YOU CAN ALSO FIND THIS REVIEW ON MY BLOG
Breaking Dawn is my second favorite in the Twilight series. It's a return to form of sorts. When it comes to Twilight, I don't shy away from the fact I love the series. But loving something and having no issues with it is not the same thing, and books two and three in the series are actually kind of meh when you get down to it.
Breaking Dawn brought back the things I loved most about Twilight, and added its own little spin on things.
The story is divided into three parts: the first is told from Bella's pov as we've come accustomed to. The second is actually told from Jacob's pov which was great for many reasons, and in the third we go back to Bella. But a better Bella.
Because what Breaking Dawn does is redeem Bella. Finally, after two books that made me despair of her, she's back and better than ever. She's active. She makes choices. She fights and protects what's important to her - first by proxy when she's too physically weak to do it, and then by sheer bad-ass-ness.
She is useful. She is important to the story and the action. For once, without her (actively) they won't even win the battle. Her relationship with Edward is still the reason those conflicts exist, but she is finally an active part of the solution.
Then there's Jacob. While I was still majorly pissed by him (and Bella's reaction to him) in the first part of the book, the second gave much needed insight into his head, making him a character I could like again - which hasn't been the case since he became a major one. So we got to see the depth of his feeling, his sadness, his sort-of loneliness, his inert leadership. Clever move, Meyer.
Another clever move was making Jacob so damned funny. Seriously, Jacob in this book has a sense of humor and I LOVE it! And pairing him up with Rosalie, even just as a comedic pair, is brilliant. Every time this unlikely due was together on page, I laughed. It added some levity to a somewhat dire situation, and gave us a new dynamic to observe, and it worked beautifully.
Speaking of Rosalie... She was not one of my favorite characters in the books, in fact she was the only Cullen I disliked, but this book did a fantastic job at endearing her to me.
Now, what Breaking Dawn does that I haven't seen often in YA is moving from those young adult themes into some more mature ones such as marriage and parenthood, which I loved. Even if it had its creepy parts.
I was thrilled that this series found a way to include these, after basically "sealing its own fate" with the seeming sterility of the vampires. I am the type that loves seeing the couples I love live on in children, or think of the possibility of it, and I always get sad when it's impossible. I guess Meyer is the same way.
Now, the THING that truly creeped me out in this novel, and made me pause and be like
is the imprinting. Holy shit that was soooooooooooo creepy. Like, I get it - we needed to "excuse" Jacob. We needed him to get his happy ending (or not, really. I wouldn't have minded Jacob a lonely old man tbh). And Meyer did try to soften the blow by describing imprinting as more an indication of your other half and not necessarily "love" but holy fuck, looking at a one-hour old baby and being like "that's my future wife" is freaky no matter what you say and what you do and JUST NO.
Can you imagine Jake talking to his children?
"Daddy, how did you and mommy meet?"
"Well, you see, that's actually a funny story. I was in love with your Grandma, and your mother had just been born, eating her way out of your grandma's womb. Naturally, I went to kill her. But when I saw her tiny, beautiful, blood-covered, wrinkly fifteen-minutes old face, I fall instantly and irreversibly in love with her."
INSTANT LIFE TRAUMA
I do not envy these kids. Also, awkward Thanksgiving dinners ahead.
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Old Version
Breaking Dawn is my second favorite in the Twilight series. For me, it's Twilight back on its feet. Despite being a fan of the series, I had a lot of complaints about the last two books in the series, New Moon and Eclipse. Breaking Dawn, however, has only minor issues with (mostly related to the imprinting part of the story).
Breaking Down was divided into three; first part told from Bella's point of view, as it has been since the first book in the series. The second is told from Jacob's POV, which was great fun to see, and the third is back in Bella's.
Bella in this book is a lot like the Bella I loved in the first book. She's active, not passive. She protects what hers fiercely. She is strong, and meaningful, and without her they actually wouldn't be able to win the fight... contrary to the last three books, in which she was the cause for the fight and needed protection. Her fixation with Jacob still pissed the hell out of me in the first part of the book, though.
We also get to see insights into Jacob as we spent a third of the book in his head. We get to see the degree of his feelings toward Bella, his sadness... We get to see what he really think. I think it was a really nice touch to the book.
One of my favorite parts of the entire series is Jacob and Rosalie's blonde jokes. That's right, you heard right.
To read the full review go to my blog; Drugs Called Books (and trust me, you want to. not to brag, but I included an... interesting... conversation between Jake and his kids in this review)