid out. Meyer violates the very foundation of her saga. Bella's child shouldn't even exist, given Meyer's specific "Vampires can't have children". Meyer gives a pathetic, confusing explanation as to how Edward got Bella pregnant, which I really can't be bothered to elaborate on since it doesn't make sense. And get this, as if the child's perplexing existence wasn't enough, the name "Renesmee" had me gagging. Might as well name the kid Brangelina, or Bedward and be done with it. Meyer created her own world but she couldn't stay true to it. This monstrous baby, who really shouldn't have been born going by the rules created by Meyer, feeds on the blood of its own mother? Bella drinks human blood, while she's still human and likes it? This is the same Bella who almost fainted while doing blood typing in Biology!? And when Edward asks Jacob to offer to make babies with Bella! True Love, indeed!!
The delivery of the baby was disgusting. Bella vomiting blood, her bones breaking right and left, blood vessels popping, Edward biting her to turn her into a vampire and the moment where the mommy first sees the baby – which is supposed to be heart warming – was charred by the baby taking a piece (literally) of her own mother. Gag-Me-With-A-Spoon-Of-Salt. Oh but wait, the best is yet to come. Jacob imprinting Bella and Edward's daughter. Ick! I could see it was the only way of making a happy ending for Jacob but are we so stubborn that we simply HAVE to see Jacob partnered with a girl? The carefully constructed message in the previous books was completely destroyed. When Bella falls for Edward, she has to face the choices of leaving behind life as she's known it, loosing her mother father and every other human who matters to her; the bloodlust of being a newborn vampire; and the self-control and restraint that the rest of the Cullen's had achieved. Edward's angst about the state of his soul is one of the gripping factors in the books. He grieves the loss of his soul. Bella has to confront this and choose whether or not to sacrifice her humanity for love. However, in this book, it's all regulated to the sidelines to give path to the OBHCF (A variation of OBHWF.).
When she becomes a vampire, everything is so much more beautiful, more enchanting, and more marvelous. Not only does she still feel all emotions and passions she's had as a human, but they are astonishingly intensified. By the time you finish reading about her glorious mornings as a vampire, you wonder why you aren't one yourself. Every shred of description, detail is washed away to make a happy ending for everyone. How nauseating!
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