Stephenie Meyer - Eclipse

I have been enjoying the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, and once I read the first book, I planned on finishing the series.  I really liked the first book and the second was good, and left me wanting to know what would happen.

"As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob—knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?"  (StephenieMeyer.com)


Eclipse

The wait list on these books at the library is ridiculous, so I opted to buy this book from Amazon.com.  I got a hardcover book for about $11 (and spent a little more to get the free shipping for purchases over $25).  This book was published in August 2007 and runs about 640 pages.


My Thoughts

In book 1, Bella meets Edward, a vampire.  In book 2, the two spend their time apart because of the risks Bella has been exposed to being around a vampire. 

Just as the first two books differed in their main themes, Eclipse was a very different book.  Where New Moon (book 2) had the main characters, Edward and Bella, separated for the majority of the book, this time they are together but trying to resolve a number of issues and the hurdles of making their relationship compatible in their lives.  There is the inevitable question of making Bella a vampire - after all, she would grow old and die while Edward was forever a 17-year-old.

Bella is a much different person in this book, compared to New Moon.  For most of New Moon, she is miserable because she considers herself inseparable from Edward.  In Eclipse, she is a much happier person, but she is not free of stress - like a deadline for her to become Edwards wife and that she must be turned into a vampire (because of events that occurred in book 2), and of course Jac.

There are a few new characters in this book, which continues to mix things up a little.  In the previous book, she befriends the Jacob, the son of a family friend, and in Eclipse, the dynamic of their relationship changes quite a bit.  Although Jacob's character provided for much of the plot in this book, I wasn't a huge fan of this.  Basically Bella loves Jacob, but not like she does Edward, and of course that is hard for Jacob to handle.  And Edward hates Jacob (and warewolves in general), but somehow they have to co-exist because of Bella's happiness as well as her well-being - they can work together to protect her, if they are able.

I can say that Eclipse was suspenseful - but it was also in a frustrating sort of way.  The plot dragged on and on about the two boys (yes, boys) fighting over Bella, and Bella being emotionally torn about the situation.  I do realize this would be typical for high-schoolers, also the target audience for these books, but I was hoping for a little bit more.  As the reader, I had my own opinion as to how the situation should be handled, but it seems as though the "love triangle" is just something that will always exist.

Eclipse provided more of a glimpse into a vampire's life, as Edward, the other vampires in his family, and Jacob and the rest of the warewolves, come together to protect Bella and their "territory".  It is nice that Meyer provides both a new theme but also some more depth into the characters and their roles - not just the vampires but the warewolves.

I do recommend reading the series in order.  Twilight is still my favorite book in the series, having read all four.  Although you won't be totally lost, it makes sense to read the books in order, because it follows the characters in a particular order.


Overall

I enjoyed this book but felt it was a little too drawn out.  I started to lose my attention a few times, but it was still a good/decent book.  I enjoyed it enough as part of the series to continue on to the fourth book, which was again, completely different in nature.


Stephenie Meyer: http://stepheniemeyer.com/