A satisfying conclusion

In Stephenie Meyer's fourth and final sequential novel in the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn begins with Bella and Edward's wedding. In Eclipse, Edward made a deal with Bella: he would make her a vampire if she would wed him first. And she agreed to marry him if they could have sex before becoming part of the undead. Breaking Dawn is not a book for teens.

The wedding takes place and, true to Stephenie Meyer form, Jacob shows up near the end to dance with Bella and ends up trying to rip Edward's head off. The happy newlyweds take off to an island off the coast of South America (Esme's Island, as Carlisle purchased it for her as a wedding gift) where they spend nearly a month relaxing and having sex. The sex part is difficult for Edward as he is so much stronger than Bella, but he finds ways to vent his excitement including destroying headboards and feather pillows. Still, Bella winds up bruised and battered though incredibly happy. That is, until she realises she's pregnant.

For the first time in the series, someone other than Bella narrates. As Breaking Dawn is split up into three "books", the second "book" is narrated by Jacob who returns from his wofly sojourn to find Bella returned from her honeymoon and "ill" at the Cullens'. When he goes to investigate, he discovers Bella is pregnant and that the 'baby' is quite literally harming her. Being a half-human half-vampire, the entire pregnancy lasts only a matter of weeks and ends up breaking ribs and injuring Bella throughout the process. 

When the Quilite wolf pack hears of Bella's situation and what she is carrying, the Alpha wolf (Sam) decides that they need to get rid of it before it is born and destroys them all. Jacob balks at this and defies the Alpha's order, starting his own new pack with Leah and Seth who vow to protect Bella at all costs. Sam and the others from the original pack back off and the new pack continues to patrol the Cullens' house to make sure it stays that way.

Breaking Dawn is an interesting tale as it explores Bella's unkown desire to be human in order to have a child. The first half of the book follows the honeymoon and subsequent birth of Bella's child and the last half focuses on the new baby and its effect on the world. Some might say that Breaking Dawn [too] neatly wraps up the series, but I like finishing a series feeling satisfied with the outcome. Though the "final battle" so to speak isn't quite as action packed as we would be led to believe from earlier novels, it's still gripping and exciting as ever. By far, Breaking Dawn is my favourite of the series and leaves you hoping that there'll be more.