Breaking Dawn: The Party, The Summary, and The Review

Breaking Dawn
Stephenie Meyer
Others in Series: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse

The end to a saga certainly went out with a bang. But was the book all that it was hyped up to be, or was it just a fanfiction gone wrong?


THE PARTY

First off, mad props to the Borders up here for throwing an awesome blossom fabulous fantastic party. From the eighty of us that were there - we loved it, guys! The fun, for me, started around eight o'clock when my friend Leigh arrived at my house. Armed and ready for battle, she was dressed up as the bubbly Jessica Stanley, and she dressed me up as Amber, the waitress from Twilight. Once our outfits were complete, we headed to Borders.

We got there around9:30, to see my friend Megan sitting up front with the staff of Borders, decked out to look quite a lot like Jane. (Megan, however, is a lot nicer.) Leigh and I kidnapped Megan from her free drinks and headed to the back of the room to find three of my other friends who (unfortunately) had not dressed up. About a half hour passed, and the trivia contest started.

Now, I thought I was a Twilight expert. I has just reread the books - but man, those questions that that staff asked! "What was Bella's gym teacher's name?" "What family does she get the motorcycles free from?" They had multiple choice for some of them, but for most, they didn't give the options. Kudos to the girl who won the first Breaking Dawn book of the night - she got every one right. (Crazy obsessed fans...)

After that, they had a heated debate about who Bella would end up with - Edward or Jacob. Terrified of all the yelling, my friends and I escaped and read Dr. Suess books out loud to pass the time. (I believe Edward won.) After that... the fantastmagoric costume contest!

Alices, Bellas - and the Edward Cullen Fan club, oh my! Congratulations to Megan, who was dressed up as Jane, and somebody I don't know, who dressed up as Alice, for winning - they're costumes looked like they could be in the movie! There was quite a few Bellas and Alices for that matter. They won t-shirts. I wanted to steal them.

11:59... 12:00! Midnight madness started. After waiting for my book for about a half hour (I was one of the last to get my wrist band, I was #45) I went home, plopped on my couch, and began reading...

And around two o'clock in the morning, my mom told me to shut the book and get some sleep. Then she took the book from me. (Silly mother. Breaking Dawn was for me!) I finished it this morning, though... and don't let the description on Amazon or even on the flap of the book fool you. Stephenie Meyer threw us one helluva curve ball with this plot twist.

THE SUMMARY

Ah, wedded bliss. Bella and Edward finally get settled down in the fourth novel of the Twilight saga, and head to their exclusive honeymoon location - Island Esme, a gift from Carlisle to Esme that Esme was lending to the couple for a few weeks. Edward fulfilled his end of the bargain with Bella - and bruised her so badly that, even in her happy state, he refused to sleep with her again any more while she was human. Granted, that didn't last long.

But when the morning sickness starts, and her stomach grows harder... Yup, you guessed it.

Bella Cullen is pregnant with a half vampire - and she's determined to give birth to it if it kills her.

THE REVIEW
SPOILER ALERT (Well, sort of)

Omigod. Omigod. Omigod. Omgod. Yes, I'm emphasizing different parts of the same word. I didn't expect this at all. Bella, pregnant?

Stephenie portrays it in a way that makes sense, and, when the book was finished, I enjoyed it. But, right after we find out that Bella is pregnant, it sifts into Jacob's POV for another 1/3 of the book - and I kept thinking, "It's a fanfiction gone wrong. Holy crap, it's a fanfiction gone wrong." As much as I like Jacob as a character and all that, and you got to see more of what was going on through Jacob's POV, I think it would have been better for her to do this ALL through Bella's POV, and then write another book (like she's doing for Midnight Sun) with it from Jacob's POV.

Then there's Renesme, or whatever the half vampire's name was. She's an adorable character, and I loved her from that start - that was a great addition. Her abilities, how she got half of everything vampire - it worked out well. But [SPOILER] Imprinting on Jake? I was, like, geez, Steph, way to make Claire look normal. Quil's Claire was two. Renesme was, like, what, a day old? Really. [/SPOILER] And it all worked out, so that's okay.

I loved how [SPOILER] Bella looked in her new and improved vampire form, and how she seemed to have two abilities - being able to fight her new newborn self and control her cravings, AND expand her 'shield' so that it can protect others. The (sort of) fight against the Volturi at the end was really well put together. At the end of the book, I was also able to appreciate how she opened up her mind and let Edward in. [/SPOILER]

Rosalie protecting Bella's pregnant self was also something I was, like, "Okay..." Granted, what a certain female werewolf said let me make sense of it later, but still. And when Bella was carrying the baby, the description? Gross.

But Stephenie wrote it well, especially Jacob's POV. I wasn't able to sympathize with Bella and didn't relate to her until [SPOILER] she became a vampire.[/SPOILER] Jacob's character was made a bit stronger, as were some of the other characters - some of the other werewolves, Tanya and her family - but Edward was left as the overprotective one and Bella was the odd one out in her way of thinking. Rosalie was still not completely real to me, the way she behaved and all, but all in all... the plot line's twist and the writing and the sometimes witty dialouge made me enjoy the book, though Eclipse is still my favorite.


Twilight or Harry Potter?: Different genres, different plot lines. But which one was written better, which one will I be rereading more, will probably be rereading twenty years from now? Sorry, Steph, but J.K. Rowling's richer than the Queen of England for a reason. I love your novels, but after a while, I can't handle Bella's thinking anymore.

Rating: 8/10


Happy reading!

Feel free to express all comments and ideas on what happened in BD. Tell me about your night and YOUR midnight party! Just remember, if there's a spoiler in your comment, warn those you haven't read it yet.

~Nicole