Because I didn't think reviews were impartial in their assessments I was compelled to offer the author some justice with a more balanced approach. THIS REVIEW IS SPOILER FREE (as much as possible) AND FOR THOSE DECIDING WHETHER OR NOT TO READ IT

I guess it's true that people either loved it or hated it. So I offer what those before me seem to lack - an impartial analysis as best as I can give it. This reviews Breaking Dawn but also the whole saga as the "problems" with Breaking Dawn are evident in many of her books.

First off I will address the writing itself. Meyers writing style in all the Saga is wordy and 'loose'. Not in a moralistic way but just that she takes 30 pages (for instance) to write something that could be said in 5. It's why her books have relatively straight forward stories but are still 500-800 pages long. On the other hand, what's so special about concise writing - you could argue that her style sets atmosphere, tone, and character development. Even her critics - or people expecting to hate the series - seem to get sucked into turning each page. One 1-star reviewer said she read the whole series in a weekend. Over 2000 pages!! I'm sorry, but if it was a truly terrible series I could not continue to devote a weekend to it. So something kept the 1 star reviewer going. That said, were I her editor, I would hand back some of the more egregious sections and tell her to tighten them up. In Breaking Dawn that would be Book 2 - Jacob. It just went on and on, long after we got the point.

On the heels of that I would add that my biggest and first complaint as a reader was the beginning. There I feel she didn't take ENOUGH time. I would happily slice off 100 pages from book 2 and donate them to book 1. The wedding was rushed, the honeymoon was unsatisfying. In my opinion. Which is a critical statement.

The problem with the popularity of this book is that everyone imagined their own happy ending and then got mad at Meyers for daring to have a conflicting one. It is clear, perfectly clear, that this is the end Meyers had in mind all along. The arcs, the foreshadows, the back history are all present. I dare say most of the ire over this ending is not based on the ending at all but on the fact that the book didn't go where that one fan wanted it to go. A large cross section of "you can't please all the people". In fairness to those fans though, the tone and theme did markedly and abruptly change. It was an adult book following three very teen novels. Bella grew up and a semblance of reality was introduced. Suddenly it wasn't teen fantasy. It wasn't hormones, ogling, prom and millionaires. The fantasy of vampires and immortality hangs in the wish that we would never have to grow up. That one goes from being a pimply awkward teen to a beautiful fantastic millionaire in the space of a 'kiss'. I have yet to see the vampire story where the vamp is a newborn and penniless living in a ghetto. They are always several hundred to thousands of years old and consequently wealthy or they are sired by a wealthy vamp and thus skip any reality-inducing transition.

Most criticism is based around the adult direction this novel then took. They wanted to see more romping by Edward and Bella. Maybe with specific scenes in mind (college? hanging at the Cullens? backpacking through Europe). Something romantic and just outside our existence enough we could vicariously live it and just inside our existence enough that we feel we could have it to, if only. If only we met our true love, if only we found the family we would want to hang with, if only we could take an extended vacation and buy that European ticket. But for one small, but POSSIBLE request, we could be there too.

Instead Meyers takes Bella into a world of adult choices and consequences. No romping, no drawn out fairy tale wedding. No fairy tale honeymoon. Again, as the editor, I would have scrapped the honeymoon and had it re-written. They argued. There was negative tension. For a book built on romance they cannot argue on the honeymoon. Not only that but Edward didn't believe Bella's explanations and then withdrew emotionally. He made a decision and then carried it out unilaterally without her feelings. This is not a good romance, and arguably is not a good marriage. Many plot points come from the honeymoon, but if I lampooned her for anything it would be this section. She needed to find a different way to get there.

As for remarks from reviewers that it was "too easy" and there was no suffering, those comments are laughable. Again the same flaw as before. Meyers characters did not suffer the way some of her audience wanted or expected. And suffered terribly in other ways. But those other ways 'don't count' and suddenly it was too easy and there was no sacrifice. Not true.

As with any book some lines I would cut, some characters could use a little more attention, some characters a little less. Examples would be to be a little less obsessed with Jacob (trim book two) and flesh out Rosalie more. She became more of a major character but stayed two dimensional. Not good. Alice disappeared and it wasn't until deeply in that a cursory reason was offered. Edward reverted to being a little too two dimensional himself, practically repeating the same lines over and over. While the story supported it to an extent I would have asked her to dig deeper. His actions made sense enough for the story she wanted to tell, but with a little soul-searching and digging around she might have transformed past the story she did tell and find one that would resonate more deeply with more fans. Edward needed to be more present as a true character.

Her story is a 2 person romance at its core - but in book 4 she shed the romance early on and then relegated Edward to an auto-pilot version of himself. No wonder a huge chunk is told from Jacobs point of view!

There were plot points that I didn't like either (yes, the imprinting issue was a major one) but it was her story to tell, not mine. So while I would not have gone in that direction I am also not a best selling author. But that particular plot line seems to have universal UNappeal. Truthfully the whole imprinting concept is a bad one. For a country that loves freedom as much as ours, the concept that you see someone and become their slave regardless of any choice or free will is rather repugnant to me. True love celebrates freedom. Meyers loved introducing Jacob as a REINFORCEMENT to Bella's love for Edward. Bella wasn't settling, she had fine options, she CHOOSE Edward and all that entails. So sad werewolves never get such joy for themselves. They don't find true love, but a happy sort of enslavement with creepy undertones at that. (Imprinting with children? Surely imprinting should ONLY work between adults.) This is not a tangant so much as an unfortunate offshoot of Meyers - in telling her fantasy and perhaps flexing her own fantasies - she unwittingly made werewolves the worst kind of culture. In addition to the aforementioned imprinting woes there was also the abuse theme that unfortunately ran too rampant for my tastes. I felt that Eclipse was entirely too close to a sexual attack between Jacob and Bella. Quite simply he used his superior size and strength to force Bella into sexual acts (just kissing but still) that she was not consenting too. But throughout the book he forces Bella into many things she does not consent to - through force or emotional blackmail. She tries to dress it up as his being young or hormonal. So rather than it being a character flaw of Jacob, he can remain flawless by pretending it is a character flaw of all men? That is, quite frankly, a terrible statement. I prefer to believe it is just a character flaw of Jacobs and one that continues to an extent in book 4. Jacob demands his way. I do not find that a friendship, a love interest, or in any way romantic or desirable. It is a temper tantrum and no more. Which paints werewolves as juvenile or valueless. Which is a shame. Meyers, so caught up in the way she regarded it, failed to see this for how it really read or could reasonably be read. A reviewer or editor should have pointed it out.

People found the end battle to be anti-climatic. This is a matter of opinion to a large degree, but it's fair to say that there was a showdown, there just wasn't a huge explosion, metaphorically speaking. The ending was far more intellectual than it was a mindless action movie. More readers wanted the mindless thrill of hunt, destruction and victory. But if they were to re-read the end without preconceived notions then they would find that a lot is going on. Having said that I must address that the ending, climax aside, had some plot holes. Since I'm I'm trying to avoid spoilers, suffice to say that you can't look too closely at the ending or it begins to unravel some. Again a failure of the editor or reviewer to catch this prior to release.

To sum up this review: Meyers tells her story. If it was the first book, like Twilight, when no one knows what to expect, then it would have received a far different review. More popular? Who can say. But certainly different. As the Fourth book of a beloved series people had secret desires and expectations for these characters. The main ire comes from the fact that Meyers told her story instead of the one they secretly demanded. Enter this book with an open mind, let Meyers tell you her story and you have a better chance of enjoying this installment.

There are some minor plot holes and times you might want to slap a character. This is as true for this book as any other probably. It runs fast in some areas, and long in others. As do all her novels.

Lastly, this book is more adult. Less fantasy and more How Their Lives End. Like it or not, the story is supported; it makes sense. It is the way she planned to end the tale. If it's not to your liking, there's always fanfic or your own imagination.