Eclipse Review

Just with New Moon, I raced through this novel almost as eager as Bella to see the final outcome. Will Victoria finally be vanquished? Will Edward give in? Will Jacob ever accept being friend-zoned?

I’ll admit, I was very much on Bella’s side during this novel as this is where the love triangle really ramps up even though we all know where it’s heading. . . heartbreak all around.

Edward and Bella may have promised not to leave each other again but they still differ in the timeline for graduation/vampire day and Edward is so stubborn about it. I mean I understand it from his perspective as he misses being human and he sees himself as a monster and Bella’s not thinking. But it’s been two years and she’s so stubborn. He should know by now she doesn’t see it as a fate worst than death and she loves him more than anything. Yet with all the love declarations he has trouble wrapping his head around it.

There’s also the fact that in his mind he knows everything (despite his maturity stuck at nineteen) and treats Bella accordingly. . . like she’s a child. Incredibly condescending and annoying.

But Jacob is not that much better. For all his declarations that he’ll always be her friend and will always have her back, it’s clear he can’t follow through without his emotions getting away. While it’s explained that part of Jacob’s explosive temper comes from being a werewolf now, I found myself wishing Bella would just let him go. Yes, she yearns for the Jacob that was her friend and still sees him as that young human boy but he’s not. His personality has irrevocably changed and the small glimpses of the “old Jacob” are not worth holding out for in my opinion. He’s manipulative, jealous and won’t take no for an answer. Seriously, people say Edward is controlling but threatening to kill yourself if someone doesn’t return your affections is just as abusive. It’s not love.

But then selfishness is the theme of the book.

I said in my last review that I completely understood the soul mate bond that Meyer was depicting and how Bella can’t help but be selfish and want to keep both her immortal love and her soul mate but these two irritating personalities made it hard for me to sympathesize. I was starting to feel that Bella would be better off alone as both men allowed their prejudices against each other cloud everything. I liked it when they had brief moments of teamwork, that showed they were capable of getting along but then jealousy would rear its head again. .

But this is a take on Wuthering Heights as Meyer leaves plenty of parallels and a not so discreet book discussion. There’s an inevitability to Edward and Bella just as there is to Cathy and Heathcliff which is why it’s so annoying there’s so many obstacles in the way including themselves for even if they commit atrocious acts (okay Heathcliff/Cathy did, Bella/Edward are just being annoyingly melodramatic), you want them to get together as they’re meant to be.

Of course, Bella has her fair share of page time worrying over her friends and wanting desperately to help despite her very mortal limitations. And also, of course, angsting over Edward. At least it gets a bit interesting as she shows the first signs of doubt of what it would really mean to be a vampire, the possible humanity she’s giving up and the changes it might bring to her personality. What if she doesn’t love Edward as wholly as she does now, she’ll be obssessed with blood as a newborn. What about her parents whom she felt such responsibility to?

Speaking of newborns, Bella shows her perceptiveness as she’s the one that susses out Victoria’s attack plan and how it relates to the rash of newborns popping up in Seattle, all targeted on her. It nicely coincides with exposition detailing vampire transformation and process as well as the laws of the Voluturi in regards to keeping up the guise among humans.

And finally, we get a huge action scene! Well, an action scene narrated from the sidelines but exciting nonetheless. Victoria and Edward’s fight more than made up for missing the big newborn/vampire/werewolf battle although I was disappointed that Victoria was dispatched so quickly in one chapter. She had such a looming presence over the course of Eclipse and New Moon, yet she only appears in person for three pages at most I think. I know it is was supposed to demonstrate how smart the Cullens/wolves are and Bella had been worrying needlessly about the threat Victoria presented but it just felt like there was so much build up, that the climax was too quick.

Now I’m sure it sounds like I didn’t like this book, and yes, there were parts that were annoying, but Meyer is an engaging writer. I never wanted to pause or throw the book against the wall. I wanted to know more as she delivers such interesting scenes with character exploration and dynamics. Like we finally have a semi-bonding moment. . . okay not bonding but a good talk between Rosalie and Bella over the former’s hostility, shedding her in a new light.

And Edward and Jacob also have a talk when they think Bella is asleep, really hashing things out man to man with honest conversation. Laden with threats, of course.

Also, there was another Quileute fireside legend chapter that was riveting as Meyer pulls readers back in time to the beginning of the spirit warriors and the wolfmen versus the cold ones. I was so consumed with the legend that I too forgot they were sitting around a fire, listening to the elder. I felt like I went back in time.

Also the engagement scene. . . yes there was a bit of coercian involved but. . . it was stirring to see how much thought Edwrad put into it. While Bella doesn’t care for the wedding itself, the unstoppable, pure love between them is real and that’s what matters. They want to be bound together for eternity and now they’re finally going to be.