WARNING: This entry contains spoilers so if you haven't read Breaking Dawn or haven't finished it yet, stop reading this entry and get the hell out. Don't say I didn't warn ya. Again, we are entitled to our own opinions. This happens to be mine. So if you don't get that, get your own corner in cyberspace and throw all your fits there, thankyouverymuch.

Okay, so I've finished reading Breaking Dawn today. It contains 700+ pages -- the longest in the series -- of McCullen goodness but to be honest, I was disappointed. First of all, I didn't expect any of those things to happen. Everything was a shock, and not in a good way. The characters seemed so hugely different from who they were back when Eclipse ended. I flinched and cringed probably as many times as Stephenie Meyer mentioned those words in the book. :-/

The first 3 books in the series left A LOT of unanswered questions making the readers crazy and drooling over the release of the 4th book. We all have our version of Breaking Dawn in our heads. Personally, I was expecting a sort of long engagement tied with some goose chase with the Volturi or the werewolves, a little flirting and jealousy from both Edward and Bella (considering that Tanya and Jacob will be there) and eventually leading to a fairytale wedding upon the last few chapters, leaving us dazzled and mystified, wondering if she was turned into a vampire or not. I could've been happy with that.

But that's not what Meyer did. Oh no, it wasn't even close. Instead of stringing us along until the anticipated wedding at the end, she already got them married by the 3rd chapter. Which leads to the honeymoon by chapter 5. Guess what's next. Okay so this is where the confusing part begins. Let me say this first: One of the things I love about Stephenie Meyer is how she manages to create a mysterious and fascinating world, complete with the intricate details (or standards) of what could and could not happen in it. Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse were shaped by these standards. In Breaking Dawn, however, Meyer decided to shy away from these rules she set herself and decided to simply allow a vampire to father a child just like that. Yup, that's what I'm talking about. Didn't she make it clear in Eclipse that vampires cannot procreate the way humans do? I mean, if female vampires are genetic dead ends (as Leah would put it), why are male vampires not? I think this single twitch started the chain of troubling events that followed which made me pause for a moment and think if what I was reading really stemmed from the same story which began as Twilight. What happened?

If the baby's existence didn't bother you enough, then maybe the fact that it feeds on Bella's blood and energy during the pregnancy will. The baby literally devours on Bella, growing wildly and rapidly inside her, bruising her belly and literally cracking her bones in the process. And Bella even gulped human blood to keep it alive! Wait. Earth to Meyer. This is the same Bella who almost passed out on blood typing in Biology class, right? So in book 4, she drank blood and LIKED IT? Even if she's gonna be a vampire soon enough, she's still human at the time of her pregnancy. Okay so let's say she's doing it for the baby, but still, she said she liked it? Whoops. Again, what happened?

Another bothering fact is the delivery of the baby. Bella vomitted a fountain of blood and the baby ripped its way out of her. Edward even bit her to get it out. I've never seen Meyer do such writing before. Considering the level of vampire horror her previous 3 books contained, this one is just too much. She stepped it up a few notches and completely forgot to hit the brake. Like I said, it was too much.

And don't even get me started with the name. Renesmee Carlie? I used to admire Meyer's choice of names for her characters (Edward, Emmett, Carlisle etc) but Renesmee? I'm surprised it even got past the editors. And crap, I can already see some avid Twilight fan naming their child that. Oh I just know it. Lol.

And the imprinting. Oh my. Why on earth would she let Jacob imprint on the baby? It's not even the age gap that's disturbing anymore since Meyer already manifested that it's a possibility through Quil and little Claire. It's the fact that it's not just anyone's daughter -- it's Edward and Bella's for crying out loud! What was she thinking? Is that the picture of a happy ending? Jacob becoming Bella's son-in-law? And what would they tell Nessie (yes that's her nickname) when she matures? Ugh. That's just plain absurd.

The character development was insane. Bella got more whiny and selfish. Seriously. Even at the beginning of the book, she complains about the expensive car Edward bought her, the wedding, the preparations etc. Okay now that I think about it, it's kind of normal because she's Bella and she hates the attention. So forget about that. Anyway, she claims that she loves Edward more than life itself, right? But what has she really done for him, exactly? The choice to become a vampire? Edward didn't want that for her. She insisted that herself. In Eclipse, she realizes that she loves both Edward and Jacob. And then she made the choice to be with Edward. But she refuses to let go of Jacob completely. And with that, she's not only hurting Jacob, whom she rejected, but also Edward, whom she picked. She says she hates herself for inflicting so much pain to Jacob but she continues to cling to him. Like she would never be whole without him. Despite the fact that she's married. One clear and irritating manifestation of this is when she refers to the baby as "EJ". Did she even pause for a moment to think about Edward's feelings? Don't go blushing and "Awww"-ing on me, people. It's not sweet. It's downright selfish. Maybe the queen on the cover of the book is Bella after all, conquering the entire chess board.

Let's go to Edward. He's the reason why Twilight has been such a fuss. He has cast every female who has read the saga under a spell. He's got dazzling golden eyes you could just drown in, mysterious gestures, romantic lines, amazing strength and speed.. and oh, did I mention he sparkles? He's the perfect leading man! But in Breaking Dawn, the knight in shining armor that is Edward suddenly vanished. He became the slave to Bella's wants. I swear I'm going to scream if I hear him say, "If it makes Bella happy," one more time. Enough, already. This clearly isn't true love.

In Eclipse, Meyer showed the tough issues Bella has to deal with if she chooses to be with Edward and be changed into a vampire. That includes leaving the normal human life behind, cutting ties with her parents and her human friends. She would not be able to have children of her own. She would have to temporarily lose her human feelings and fight the bloodlust and thirst of a newborn vampire. She would spend a while to regain control of herself and her thirst as a vampire, just like the rest of the Cullens. She would also cut ties with Jacob since it will break the treaty. And finally, as Edward had always believed holds true for all vampires, she would lose her soul. These are compelling issues which would have been great to give emphasis to in BD. However, I didn't see any of these issues get addressed. In fact, BD just stomped all over it as if they were never mentioned in the past books. I didn't read anything about Bella's grief and agony of leaving the human life, which would have been great to focus on. And also, when Bella became a vampire, she didn't experience the difficulty of controlling the thirst which vampires should have. Sure, it's great because it shows how strong Bella really is. Though I can't help but think that Meyer used it to force her happy ending. Oh well.

Wow. This has really been a long entry. But I'm not done yet. Lol. So I just ranted about how much I was disappointed by the book  but there are still parts of Breaking Dawn which appealled to me. I love the fact that Jacob narrated a third of the book. It's like a breath of fresh air. It's more fun to read which sort of compensated a little for the whole drama of the book. I love how he calls Rosalie Blondie. Lol. And the chapter titles were a knockout. But what I loved most about it is Jacob's heartbreaking lines/thoughts. Here's one:

So why did she [Bella] have to be so damn thrilled to see me? Like I'd made her whole freakin' day by walking through the door. If she would just not care... Or more than that -- really not want me around. It would be so much easier to stay away.

There's one scene where Jacob went to the park and stared at each girl who passed him by, forcing himself to imprint to get over Bella. That was heartbreaking. And moreover, this was his thought when he saw Bella after that:

When I stared into her eyes, I saw everything that I'd been looking for in the park.

Jeez. I'm such a sucker for sad stories, aren't I? Hahaha. I guess I just miss the Lion-Lamb-Wolf triangle that it really took me by surprise when Jacob just completely forgotten how in love he was with Bella and vice versa. I mean, it's the love triangle that makes the series brooding and mysterious, right? Even sexy. The fact that there are two opposing supernatural creatures who are so in love with a defenseless ordinary human being. That's where all the spark is coming from. And when Bella became a vampire, the sparks just died.

But I really loved the last scene, where Bella took off her shield and let Edward inside her head. After I got disappointed with the plot, I found myself smiling at the end of it.

I'm pretty sure I still missed some points I wanted to share but I'm getting tired already so I better end this. I know some or even most of you may not agree with anything I've said in here. We all have different views on things. This is just my medium of expressing how I felt after reading the book. No offense meant. If you enjoyed the book, then good for you. Besides, at the end of the day, it's still your own opinion that matters most.

I still like Stephenie Meyer. I think she loves her characters so much that she wants them all to be happy, which is a pretty tough goal to achieve since her vampire romance has sides. How can both sides win at the same time? Anyway, if she continues to write more, I'm sure I'd still grab a copy and check it out. Especially if it's The Host XD

So what's next? Midnight Sun, is it? In that case, can we also have a re-telling of New Moon in Jacob's POV? :D