Latest addition to popular vampire series draws mixed reviews from critics and fans.
by Jasmine Kabera
It isn’t witty or clever, and calling it romantic would be a bit bold, but Stephanie Myer’s long awaited fourth novel Breaking Dawn (in the Twilight series) is nothing short of entertaining.
Twilight stars the book’s protagonist and narrator Bella Swan, who is an accident-prone teenager who happens to fall in love with a handsome vampire named Edward Cullen. Bella is then introduced to Edward’s coven, a group of equally beautiful and perfect vampires who have sworn to drink animal blood. Three novels later, Edward and Bella are engaged and readers are once again left with mountains of unanswered questions.
Breaking Dawn answers any and all questions, especially the, “Is Bella finally being turned into a vampire?” question. This time around, readers aren’t left hanging but, like the previous three, must wade through pages full of Bella swooning over Edward while waiting for the plot to develop.
Myer delivered what could be considered the most bizarre plot line. She quickly gets Bella and Edward’s wedding over with. Then, in true soap opera fashion, Jacob (the werewolf in love with Bella) shows up. Myer writes the awkward encounters between the vampires and werewolves (they’re sworn enemies) with ease, and one could almost feel the tension with every snide comment shared by both parties.
There are few eyebrow raising antics, but Myer is careful to only hint on what exactly happens when two newlyweds are left alone on an island during their honeymoon.
For the next half of the book it is imperative readers develop a sense of humor. Bella becomes pregnant, with a vampire baby, and it’s sucking the life out of her.
It gets weirder.
The pure and innocent teen-aged girl starts drinking blood in an effort to please her infant. Then, after a grotesque birth that would put anyone off having a baby with a vampire, Bella’s life is in danger and the only way to save her is to turn her into, you guessed it, a vampire.
Long-term fans of the book will either hate it or love it. Myer still retains her purity and dry sense of humor that is always present in the Twilight series. Unfortunately, Breaking Dawn is a far cry from Twilight, the original masterpiece that started it all, but the book remains a page turner because of Myer’s impeccable skill of keeping the plot interesting, no matter how bizarre.
If one is looking or a novel in which anything that can happen – will happen, in the strangest possible way, and in the most random fashion, then one must read Breaking Dawn.
