Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3)
by Stephenie Meyer
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Book Reviews of Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3)
Book Review: Bella Bore
Summary: 1 Stars
I think one other person finally brought this up, but I must agree. What does everyone in the book see in Bella? It's rather unbelievable that two strong, "hot" men of any age (human or not) would find a weak, seemingly talentless, and "plain" girl so compelling. I loved Twilight. Bella and Edward had an energy I haven't seen in characters in a very long time. I was willing to overlook Bella's damsel in distress deal, because I figured she would grow as a character. As a writer myself, I prefer to write about realistic heroines. Not all of them start off strong, but many grow and learn to love themselves more. It doesn't matter if the book is fantasy or reality; it's the realistic human element that allows readers to connect to the characters.
That being said, what does Bella have to offer? She's not particularly smart. She has no goals in life outside of loving Edward and being with him forever and ever. Blah. She scoffs at the idea of going to Dartmouth. Empowering the mind through education??? Psh, she's too girly to do that! Has anyone ever noticed that she has no real hobbies? I love a main character with quirks and passions in life. Bella spends her days being rescued and, well, that's about it. It's the 21st century and women still have to struggle to be taken seriously. Let's get with it by presenting female characters that, sure, make mistakes, but reflect the incredible strength that most women have. I know I do.
That being said, there was a flicker of hope when Bella had second thoughts about marriage. I'm quite surprised at the amount of reviewers who supported Edward on the 'let's get married' view. Am I the only one who would find a guy manipulating me into marrying him extremely unattractive? When I was 17, I would have laughed in the guy's face at such a ludicrous suggestion. Gone is the sarcastic, deliciously arrogant and slightly mysterious Edward. He's been replaced by a needy sap who hasn't had a date in the 100 years he's been around? Come on, ladies. If he's as smoldering as Meyer suggests (I haven't counted, but I'm guessing there is a reference to it on every page), surely he would have had a few dates under his belt by now. I was hoping that the whole storyline with Rosalie suggesting there had been women in Edward's life before would play out as a secret he'd been keeping from Bella. That would have made him more real to me. Hey, I've made a few mistakes, but I love you now, honey puff (gag). What he comes off as, instead, is a naive female fantasy boy. I find that pretty boring, but I've always preferred the male love interest to be a bit rough around the edges. I find imperfections endearing, and more importantly, REAL.
Which brings me to Jacob. Aside from his unrealistic obsession with Bella, he is the most realistic character in the series at this point. For one thing, he acts like a 16 year old boy, right down to the barrage of immature comments and sloppy kisses. I can't really say he's a likable character for me, simply because he reminds me too much of the really bad dates I had in high school. Needless to say, I found their "hot embrace" towards the end more vile than anything else. I also don't understand why either character has any feelings for the other one at all? What do they have in common?
Alice was an interesting character in the first book. I like her little fashion quirks, but I cannot understand her patience with Bella. Since she's not in love with Bella, it makes little sense that she's put up with as much as she has. When Bella was making snotty comments at their little slumber party, I was waiting for Alice to become disgusted.
Disappointment is an understatement for me. I admit that I'm extremely picky when it comes to characters. I find most to be 2D and underdeveloped or just plain boring. Twilight had a magic above and beyond the books I've read in the last few years. I was excited to finally be drawn in by something again. When New Moon came out, I didn't like it nearly as much, but I still had some hope that Bella would develop as a character. Eclipse sealed the deal for me. I'll be happy not to read another page of Bella's self-deprecating and mundane blather. I'm sorry this is so harsh, but sometimes the author needs to hear the truth. My suggestion would be to forget your own morals, and think about what the characters in your book would realistically do. Stop forcing them to be so virtuous (ahem Edward). And please, pump some life into Bella.
At this point the only thing that redeem this series is if Breaking Dawn went a little like this: Bella ditches Edward and pursues a career as an FBI agent, joins the marines, decides to become a professional bum or something else completely unlike her. Oh, and Edward and Jacob hook up. Was I the only one that noticed the sexual tension between those two? It couldn't have all been about Bella.
Book Review: A Complete Mess
Summary: 1 Stars
This book is a complete mess. I will start by stating that I believe success has been Stephenie Meyer's worst enemy here. Twilight published in 2005, New Moon published in 2006, and I truly believe there was pressure from Ms. Meyer's publisher to get Eclipse into the market by 2007. That resulted in a tome that is not "polished" nor very well thought out. I felt I was reading something close to a final draft and not the final product. I understand this is not prize winning fiction, but even for dime-store romance, this is a very dismal attempt.
One prime example is Bella's reaction to marriage. This girl has NO ambition in life - none, zip, nada, zilch. ALL she wants to do is become a vampire so she can live for eternity with Edward. Yet, when Edward states he wants to marry, Bella backs off, and her excuses are as flimsy as a stripper's costume. It's easy to see that Stephenie Meyer is attempting to reverse gender roles here by making the guy want marriage and the girl shy away. However, she has already created a female character who makes her life revolve around her boyfriend and nothing more. Bella's excuses not to marry simply do not work - the entire tactic in the book is "sticky" and should have been re-worked entirely. However, this would have meant a complete re-write going back to almost the beginning chapters. If the publisher was breathing down Ms Meyer's neck, I'm sure that would have been impossible. So, she pushes forward, attempting to FORCE her original idea to work, and it simply doesn't. And this is just one example of many. A shame, really
And Bella...what the heck is up with this character??? I am to the point where she is just tiresome and irritating. This character has become pouty, petulant, sulky, self-absorbed, and whiney. Since, in over 1500 pages of total writing, we are never given a true physical description of her, I've no idea if she has any redeeming physical qualities to speak for herself, and she has the personality of a toad. Exactly what does Edward, Jacob, all of the Cullens - everyone, in fact - find so appealing in Bella?? I'd dump this chick and either find some one who was better looking or had a better personality. I'd have to search long and hard to remember a protagonist that I was more disgusted with.
In Twilight we first meet Edward, but we really didn't learn too much about him. He seemed nice enough, protective and all. In New Moon, he dumps Bella, but he's pretty much absent from the picture. In Eclipse Edward is front and center, and we finally are subjected to this creature - and it isn't pleasant. We find that Edward is controlling, abusive, manipulative, arrogant, and creepy. Overall, he's a jerk. My personal concern is that teen girls are reading these books and thinking this Edward character is somehow a perfect embodiment of what "romantic love" should be. Now THAT is scary.
The Cullens in general read like a who's who of a creepy version of the Addams Family. Carlisle and Esme fit so well into the roles of Gomez and Morticia - detached, benign characters, with no real roles to play. (Stephenie Meyer would have done much better had she made these characters older, rather than attempting to keep everyone young) I can easily see Emmett in the role of over-eager Uncle Fester and Jasper taking on the role of grumpy Lurch. Alice could easily be a meddlesome Wednesday, into everybody's business. Edward could play the role of a manipulative and controlling Pugsley - total creep factor there.
Jacob plays a role that frustrates me the most, I think. Stephenie Meyer attempts a love triangle that - as with the marriage excuses - simply does not work. I kept wishing Jacob would tell Bella to get lost and just run away.
Stephenie Meyer attempted (lots of "attempts" in this novel, rarely an actual achievement) to show how both Jacob and Edward could be manipulative and somewhat devious in their pursuit of Bella. However, the most manipulative person in this whole novel was...Stephenie Meyer. In a novel, the author should be completely invisible to the reader. When characters say/do anything, it should be as if there were no other options those characters could say/do, because it plays so completely within their characters. In this novel, I could clearly see Stephenie Meyer pulling the strings to her puppets and controlling the conversations and actions. I found myself arguing with Ms. Meyer in my head over why she wrote certain things, because it didn't work for me, and that shouldn't be. For me, this is the mark of a bad writer.
I try to tell myself if Stephenie Meyer had been given another year, she might have been able to firm up this story, and Eclipse might have been a better novel. I hope. However, if this is the best she can produce, I'm not holding out any hope for Breaking Dawn, which is another tome written in under a year.
Book Review: Utterly strange :)
Summary: 1 Stars
Well..
I want to start with the fact that I am rumanian so I will be writting pretty bad in english.. don't be upset please :)
So.. I did like the books untill now, they were ok and quite entertaining, lasted about 4 days for me to finish them and I went to this one
..
but there were a couple of things that I didn't quite like and therefore I have to rate it one star.
The first one is that Bella is extremely whiny.. I couldn't possibly stand being anywere near her.. I actually can't understand why Alice didn't mind her whiny about the 'slumber party'.. it was so annoying having Bella complain about everything !
Do you notice how she complains about everything ?! Absolutily everything..
She's all the time like '' I don't want that, I don't want to sleep in a bed although you have so much money that you literally thow it away buying expensive sport cars -out of boredom I guess; they actually don't know how to spend the money anymore-..
- so she doesn't want a nice dress for her wedding, agreas to marry (which I didn't like, should have sticked to the !NO! and it would be enteresting to last like 4 books until she feels like it's time for them to get married and move to a new lever of commitment - even I after a 3 years relationship don't feel like getting married any time soon)
but at.. VEGAS?! how come? She's so childish.. I can't understand how she speaks about Edward's beautiness all the time and doesn't want a pretty pink wedding.. Doesn't fit with her..
Well.. complains about everything really.
Makes me sick how she likes to be with bouth Edward and Jacob..
So I find it ...stupid to make such a big decision to be a vampire now that she knows that she also loves Jacob..
I was like.. WTF ?! But but hm.
You have to let go of your family/friends, spend years of pain wanting blood all the time..go a bit crazy.. and stuff like that..
well ..for that, I guess you have to love Edward sooooooooo much to make that sacrifice for him.. ok, I may understand that.. I understood it in the first book, I agreed to the idea of her wanting to be a vampire... In the first book I would have been keen on the vampire idea too.. but I don't find it fair anymore!
It's not fair for him.. how can he be with her after the whole love scene(S) with Jacob and her kissing him like that and telling him all the time she loves him.. CRYING ALL NIGHT about another guy ( jish.. ok, werewolf whatever)
I would totally break up with her, I only she a average clumsy girl who was temporaly in love with Edward, first love I would say, and that's it. She's 17.. I think we all know that feeling, like it's love forever and then you see a hotter guy and get over it.
It's not forever for me in this book.. I don't feel like she will love him forever anymore, not after what happenes with Jacob.
Totally dissapointing.. Can't stand her anymore.
They should have stayend friends.. or maybe end up together, she should have breaked up with Edward and remain with Jacob, you have to admit they would be ok together.. and I don't know.. maybe Edward would find someone and then in another book they would meet and feel love again and be more mature about it.. and stuff like that.. it would be more interesating.
The fact is that I don't feel so much love from Bella as I felt in the first and second book. :)
Her dad annoyis me to hell.. period.
Her mom's like she doesn't give a sh+t about what her daughter is doing.. emailing all the time? How about a phone call..
Bella sais she couldn't live without Edward.. well I think that 4-5 months more in New Moon untill Edward appeared and he would have found her dating Jacob. She would be just fine and forget about everything.
I actually find more atracting Jacob than Edward, such a nice funny boy.. and I actually prefer the smoth warm skin than the stone ice chest. Besides he's more normal and just a kid.. just like her..
I don't find him like some say 'rapist in training'.. he didn't actually did her any wrong and she liked it and always came back for more..
so stop the hating on Jacob because he's just a kid and does nothing bad.. he's just 16 you know, doesn't even know how to kiss and tries his luck and she likes it. He didn't actually 'touch' her.. just kissed her a bit.. people should stop being such 'drama queens'.. it's really anoying.. please don't complain about Bella if you yourself are such a drama queen. thank you.
I hope she stops whinying that she loves Edward more than he loves her after this..
this is it for now :) sorry again for my english.. it is quite difficult for me :P I do love to practise it thought :D
Hope I didn't hurt nobodys feelings ;D ta-ta
Book Review: It /Moved/ Me!
Summary: 5 Stars
*originally written in August 2007 and MAY contain spoilers*
I finished reading Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer about twenty minutes ago. I've been reading it all day. It's the kind of book where you only put it down if you have to, and even if it means you only got 4 hours of sleep that night, you are waking up early to continue reading it.
I'd read that a lot of readers were disappointed and even angry at what happened in the book. The love triangle, of course. But I don't understand, don't they see beyond that? The struggle, the anguish, life? Life isn't about soulmates and love is complicated. They hated that Bella loved Jacob too and was torn between him and Edward, but I don't understand that either. Bella will always choose Edward, it is inevitable. She loved him first and she'll love him last. If she had loved Jacob first...but she didn't. For the past three books she has loved Edward more, he was her life. It would be series suicide to change that course.
But didn't they feel any remorse for Jacob? You knew he loved Bella but you also knew that it would never be anything more than what might have been. Jacob is better for Bella. Her future would be better with him. The way Stephenie Meyer describes what these vampires are like....their entire bodies are as hard as rock and cold as ice. I can't picture Bella like this. No, I don't want her to become a vampire. I want her to be with Edward, I do...but I wish there was a way for Edward to become human again.
I posed this question to some readers, if both choices were possible, would you rather Bella become a vampire or Edward become human again? Can you believe that they all said vampire? It's like...they just see the surface, or maybe I read too deep. They want Bella to give up her humanity, and they don't want her to love Jacob. Maybe it's cause they are young, I can tell that they were cause of their grammar and spelling. lol. Maybe it's because I'm older, not necessarily in age, but in wisdom, that I have this view. Love triangles are real and they hurt, because it's supposed to hurt someone or everyone. Not everyone can win in a love triangle, usually no one does. What would the victory be if your choice caused someone else pain? No, love triangles have sharp corners and they pierce.
But...I've never had a book affect me the way this one did. When I read a book that I'm really into, I associate with the heroine. I feel her anguish, her joy, her anger, and her sadness. Sometimes so much that it might make tears gather in my eyes. But this book...Bella, Edward, and Jacob....I felt them all. By the end of the book I was bawling, and I'm still affected. But somehow at the end, all the pain I feel is for Jacob. I grieve for him. Bella and Edward have it all figured out, they are closed off. But Jacob...I do believe he loved her from the start. And most of all, I'm extremely uncertain about what is going to happen in Breaking Dawn. With New Moon and Eclipse....we had an idea. But Breaking Dawn, there isn't even a blurb written for it yet. Why, I don't even know if Stephenie Meyer has started writing it yet, last I checked it was still in outline stage. It won't be out until fall of next year...that is a long time. More than a year. Will I even care by then? Of course I will. I'm affected now and I have to know how it ends. And most of all, I want Jacob to have a happy ending, but without Edward losing his.
But I'm still amazed how this book affected me, how I still want to cry for Jacob even though I'm done reading it. All authors dream of their readers getting moved like this. Because it means that they got in your heart somehow and that it was no longer reading as a hobby or as pleasure, but an addiction. I have to know how the story ends. And even if it ends in a way I don't like or don't expect, that doesn't matter, because the story will still be over. No more.
And I imagine this sounds pathetic if you've never felt this way about a book before and you must think that I'm a loser weirdo. But I wish I could just share with you a little bit of what I felt, then maybe you would understand. You probably could even relate. I just know that this book was good.
And for the record, at times I hate Bella's character. Her selfishness, lack of confidence, and her clingyness. BUT, as much as we dislike her, she's real. It may seem over the top to you, but there are teenage girls out there who are JUST like this, and older women too. Sometimes I dislike Edward too, just because he doesn't seem real. It wasn't until Eclipse that he started ACTING like a boyfriend. There are quirks about each character that rub me the wrong way, but overall, I won't stop reading the series because of that. I HAVE to know how it ends. lol.
Book Review: Overrated to say the least...
Summary: 1 Stars
I admit, I was caught up in the big Twilight craze for awhile. Who wasn't at one time, though? But as I grew in age, and thru many more read thru's of the books, I slowly began to realize how horrid these books are. Twilight was interesting in some parts, New Moon was bland, but Eclipse was just plain bad.
Edward and Bella thought they would have their happy ending by now, right? Wrong. It seems there's been reports of strange killings, and they may be Vampiric killings. At the samet time, Bella is battling an inward battle as Jacob grows more attached to her then ever. Is she starting to fall for the raven haired Werewolf? Or are these feelings being pushed on her by Jacob himself?
Sounds good right? I was actually interested to read about more tension between Bella and Jacob; and even Edward and Jacob. But, as I cannot seem to stress, it was weighed down by the following.
Bella Swan is still the perfect example of a Mary Sue.Bella's relationship with Edward is full on 'addiction.' It seems the heroine cannot live one solitary moment without him, or thinking about being with him. Apart from her 'addiction,' Bella is a pretty boring heroine indeed. She has no common goals, dreams; or hobbies to even speak of. Indeed, Edward in Eclipse is 'forcing' Bella to go to College, but she would rather just become a Vampire and live Happily Ever After. It's a sad day indeed when the Male is telling his Girlfriend she needs to go to College.In this day and age, women need to set goals to make it in this world. But Bella I'm afraid has none; apart from rereading 'Wuthering Heights' over and over again. Bella's an exasperating character, especially sense I've read other books with much better heroine's. Take for instance, Jane Eyre, Elizabeth Bennet, Emma Woodhouse, or the Dashwood sisters; all empowering heroine's who all face adversity with...what else..? Men. But here we have a heroine who does nothing but drool over her man. Even Hermoine Granger from Harry Potter has backbone; sharing her smarts and not being afraid to do anything. Something that also annoys me to no end is how Bella toys with Jacob. It's sickening, as Bella KNOWS Jacob is in love with her, and would do anything for her. How she often flip flops on her feelings towards him is annoying as well; and the 'steamy' embrace at the end was awkward and weird to read as a reader.
Secondly, let's talk about Edward Cullen, our Vampire Hero. Edward himself is a male equivalent of the Mary Sue type. He's perfect, a god, and can do no wrong. Edward needs only to whisper a few words of love into our Heroine's ear; and she's swooning. Now, I'm a romantic girl, and typically a guy who speaks romantic things would make any girl swoon. But the phrases Edward utters are so overly gushy, one might gag upon contact. However, in Eclipse, gone is the romantic; hello over protective stalkerish boyfriend. Edward cannot seem to stand it when Bella visits with her friend Jacob, so much that he goes and does something to the tires so she cannot go visit him. If my boyfriend ever did something like this, I'd kick his behind to the curb. Edward in Eclipse comes off as jealous and clingy. And while a jealous guy usally makes for an interesting read, here it's over done.
Shall I say more? Ms. Meyer's characters are one-dimensional, and one cannot seem to ever fully care for these people. If a person doesn't care for the characters, and the current situation, one should just put the book away. If you don't 'care' for something, you needn't continue it. Now I must admit, Ms. Meyer can write good when she wants too. Jasper and Rosalie's backstories are wonderful parts, but not enough to save a 600+ page book. Which makes for another point; the book is far too long. There's not enough action, there's much too much tension between the main characters. At least Twilight had a crazed Vampire killer, New Moon had a car theft; but Eclipse has nothing but overly cheesy dialouge. Also, the 'steamy' scenes with Edward and Bella are uneeded. Don't get me wrong, I've read worse, but in here these things came off as rushed and uneeded. Eclipse is like the censored, edited, and teen age bodice ripper.
I suggest you read some real romantic books with great, smart, Heroine's. Try Jane Eyre, Sense and Sensiblity, Wuthering Heights, or even Pride and Prejudice. Once you enter these worlds, you'll never want to leave.
FYI, Twilight, and Ms. Meyer cannot touch J.K. Rowling. I really do wish everyone would stop saying Ms. Meyer is the new Rowling! I now fully expect the fangirls to come at me with pitchforks.
And as for what I want to happen in 'Breaking Dawn?' Edward leaves Bella for Jacob. THAT would be a good book!