Bella is a DRAMARAMA MAMA in this third installment in the Twilight saga! There's a mysterious string of murders in nearby Seattle, evil vampire Victoria is still after Bella, someone broke into Charlie's house... and all Bella does is agonize over Team Jacob vs Team Edward, and after-graduation plans. She pushes Jacob away and then wants him back (on her terms)... then pushes him away, then wants him back. Edward, lucky guy, gets to ride that emotional roller coaster by her side.
I was pretty optimistic about the first two books in this saga. They were much better than I expected, and I chose Team Jacob. Eclipse, however, seems to live up to the more negative reviews of the saga. It's a bummer. I was so hopeful!
The first 3/4 of the book is Bella's senior year. She spends the year worrying about how soon she can let Edward make her immortal, and whining about his conditions. (He is completely unreasonable. He insists that she seriously consider the fact that she'll no longer be human, and to enjoy her last months as a human. He also insists that they get married before they sleep before, and before he turns her into a vampire. And that he gets to buy her a new, more reliable car. He's obviously insane.) She also spends time alternating between wanting Jacob to be her best friend, and wanting to never see him again.
If you're really into drama-filled romance, you'll probably enjoy the first half of the book. Edward continues to be perfect, always-forgiving, and to make grand romantic gestures. Jacob continues to try to court Bella too. So she's getting lots of positive attention.
For me, the action really picked up in the last quarter of the book or so. Things come to a head with the evil vampires in Seattle, and the Cullen family has to make some unusual alliances to fight them off. The Cullens and Bella work together, using all their extra abilities, to plan a great counter-offensive when they hear that the other vampires are coming to the Forks area. And then the battle itself! Exciting! It's fast-paced and unpredictable. It had me on the metaphorical edge of my seat until the end. (Remember, even though the saga is old, I managed to avoid nearly all spoilers.)
Like with the first two books, I listened to Eclipse as an audiobook. It was good! Same reader, so same good cadence and clear narration.
P.S. (Still Team Jacob at the end of Eclipse.)
P.P.S. Already began reading Breaking Dawn today. Gotta see how the story ends!
Great review, Marie! One of the things I loved about this series is how annoyingly accurately it portrays teenage emotions. The weird thing is, if it wasn't for the whole dangerous vampire thing, most dads would have been Team Edward given his sensible approach.
ReplyDeleteI think it was this book where I started supporting Team Celibate :)
My daughter devoured this trilogy and the movies that followed. I didn't read the book but I saw all of the movies with her as she collected the DVD's for the three movies. :)
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I'm still Team Edward after all these years. I hate the love triangle in this saga. Eclipse is my favorite book of the series. I also like how BD ended. Great review!
ReplyDeleteThere's also the ending the How It Should Have Ended crew came up with here. Very funny :)
ReplyDeleteI love reading reviews on books I've read, I liked the whole series but I think Bella had serious issues, and I am Team Edward, great review!!
ReplyDeleteI like about "Eclipse" that the story continues to be character-driven - the characters have to face the consequences of the decisions they made in "Twilight" and "New Moon". Edward chose to let Bella into his world, and they had to deal with James and now Victoria's revenge as a result. Edward left Bella and now he has a rival. Bella needed Jacob in "New Moon" and now she is attached to him and entangled in their friendship and the love triangle. Jacob decided to get invested and win Bella in "New Moon", though she loved another, and now he has to fight a losing battle. I also love that at the end of "Eclipse" Edward decided to give up on the marriage, if that would make Bella happy. Making decisions for her own good or leaving her make her own choices is his recurrent dilemma in the saga. It's one of the reasons for my interest in the story. It's complicated, because all her choices not only affect him, but also require his active or passive agreement and involvement (staying with her, changing her, having sex with her, keeping the baby). He always makes the choice, which is safer for Bella, no matter what each of them really wants. She chooses to take the risk and go for what she wants. The stakes are so high, that there is not right and wrong choice, but if she had not gambled, they wouldn't have had a chance for happiness.
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