I knew the ending of Life and Death was different to Twilight but I didn’t anticipate how rushed it would feel. The pacing is GODAWFUL. Meyer obviously wanted to fit in the backstories of all the Life and Death characters, and because apparently this is the only time she can do it, she squishes all the information we learn in the next three books into a single last chapter, plus the epilogue.
I also didn’t anticipate how sad of an ending it is. I was rooting for Edythe and Beau but their ‘forever was going to be amazing’ ending was marred by the fact that all of the human characters ended the book sad as hell. It’s a bad ending for Bonnie, Jules and the other Quileutes, even when they realise Beau is ‘alive’ and that the treaty wasn’t broken. All Beau’s human friends are devastated.
Renee and Charlie are destroyed by grief and Beau doesn’t even think about leaving them a message or hint to let them know that, although he can’t see them anymore, he didn’t die, and he’s happy. He was their only child! Do they not get a silver lining? In Breaking Dawn Charlie storms up to the Cullen house to find out what’s wrong with Bella (after she’s become a vampire), sees that there’s something not quite human about her, but accepts that he can’t ask questions. I think Life-And-Death-Charlie could handle something like that with Beau.
All that combined with the fact that Beau isn’t allowed to cry, not by Meyer (because gender) or by the narrative (because vampire), makes it seem like Beau just cannot process his grief.
And then three seconds before the book ends, Beau and Edythe decide to get married. Because that’s the only happy ending Meyer can imagine for two seventeen year olds, I guess. Their happily ever after doesn’t feel earned because none of the character development, adversity and growth of the next three books have happened. It really feels to me less like a romance and more like a tragedy.
