Breaking Dawn 367-470

With this section we're back into the mind of Bella, so she's obviously not deceased. And it opens with a quote from Orson Scott Card, author of the incredible Ender's Game. That's a plus. Edward and Jacob have nothing on Ender. Yeah, I just said that. Deal with it.

So the vampire serum made it to Bella in time and she's in some sort of turning-into-a-vampire partial coma. Her veins burn. It's uber painful. Then she comes to and everyone is relieved but worried. "Newborn" vampires are strong, uncontrollable, and driven by their lust for human blood. But Bella is doing better than most, if not all, newborns. She has much better control. What a twist!

Bella wants to see Blade, but the vampires all say no. Instead, Edward takes her out hunting to satisfy some of her blood lust with some fresh animal blood. He also makes plenty of cryptic, disparaging comments about Jacob. He won't explain to Bella why, but we already know what's going on, right? Yeah, we do. I had it right last time. Go me. Woo.

They return and find Rosalie and Jacob taking care of baby Blade. Jacob confirms my prediction that he imprinted on her and then Bella goes berserk. She yells at him and then tries to attack him. One of Jacob's buddy werewolves blocks the attack and gets injured. Good thing werewolves have healing factors like Wolverine. Only not quite as fast. Verdict: Wolverine is much cooler than werewolves.

And that's pretty much it. I know. Exciting. Oh, there is more. Blade is still rapidly growing. Just 2 or 3 days since birth and she's already a couple weeks/months in size. She also has this trippy power where she touches your face and then sends her memories into your brain. It's her way of communication.

Oh, and the truce between the werewolves and vampires is back on. So they've got that going for them, which is nice.

So what happens now? I really don't know. Everyone lives happily ever after? I doubt it. I'm still rooting for Jacob and Blade to team up and go on a vampire killing spree. Bonny and Clyde style, man.

One more thing. Bella has been itching to be a vampire ever since the first book, but the opportunity has always eluded her. I was rather hoping this trend would persist with Bella never succeeding in her quest for vampiric immortality. Maybe there'd be some realization or epiphany about how the true meaning of life is in its inevitable cessation. Or she'd find a form of immortality through her descendants, much like the ancient Hebrews did. Before the adoption of many aspects of Greek philosophy, through the process of Hellenization spearheaded by the conquests of Alexander the Great, the concept of the afterlife for them was much more primitive. People went to a land of the dead and merged into a singular, though lifeless, consciousness of sorts. Instead of immortal souls, for them immortality was achieved through their descendants, both by them carrying the deceased's bloodline and their very remembrance of the deceased.

But, alas, it appears such an edifying realization is not to be had by Bella. But, there's still plenty of pages left in the book for moments of great importance to occur. So keep your head up. There's sill hope that raptors or Jeff Goldblum will make an appearance. And it's hope like that that gets me through the day.