Twilight is getting dim...

Heroes isn't the only fandom I am having issues with lately.

BTW - If you are crazy in love with Twilight please stop reading now. I know that people have different reactions to things and this is mine.

Lemme preface by saying I do not hate Twilight, but nor do I love it. Meyer has a more accomplished style of writing than some authors but she is nowhere near as clever, innovative and sophisticated a storyteller as J.K. Rowling. Of course, that is my opinion. However, I am not interested in writing a comparison of the books. My issues is with the last Twilight novel, Breaking Dawn.

Again, if you know me, you know that I am resistant to anything too new. I do not trust the judgement of the masses so it takes me rather a long time to catch up with the popular trends. (They have to prove themselves so to speak.) However, at everyone's instance I went ahead and read Twilight after the first film came out.

The books are cute enough as far as teenage vampire romance novels go. Like I said, not brilliant but thoroughly enjoyable. As of the fourth book however I have noticed a trend in Meyer's writing that really irritates me, the dreaded deus ex machina.

Bella is confronted with the tough choices in life that, in a less dramatic way, we all have to make. The author builds and builds and builds these events up and then suddenly, everything is cleared up by circumstances outside of Bella's control. More and more I see Bella not having to make those tough choices.

SPOILERS - You Have Been Warned

To name a few...

• Bella is worried about becoming a vampire and missing out on human experiences, i.e. pregnancy. Well, along come the god machine and Bella is magically pregnant with a baby on fast forward.
• Bella is worried about having to become a vampire because she'll have to leave her human life behind. Well once again deus ex machine to the rescue. She gets so destroyed by the baby that they have to make her a vampire to save her life. Cop out!
• Bella is worried because she'll have to tell her father she's marrying Edward. Her dad passes the responsibility to her mom who magically accepts the one things she has always warned Bella against because it seemed right. WTF...
• Bella is worried about having to spend a year of her life as a mindless newborn vampire but somehow she is magically immune.
• Bella is worried that her chosing Edward over Jacob is going to destroy their friendship (which she seems to hold dear.) However, as soon as she becomes a vampire Jacob suddenly falls out of love with her because he imprints on Bella's daughter. Seriously Meyer, what a let down. We spent two, if not three books, angsting about this romance only to have it magically erased? Very disappointing. Bella has made her choice. She chose Edward. She should have to live with that knowing what it will do to Jacob.

I found the fourth book filled with these escapes. Bella isn't having to make those tough choices and it really leave me unfulfilled as a reader.

Aside from that, I also feel that Bella!Vampire is a very unlikable character. As a vampire, Bella loses everything that made her charming, her clumsiness, her insecurities, her worries. Even her personality changes. She starts referring to Jacob as a "mutt" or "dog" and other derogatory terms. The only facet that remains of her original personality is her love for Edward and frankly, that isn't enough. Her love seems more like an obsessive attachment now than a true longing. It's becoming a cliche of itself.

At any rate, I have half the book. I really hope it wraps up cleanly or I will not be buying anymore books from Stephenie Meyer.