Breaking Dawn: How NOT To Write About Imprinting

Mumu wraps up their revisit of Stephanie Myer’s TWILIGHT series and BREAKING DAWN.

TITLE: Breaking Dawn

AUTHOR: Stephanie Meyer

GENRE: Vampire Romance Dark Fiction

PAGES: 756

563FORMAT: Hardcover Book

PRICE: US $24.99/ CAN $34.98

Breaking Dawn, the last of Bella’s series. I enjoyed how many scenes were left up to the imagination. It followed Bella through her pregnancy and how much she was willing to risk to have her child be safe, but not from her point of view. From her best friend, Jacob’s, point of view.

Jacob comes back in this book and the way he handled himself during all of his own crises was amazing. Coming to terms with being an alpha of the pack and guarding Bella until her birth; he had a great point of view for this part. However, the one part I can never forgive is how Jacob imprinted on a baby; this baby may be supernatural, and the imprinting may have happened involuntary, but it was badly written.

Imprinting is an ability that a werewolf has; they mark their potential mate. It is written in the book that the imprint will only be platonic until the imprinted develops to a certain age, when they can fully decide for themselves. It sounded very much like- I’m your big brother now, but if you ever wanna be more, let me know. That is creepy and it seems to be grooming at a young age, no matter how anyone writes it. I do wish that Meyer would have written imprinting like how there are different kinds of love, like how Eros is romantic love, Storge is family love (like big brother/sister), Philia is friendship love, etc. If Meyer considered these different types and maybe added those to types of imprinting, it could have been a bit different and less awkward, watching Jacob become paralyzed by being in Resnesmee’s presence in an odd, “like he was a blind man seeing the sun for the very first time (pg 448) ” romantic sensation. It’s disturbing that a grown man gets paralyzed by a baby; it is wrong and irrational. How could anyone have an attraction to a newborn baby, unless it’s to protect them?

Unfortunately, this is the issue with the book. It took a great character and caused a whole controversy over imprinting for werewolves. I believe that if a bit more thought was put into it, it could have turned out differently. But Meyer wrote it that way to ensure that everyone got a happy ending; but it really needs to be recalibrated without using a damned baby as a romantic collateral to an awesome character.

The worst written part of the whole series is when they’re building toward a vampire all-out war, with werewolves helping the Cullens side versus the Volturi, all about Resnesmee’s conception and how many rules it broke in the Volturi’s eyes, Meyer turned it into a happy-go-lucky ending. I, for one, was looking forward to seeing the Volturi get their butts handed to them. After all the rules they’ve made, hurting innocent traveling humans to feed upon, even killing other vampires who break rules: it was due. Nope, Meyer took that away from us and let them have a happy ending. We didn’t even get to see Bella’s full ability during a battle; that made me feel bummed. I’m happy that the ending was happy, but not at the expense of the possible physical alteration that is long overdue with the Volturi. Maybe they’ll come back and be beaten, though I doubt it. 

Mumu the Tricked loves to read and write. It’s easier to sit still and work with their eyes and hands than move around some days. They are hoping to become a successful author and book reviews are quite fun, too. Thank you!

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing, nor do the views or opinions of Crystal Lake necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or its staff. Thank you for understanding.