Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer
Reviewed by Libby, age 13, Wisconsin
SPOILER ALERT! Please be advised that the following review contains story line information you may not wish to know if you intend to read this book. - editor
Chances are if you're a teenage girl you've probably heard of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. The series is so popular that the third book, Eclipse, knocked Harry Potter off the number one spot. But now the series is over with Breaking Dawn.
Many have been anticipating the release of Breaking Dawn for a year now. I myself was in line at Borders bookstore at midnight, eager to have the book in my hands. But the question I've been asking myself is Was it worth the year long wait? And that is the question I will be answering.
In Breaking Dawn Bella Swan finally marries her vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen. As they venture further into their relationship Bella is hit with an unexpected pregnancy. Knowing the half-human, half-vampire baby inside of her is killing her, she refuses to let anyone take it away from her.
One of the major reasons that I fell in love with the Twilight series is because of the intensity of Edward and Bella's relationship. Edward has risked it all just to be near Bella. He has worked hard to protect her life, and I feel that Bella may have risked her relationship with Edward for this baby. I thought it was almost too risky for Bella to choose to keep the baby, destroying Edward emotionally.
The next reason why I'm not in love with Breaking Dawn is because Bella seems almost out of character. She went into a relationship with Edward knowing that she was giving up on having children. Then when she finds out that she is pregnant and Edward asks her to give the baby up, she refuses, and lets Edward be emotionally unstable while watching her in pain during her pregnancy. It's almost as if she were contradicting herself.
But fear not. While there were certain parts of Breaking Dawn I didn't agree with, there were parts that I did enjoy. Stephenie Meyer dedicates a part of the book to Jacob. She takes us further into Jacob's head, and it's more entertaining than any part in the other three books. When Jacob breaks away from the pack to protect the Cullen clan his interaction with the vampires is hilarious. It was ultimately my favorite part of the book.
The best part of Breaking Dawn is the writing. Stephenie's writing can still keep my attention, even if parts of her plot cannot. Stephenie has not yet failed in being able to captivate us with her writing. There's just something about the intensity of her writing that keeps me interested.
Breaking Dawn is not my favorite book in the Twilight saga. While I do enjoy certain parts of the book, it doesn't live up to the quality of entertainment the other books provide. There are still unanswered questions that we are left with. One of the major debates of the Twilight series is whether Edward has a soul or not. It never directly says in any of the books if he does or not.
Anyway, I'm giving Breaking Dawn 2.5 stars (of a possible 5).
