Breaking Dawn : Stefanie Meyer

                                                   Image Credit : Fantastic Fiction

“...perfect piece of our forever”. Thus ends the last of the four part Twilight Saga series penned by Stephanie Meyer. I hate good byes... have always hated them. I don’t like saying goodbyes to even books. And so it was I had to reluctantly put the last book down so I could write this review and after that start off another exciting journey with another book.

Breaking Dawn starts with an elaborate wedding of Bella and Edward, their romantic honeymoon escapade on an island which is supposedly a gift by Carlisle (Edward’s vampire father) to Esme (Edward’s vampire mother) and aptly names Isle Esme. And before Bella is turned into a vampire herself and forever frozen at age 18, she gets pregnant with a mutant child who is half human and half vampire. The child grows at a furiously fast pace and within a few weeks (not months) she delivers this strange child with special abilities.

The child named Renesmee prefers to drink blood (the stored variety available in hospitals) rather than milk. This should typically gross us out. But with Stephenie’s remarkable penmanship it neither feel out of place nor gross.

Due to complications during Renesmee’s birth Bella almost dies, but thanks to Edward, he turns her into a vampire and thus she is saved – kept alive for all intents and purposes.

There is a lot of emotional pull in the book – Bella’s motherly feeling towards her daughter (who is still human and so a possible food material) and her love for her father who comes visting (who is also now food material because he is still human). Add to this, the fact that Jacob has “imprinted” Renesmee during Bella’s three day process of conversion to a vampire. Imprinting is a process where a male wolf marks his partner for like. So now although Bella has a daughter, her days with her is numbered, thanks to Renesmee still continuing to grow at a fast pace - AND she now has to accept her best friend as her son in law. The constant eddy of these convoluted emotions makes for an interesting read.

And interesting point to note here is – Stephanie Meyer very cleverly makes sure to keep the concept of “Family” whole and complete even within the Vampire-Human love story. And since Bella is the protagonist of this novel at the end of the series she comes across as the most powerful vampire present – even more powerful than the vampire royalty of Volturi. Complications do arise between the Volturi and the Cullen family, however it is the women (Alice and Bella mostly) who save the day instead of the men. By the end of this book – Edward does not have anything much to do except love Bella and Renesmee and take care of them. Although after the ‘complication’ and its resolution, I doubt Bella needs any looking after.

Did I like the book? Yes, I did for several reasons, one of them being the feminist aspect where the women have more power than the men around them not to manipulate the men but to find sensible resolutions to problems in life - but then again that’s just me. If you are the type who needs a closure, then read this book. If not, you can skip it, you shan’t lose much.

Verdict: Readable although heavy on emotions bordering on melodrama

Rating: 3/5 (much better than the earlier Eclipse)