135 of 157 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Sadly, such a disappointment, September 7, 2007
I adored both Twilight and New Moon (gave them both 5 star ratings) and was happily anticipating loving Eclipse as much as I did the first 2 in this series. Unfortunately, the bad things really overshadowed the good for me in this installment.
I think Stephenie Meyer has an amazingly readable writing style; she's definitely one of 3 writers that I budget time to read their latest books in one sitting (Rowling, Charlaine Harris and Meyer). Eclipse was no exception in terms of being a page-turner. This novel really showcases Meyer's great sense of humor as well. Obviously from the amount of time and emotional energy I've invested into the series over the last couple of years, I care very intensely for her characters, and I think having your readers care so much for the characters should be a real tribute to any writer.
I was very pleased that Edward and Bella finally confronted the issue of their sexual relationship. It was tastefully depicted in my judgment, and it was long overdue. I also think it makes perfect sense for Bella to realize that having human sexual experience before sacrificing her humanity is worth exploring.
While I agree with so many other reviewers that the action plot in this book was only ho-hum at best, I did cheer that Bella (and we readers) at long last got to see Edward the Vampire in action. Now she has a better idea what she'll become, and he understands that she doesn't think him a monster for having witnessed him being a full-fledged vampire.
I didn't like the concept of imprinting (which is limited to the werewolves). It eliminates free will entirely, which I found very unsettling. I also found the similarities between imprinting and Bella's relationship with Edward to be more than a bit disturbing (more on that below).
The Cullens and the Wolves are no closer to understanding the core of humanity that resides in each of them. Jacob acknowledges that Edward loves Bella, but he still doesn't understand their love at all and hasn't made any attempt to understand the Cullens generally. Same, of course, holds true for the Cullens not being keen on the wolves at all. I really thought this would have to be the central theme, but I would have expected more progress in Eclipse.
Now for the Ugly .....
I'm shocked and appalled that Ms. Meyer could believe that many of us who disliked or were on the fence about Jacob in previous books would suddenly convert to pro-Jacob fans after reading Eclipse. I'm truly shocked.
After her book-signing tour for Eclipse, Meyer updated her website with some FAQs about Eclipse, and she has this to say about Jacob: "Those who are upset by some of his tactics should consider his youth and the fact that he is, after all, right. Bella is in love with him."
I thought Jacob was absolutely horrid as a person for the entirety of the novel, and it went beyond simple immaturity. Bella defends Edward (and her love of Edward) to Jacob at one point, emphasizing that Edward is decent. And Edward is decent. And good to the core.
Jacob, however, is not. He is so not decent. I truly despised him by the end of Eclipse and quite honestly, I wish he would just never return from his sojourn in the forest.
I've read enough reviews and talked to enough other readers to know that I'm not alone in being extremely upset and bothered by the Forced Kiss. No decent man would force himself on a woman, no matter what. His inexperience and immaturity don't excuse it. His goal of forcing Bella to acknowledge the connection between them is not sufficient reason for him to have done that. His apology might have ameliorated the wrong, if he had followed through and stopped trying to force or trick Bella into intimacy with him. I think the Forced Kiss sends a horrible message to Meyer's younger fans too. There are no repercussions from his forcing himself on her. Even Bella's father good-naturedly congratulates Jacob for having kissed Bella against her will! Yes, really.
The second later kiss (the one where he threatens to commit suicide since Bella doesn't care about him, provoking her to ask him to kiss her, henceforth the "Trickery Kiss") also proves unequivocally that Jacob is neither decent, nor a man. He's just a bitter, conniving, dishonorable and immature little boy who will apparently stop at nothing to try and get what he wants. I don't believe for one moment that Jacob is motivated solely by the lofty aspiration to save Bella from a fate worse than death (being turned into a vampire). Jacob wants what will make Jacob happy, and he makes absolutely no attempt to genuinely understand Bella's perspective.
Meyer clearly wants readers to feel Jacob's "pain," but honestly, he's 16 years old (which, remember, apparently gives him license to be a total jerk). But, if he's just an average immature 16 year old kid, then he'll just get over Bella and move on, right? I don't fundamentally understand why Jacob's broken heart is supposed to tug at my heart-strings. At the end of Eclipse, it is late June or perhaps mid-July. Jacob and Bella became best friends in January of the same year. He's really known her well for all of 6 months and he's 16 years old. It's a big shrug, isn't it? And if it isn't, why not? Hmmmm......might it be because Bella is turning into the biggest Mary Sue in all YA literature?
Bella frankly comes off worse than Jacob in this book. I've been a big Bella fan and defender in the prior books, but she left me cold in this one. I think she is selfish, whiny, indecisive, subservient to every male in her universe and generally a terrible role model for younger readers of these novels.
I think that Bella was portrayed in Twilight as an "old soul," and the love that she and Edward have (had?) was meant to transcend the normal love relationship that average teenagers might experience (or even that most adults might have). Their love was painted as something that was a cut above all other romance. Most average love affairs get tested by threats such as what Jacob poses. But, the Bella/Edward love story was, I thought, something different. If you take away the supernatural trappings of the two males, then you're left with a rather humdrum average love story, are you not? Again, what was the point of the New Moon epiphany if Bella just throws it all out the window in the next book and remains convinced that she's not good enough for Edward and starts to have romantic interest in another guy?
Bella did at last agree to marry Edward in this book. She made that promise to him, was engaged and then cheated on him. Just because she is only going through the formality of the wedding and an actual marriage because it's important to Edward is no excuse to treat it as though it isn't a promise. And it just kills me, absolutely breaks my heart, for her to be thinking "How soon can I give him back this ring without hurting his feelings?" when he's so suffused with joy and happiness at seeing it on her finger, at knowing that she's agreed to compromise and make him happy with a marriage that is clearly very important to him. That is heart-breaking. Edward deserves so much better.
Further, her objections to marriage are weak. Since we knew in New Moon that Bella had undefined "issues" with marriage, I expected Eclipse to reveal something more along the clichéd line of "child of divorced parents" than the reality. The "I don't want to be that girl" reasoning is really, really lame when you consider what Bella's ultimate plans are. Why the hell would she care what the kids she graduated with are saying about her, when she's never going to see any of them ever again? Since when did Bella Swan care about gossip or what other kids her own age thought about her? Charlie and Renee might be disappointed and encouraging her to wait until after college, but if Bella said the right things, her parents would accept her decision. I can understand the whole "that girl" argument, really I can -- but it makes no sense for Bella to be making that argument. It's weak and completely out-of-character. As one reviewer noted, it's a manufactured conflict designed to stretch out the storyline by another book.
I'm also growing very weary of Bella's self-esteem problems. I can't help wondering what happened to that great epiphany she had at the end of New Moon? The one where Bella and Edward both realized that they love each other completely and would always belong to each other --- what happened to that? In Eclipse, Bella is right back to viewing her relationship with Edward as "out of balance." As Edward noted once, "the way you regard me is ludicrous." I thought we were past all that, and yet Eclipse drags us right back down into the abyss of Bella's self-esteem issues. It's really growing tiresome and overdone (much like the continued repetitive emphasis on Edward's beauty). Grow up and grow a spine, will you, Bella? Please do us all a favor and get a backbone.
In literature (or movies), the author has an obligation to lay some clues that a love triangle is in the offing. Otherwise, it's just cheating. And I feel cheated, completely and utterly cheated. If Bella is resolute about anything, it's that she loves Edward and has only friendship feelings for Jacob. In her Eclipse FAQ again, Meyer insists that Bella fell in love with Jacob in New Moon and states: "Bella has only fallen in love one time, and it was a very sudden, dramatic, sweep-you-off-your-feet, change-your-world, magical, passionate, all-consuming thing (see: Twilight). Can you blame her for not recognizing a much more subtle kind of falling-in-love?" Well, Bella may not recognize it for what it is, but the readers darn sure should be able to see it. I know I'm not alone in finding no evidence of Bella...
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71 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Once upon a time there was light in my life..., April 3, 2008
This review is from: Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3) (Hardcover)
Now there's only love in the dark...
Yes, my friends, just like the song, we've reached a new level of cheese. The melodrama of this third installment of the Twilight series is over the top, outrageous, and at times difficult to stomach. But I'm not going to lie - I loved Twilight. New Moon made me sob. And I read Eclipse in a matter of days. Still on a high from Twilight, I was initially only mildly disappointed in Eclipse and overall pretty forgiving. But as time has passed, and particularly as I've picked up the book again to re-read it, my opinion is less favorable.
---WARNING SPOILERS---
Generally, I found the premise of the Seattle killings obvious and not all that interesting - a newborn vampire army is just cheeseball to me. I'd much rather read about the Volturi.
In terms of character development, I was disappointed all the way around. I found Edward's overly-controlling "protectiveness" disrespectful and hugely unattractive. While it may not have been out of character in the sense that he was always controlling, it was disappointing for this to be the side of him expounded upon. Gone was the Edward we loved - cool and sexy - instead, replaced by an icky control freak. Only to then be replaced by martyr-boy who lets his fiance make out with another guy and only complains with "I wish you hadn't asked him to kiss you." Hunh? I guess we can chalk this up to him being traumatized by the mess he created in New Moon and dealing with it in a myriad of stupid and dysfunctional ways. But waaaah! I miss the Edward of Twilight - snarky, cocky, arrogant, warm-hearted, vulnerable, loving.
As I re-read this book, I found Bella's tolerance of his condescension extremely frustrating. If any guy bribed his sister into kidnapping me, physically disabled my car so I couldn't go anywhere, and made constant snide remarks about my predisposition towards clumsiness and attracting danger, I'd get pissed. Maybe the teasing was cute in the beginning, way back in Twilight, but it goes beyond teasing in Eclipse and at some point any self-respecting girl would get mad.
Bella... well there's much to be said there. Mainly, what on earth is she doing? I grasp that she's a teenager and still learning/growing but rather than relating to her like I did in Twilight and somewhat in New Moon, I felt so aggravated with her this time around that I couldn't fathom what Edward even loved about her anymore. It didn't bother me in Twilight that her hobbies or outside interests weren't discussed - I assumed she had some and that we'd find out more about them in later books. Since Twilight was about her falling in love, it made sense to me that it was all about Edward. In New Moon she was devastated and nothing sounds good when you're that depressed so I was willing to overlook the fact that she was mourning and not interested in anything. But what the heck is her excuse this time? I realize that by making her as non-descript as possible, more readers can inject themselves into the character and vicariously makeout with a couple of hot guys, but is that really the only reason Bella is so bland? The only character points that even stood out in this book were her reluctance to get married, her inability to stand up to Edward (except by passive aggressive means) and her obsession with Jacob.
The marriage issue irritated me to no end. She's perfectly content to spend eternity with Edward but doesn't want to get married? I would think that her love for Edward, so sweeping and all-encompassing in Twilight, would supersede something as silly as her fear of appearing irresponsible to others. Since when does Bella care so much about what others think that she'd alienate the person she's willing to give up her life for? If you're willing to give up your humanity, family and friends, why balk at marriage? I realize that extending the series requires the creation of new complications, but I just don't find the reason for her reluctance to marry Edward a believable one.
And the love triangle... I could see a certain amount of sexual tension between Bella and Jacob in New Moon. Edward screwed things up by leaving and left her suffering. Jacob helped her heal and just happened to be good looking on top of it. I never got the impression that on Bella's end it was anything more than friendship love with a mild physical/emotional attraction. Not anywhere near the same ballpark as the aforementioned sweeping and all-encompassing love with Edward. If she had developed deeper feelings for Jacob, her internal dialog right before he was about to kiss her in New Moon would have been very different.
Yet this is the backdrop for the realization at the end of Eclipse that she's in love with Jacob too? I just didn't find enough of a draw between her and Jacob on her end. Jacob is obviously in love with her, but I don't see where she's in love with him. Her only reasons for seeking him out were because she missed her friend and hated to see him suffer; not because of romantic feelings. Maybe they would have gotten together if Edward never came back, but he did come back so there's no question of who she's going to be with. Therefore, what is she doing kissing Jacob and realizing she's "in love" with him? Especially after he manipulated her into this epiphany. And if she was willing to let him manipulate her, then how serious could her love and commitment be to Edward? While she was making out with Jacob she knew she loved Edward more, so what the heck was she doing? Exploring other possibilities? How is that justifiable when you're already in a relationship and engaged????
Then there's the whole Jacob pushing himself on her. I get that he's young and a werewolf and his emotions/hormones are out of control, but having him physically force himself on her in the middle of the book and then emotionally manipulate her at the end is just not okay. I want to like Jacob - I want to sympathize with him - but I can't like or sympathize with a character who sexually assaults another character. (Yet Bella's own father was totally fine with it? Charlie was an idiot in this book.)
I think if SM really wanted to create a compelling love triangle, it should have been handled differently. We can clearly see who Bella's going to choose and the fact that Jacob hasn't imprinted on her is an obvious sign that they'll never be together. So there's really no mystery or lure to this triangle. It was just an aggravating side-bar that caused me to lose respect for all three characters - Jacob for forcing himself, Bella for tolerating it (and exploring other options while committed to Edward), and Edward for being such a martyr.
Overall, I found the characters frustrating in this book. I suppose my three-star rating is a result of it being the Twilight series. If this were a stand-alone book that I read without the previous two, I might have given it one or two stars.
I still credit SM with creating a story compelling enough that I'm taking the time to write this long of a review. She obviously did something right. But at this point the series is gliding on the magic wrought by Twilight and I'd love to see more depth and growth in these characters in the next book. I do enjoy her writing style - the flow of action, dialog and descriptions of setting (though I was less impressed with the dialog in this book). I am eagerly awaiting Midnight Sun and will gladly read Breaking Dawn and anything else she writes for this series because, aggravated as I was with this book, I still want to know what's going to happen.
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244 of 291 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
False Reviews???, August 10, 2007
This review is from: Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3) (Hardcover)
My Original review on Aug. 10:
After finishing this book, I have no idea why it was written other than an excited writer's desire to fulfill a publisher's request as soon as possible. The writing was unevolved, and the sheer number of editorial errors proves how quickly both editor and author worked to release this book. Most of the issues that were brought up in the first two books were dropped in this one. To make matters worse, new issues abound that make the "willing suspension of disbelief" impossible, plot points are picked up and ignored randomly without any real twists or conclusions (except Vicky, of course), and you aren't really left with a character to love: Jake's forceful and annoying, Bella's negative and a martyr, Alice is pushy and superficial, and Edward is far too selfless.
The first and last part of the book is filled with bickering and grumbling which is used to set a stage for Meyer's beautiful and witty sarcasm, but does little to enhance the plot. Without ruining anything, I'll just say that there actually comes a point where Bella has to resign herself to being with Edward. In general, the relationship between them is so obviously codependent and unhealthy, without any basis in a reality, that it's lost all of its original touching reluctance. By the end of the book, Bella's constant victim-stance, her bickering, complaining, whining, and general inability to be happy has ruined the book.
UPDATE September 3, 2007: I am now absolutely DISGUSTED with both Meyers and her publisher. As soon as the rating fell below four stars, and almost all of the reviews commented on the same negative attributes, suddenly the reviews are flooded with five star, four sentence reviews from people who have nearly identical reviews on every other books they've posted for - falling in line with the newer trend of buying reviews for books. Shame on you Ms. Meyers for not letting your product stand on its own, and shame on you for disrespecting the loyal followers of your series in such a manner by telling them that their opinions are worth as much as cheaply bought props.
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