T.04.00 Preface Prologue Prelude Prechapter

The preface for Book 4 is the same as the preface for book 1: Bella being converted to Vampire or dying. It doesn't matter, it's half a page long.

And here we are, Book 4. And it's a monster. I guess Meyer has a lot of threads to pull together and ... no, wait.. not really.

1. Bella becoming a vampire
2. The Voltouri
3. The baby

From the last book we know Bella will get married. We know she's arranged the traditional honeymoon activities, which will lead to baby which will lead to conflict with the Italian royal vampires. Meyer has spelled this out. Why this is going to take 80 chapters (or whatever this monster contains) is a mystery, but that's going to be the plot.

At the start of Book 3 I was depressed about diving in. This time I'm seeing the light at the end of a long tunnel. I also possess a morbid, masochistic curiosity about how Meyer will try and hurt me anymore. Can there really be much left? I'm sure the long pregnancy and whatever suffering will be tiresome, but there has to be something to really kick me in the brain. Yeah, I know there's some kind of weirdism at the birth scene, but I'm guessing it's only disturbing if you overlook the ideas we already take for granted. Vampires eat blood, animal or otherwise, and they're technically dead. I've had enough Biology to not feel squeamish about some medical challenges in birthing baby vampires.

Long, deep breath.

So, how will the Cullens defeat the Italians? Big conflict? Long, rational debate? Winner take all checkers? I'm guessing Bella or baby will be some sort of super vampire. Her mental blockade plus her maternal instinct will let her kill the vamps with abandon.

No, that would be exciting to read about. I'll bet it's a HUGE build up to a giant letdown, just like every other book thus far.

Anyway, no more guessing.
After book 3 I took a long sabbatical into the wilds of decent literature. I read some Pynchon to clear the mind because nothing forces everything out of your brain like trying to get through a sentence written by Thomas Pynchon. I also read "Summerland" by Chabon and the last of the Hitchhiker's guide books by Colfer, which was much better than I hoped it might be. My excuse for all this reading was that "Breaking Dawn" was lingering in my library queue until someone (hey, no judgments from me) returned it. Thankfully, the self-checkout machine at the library was working, so I didn't have to hand the book over to one of the blue-haired volunteers. Now, however, I'm either going to have to work my way into Chapter 1 or give up on this quest.

By the way, given that I'm well ahead of the time curve and looking at the girth of this beast, I'm now posting EVERY SINGLE WEEKDAY. That's right. 5 times a week with wild abandon A New Year of Twilight. Take that.

I will not be defeated.
I have made it this far.
I will survive.
Gods of literature, sustain me.