As those of you that have read my review of the first three books in the Twilight Saga will already know, I'm something of
a fan of this collection of books but not a fan unwilling to pick holes. That said, I thought Eclipse was an absolutely amazing book that showed how far
Stephanie Meyer has come since she first put pen to Twilight, and I have been dizzy with anticipation of the fourth instalment,
Breaking Dawn.
Normally I attempt to avoid spoilers in my reviews after four books it is rather difficult to cater to everyone, so I want to get this straight before we move on. This review assumes you have already read the first three Twilight books or that you do not mind being told what happens in them. If you haven't already read the first three books, please feel free to view my reviews of them but you must understand that this is a saga, and four books in a great deal has occurred. This review assumes instead you have read the first three and are deciding whether to read the fourth.
The plot of Breaking Dawn, without giving too much away, centres on the continuing trials of Bella Swan and vampire lover Edward Cullen. Bella strongly desires to become immortal and spend eternity with Edward, an idea that Edward is refreshingly reluctant about but has been persuaded, over the course of several books, to facilitate. His only condition, alluded to in the preceding book, is that he should make an honest woman of Bella first. Bella has her own condition on this front. Edward has resisted her sexuality, believing he might break her (best not to think about that too hard) if they make love while she is still mortal. Bella insists that this is attempted after they are married before she is turned. Oh, and then there's the little issue that her best friend is a vampire-hating werewolf who is also very much in love with her, the fact that a whole band of werewolves will kill the Cullens if she is turned, while the vampire elite, the Volturi, will kill them for letting a mortal in on the secret if she is not. You're likely already aware of this whole plot but I'm putting it up there to give some idea of the number of loose ends Stephanie Meyer has left herself to tie up in this fourth and potentially final instalment.
To some extent, Meyer manages this in that all of the above features in Breaking Dawn. For me, Meyer is a novelist capable of making ill choices in parts of her work but equally one who always returns to the fray having learned from the experience. New tools are evident in Breaking Dawn, with one third of the novel taking the daring step of moving away from Bella's monologue and focusing on a different character. Despite my initial reservations about this change I must confess I found it the most compelling part of the novel, in fact I read it straight through and returned to my day job having had only 3 hours sleep. Only Stephanie Meyer could pull it off quite so ably, and that's not something I say lightly. Likewise, the third section sees a whole host of new characters being introduced that, in any other novel, would have been immensely confusing and entirely unwelcome. That Meyer can throw these kinds of twists at her readerbase without it all falling apart at the seams cements her, in my view, as one of the most accomplished writers alive today.
Is Breaking Dawn all I had hoped? Well no, I suppose not. I must admit I had hoped for a more cataclysmic finale with the Volturi than what is presented. One of my friends, reading the novel at the same time, indicated that the removal of sexual restraint from both the lead characters felt a bit more than she needed to know and I can to some extent understand that point of view. There is also no doubt that Breaking Dawn moves the plot along more than it ties all the ends together. But if anything I think I'm most disappointed that the end, which seems to be IT for this series, doesn't feel like an end at all but another step along the path.
Ultimately, I think I preferred Eclipse, probably the more consistently amazing book, but Breaking Dawn remains fantastic. I hate the way hype seems to define literature at the moment, with books such as Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code making millions without being, in my opinion, truly exceptional texts to begin with. I recently heard that Stephanie Meyer was the biggest selling author in 2008 and frankly few authors deserve it more. It is regrettable that it seems unlikely Midnight Sun, essentially a Twilight rewrite from Edward Cullen's perspective, will ever hit stores having been leaked prior to polishing. I certainly won't be reading the rough-cut – I can empathise entirely with Meyer's pain on that front – and I hope to dive into The Host, Meyer's sci-fi novel, as soon as possible but I can't help but hope Breaking Dawn is not the end of this series which has been an every increasing joy to read. Bravo, Stephanie, but more more more.