Review – Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (5/5 stars)

This is the conclusion to the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I thought that the conclusion was wonderful, it was all I could have hoped for.

The book starts out with Bella and Edward preparing for their wedding, immediately afterward they are whisked off to their honeymoon. Bella has decided that she wants to stay human for their honeymoon, since after turning into a vampire she will be a fledgling and have a period of time where she can’t control her bloodlust.

It’s hard to review this book without giving away spoilers; but I will do my best! Overall the book was beautifully written and very engrossing. There wasn’t as much action as in previous books; in fact the book was distinctive in the peaceful approach taken to things. I thought this was a perfect decision for this book since this sense of peacefulness embodies what the Cullen family stands for. It was a long book and a lot happened, but I never found myself bored. There was a lot of character development which kept things very interesting.

Okay now for the spoilers…

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
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I partially agree with some of the reviews on amazon that complained about Edward’s over-reaction to Bella becoming pregnant. Although I think maybe some of the reviewers talking about this have never been pregnant. It would be very scary for a mother to lose her child and even scarier for the father to think about losing the mother and the child. Especially considering how important Bella and Edward are to each other. All in all I don’t think this was over done. I think it was appropriate given that neither Bella or Edward knew what their child was going to be, much less what would happen to Bella throughout the pregnancy.

I thought that Bella not having any trouble with transitioning to a vampire was also appropriate. Bella was surrounding by so much preparation and love, I think it is good that she was able to forgo the fledgling bloodlust. This is part of who Bella is.

I really enjoyed meeting all the other vampires from around the world. They all had interesting personalities and characteristics even though they were only in the book for a short time.

I think the issue with Jacob was resolved elegantly, although that wasn’t a surprise. I figured out that Jacob was going to imprint on Bella’s daughter pretty darn fast. I also loved Bella and Edward’s daughter, she was very interesting.

I loved that the whole conflict with the vampire council was resolved peacefully, even though Bella forced the peace.

Peace and love, as corny as it sounds, seemed to be the theme of this book. So many issues were resolved without violence and the ending was as picture perfect and wonderful as any of the readers could have hoped for. I suppose I could complain about the ending being too perfect; but I mean, let’s face it, these characters went through a lot in this book and I personally think that they deserved the perfect ending that they got!
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SPOLIERS ENDED

Maybe we will see some additional books or short stories about some of the other vampires we meet in this book. There are definitely a lot of untold stories introduced.

In conclusion I think Meyer did an excellent job wrapping up this series. It didn’t seem rushed or contrived; it was just perfect.