Glowing Review

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Released this August, Breaking Dawn, the much anticipated fourth installment to Stephenie Meyer's hit teen vampire series Twilight. The series follows the love story two teens from Forks, Washington, Bella and Edward. They're madly in love, but there's just one problem, Edward's a vampire. This books picks up where the last left off, with Edward and Bella just graduating and getting ready for their wedding and Bella wanting to join Edward in vampire-hood.

The plot is doesn't disappoint by any means. It throws sharp curve balls from beginning to end and leaves you hungry for more. Arguably the most intense plot in the entire series, the book climaxes at several points and offers more than one perspective. It delves deeper into Bella and Edward's relationship as well as several others. The most surprising point is the manner in which Bella enters the vampire world. Rather than simply changing Bella into a vampire which would have left readers conflicted with wanting her to be with Edward forever and missing the difficulty that separation caused for them, Meyer finds a shocking and ingenious way to make everything come out just right.

The most deeply explored topic in the novel is love and sacrifice. Both Bella and Edward are forced to make sacrifices for their love among several others. Human gifts versus supernatural gifts is other prominent theme/motif explored through the special abilities certain individuals in the vampire world possess.

Over the course of the series, Meyer taken extra care to develop and explore her characters thoroughly. You see Bella at her best in Breaking Dawn. She is astonishingly selfless and shows the inner strength she possesses. While she has seemed so fragile in the past novels, she shows she perfectly balances dependence and independence. Edward finally realizes he doesn't have to constantly protect Bella, that all he needs to do is love and support her, which makes him seem that much more perfect. The Cullens are examined more closely this time as well, considering that Bella is one of them now. Rosalie finally warms up to Bella and more is revealed about Jasper's difficulty with his past.

Meyer's style of writing draws the reader in immediately because she chooses to write in the first person, so the reader literally feels like they are in the shoes of the narrator. She takes this even a step further and connects readers to all the characters' thoughts, feelings, and emotions by cleverly using Edward's mind reading, Alice's seeing abilities, and Jasper's emotional awareness to do so. Readers are then able to understand the motives of all the characters and identify with each. This emotional attachment she creates makes for a whole new level of intensity for readers and adds to the excitement and thrill of the novel.