Although I will do a full breakdown of the book, since that is much to long for some people who clearly have very important lives I decided to do an opening summary of my feelings and here it is: Eclipse is the worst Twilight book but is still the best book in the series. Yup, however the 'being the best aspect' is a rather personal thing. How does that make sense, you may ask? Simple, Ecplise basically forgets it's a Twilight book - the whole plot of girl meets vampire and falls in love falls so far into the background in this book any scene involving romance ends up simply feeling like filler. Instead the supernatural/action elements are brought to the centre and are there from the very beginning so this makes it the most enjoyable book for me.
Eclipse is about the concept of leaving humanity behind and becoming a monster, it's about murders and fueds and leads onto a full on war and has more action than any of the other books. If Twilight was the attempt to blend, New Moon was the romance book and Eclipse is the horror action story so this book was for me and for anyone interested in the action horror side of the Twilight saga and not in the romance half then this is the book for you, you could probably read this one without reading the others too, at least to a greater extent than any of the other books but if you were looking for a Twilight book, this one couldn't be any further away - if it wasn't for pre existing characters or concepts I'd assume I was reading an entirely new, much better franchise.
There, if you don't want to read the rest of the review skip down to the 'So do I recommend it section'.
Okay, now onto the full breakdown:
So once again Eclipse opens with a recap of the last book. I guess this is important to people that had to wait a period of time between books rather than me who just closes one and starts another but couldn't she have just put a summary somewhere else like on the back of the front cover? Rather than letting it intrude on the story?
Eclipse's opening conflict is that Bella is spending to much time with Edward and neglecting her friends. I mean I can understand why she isn't hanging with Jacob, even the whole werewolf vampire thing aside, she was practically in his pants when Edward left. But it did have me wondering, why does this always happen? I never really do it on purpose, but somehow whenever I get in a relationship I just seem to pour all my time into that person. To be fair most girls get annoyed if you don't give them some kind of attention every day, but somehow when you're in a relationship going back and hanging with your friends just never feels enough.
Thankfully though Bella manages to continue to be a fucking dick, not only is it really wrong for her to see Jake all things considered the fact he is a werewolf is a pretty good point too, but listen to Edward? Respect his insecurities? Well that wouldn't make her enough of a woman, that'd make her more like a person and we all know what massive cunts women are, especially Bella, so she just disrespects him and does her own thing anyway. Bella, I really fucking hate you. I mean she is still complaining that her 'perfect man' took her to the fucking prom, all the shit that has happened in your life and that is what you bitch about? At least you admit there is something wrong with you, you piece of shit. Oh yeah, she is still treating Charlie like shit too when all he tries to do is love and care for her. Edward mate, you could do so much better. At least you take her from Jacob so he can find a nice girl...or the two of them could just cheat on you, whatever. Did Meyer do it on purpose, to make the only likeable character Edward? Because I don't like it.
To be fair, Edward's handling of the whole situation isn't great either, like I hate the idea of my girlfriend getting shitfaced in a club of busy hands drunk males, but I'd never stop them going, I'd never even ask them not to go, I'd just hope that my girlfriend would have the respect for me to do what is right, whatever that might be. But Edward demands Bella doesn't see Jake to the point of keeping her prisoner, doesn't he know that just makes a woman more likely to do it? For someone who is about a hundred years old, he knows nothing about women. Edward is so controlling in this book, even Bella points it out! And this is a girl who shrugs off the existence of werewolves and vampires, so you know this is serious. I like how he isn't 'all perfect', although they are melodramatic this aspect really gave Edward some depth.
Three books out of four and we finally get a full description of Edward's face. But with Meyer's awkward description I now can't imagine anything other than an absolutely hilarious face. With giant fat lips, a big sharp nose, a square face and huge curved eye lashes. Sorta like a caricature rather than a person and that doesn't sound sexy at all. So we have a love triangle with the Hulk, A Cunt and Angelina Jolie, awesome.
The timing seems all screwed up, there was practically nothing about High School in New Moon, now because of the impending turning of Bella into a New Born we get this whole subplot about going to college and leaving school, but like I say, the whole school thing was so absent from New Moon (yet so prominent in Twilight) I really find it hard to care. And I mean like, who gives a shit if Bella is ungrounded if all you're going to do with it is have Bella hang out with her friends? If you want to read a good series of Young Adult fiction that mixes fantasy and school in a good way, just stick with the Midnighters, maybe I should review those books after I've done this saga... That being said, I do like how the plot is more supernatural this time, with Bella reflecting on all she will lose and planning all her goodbyes before she leaves behind the human world for the vampire one. Even though I don't have many people in the human world, although probably more than Bella, she is still braver than me, I mean you're fucked if you break up with the person you've moved in with, imagine what'd happen if you broke up with the person who turned you into a vampire!
The pacing is still shit though. To be fair Eclipse's still has more useful information to the ratio of useless shit per chapter but I still find myself sat with such useless fucking filler scenes. Why does a book have filler? Could Meyer not think of what to write?
I like how badass Jake is in this book, I dunno, I much prefer book Edward to book Jake but I don't know, with Jake the orange Hulk leaning against his motorbike, his gang of wolves just waiting to shift and tear the vampires apart. Edward in this book just seems like a jealous, obsessed, control freak of a boyfriend and Jake really enjoys that. What is really interesting is Jake probes Bella as to why she loves Edward and she can't really answer him.
The writing is weaker here too, I dunno, the movies really make Meyer look awful but in the books she shows some genuine talent when it comes to relationships between characters and dialogue. The conversations between Bella and Edward before they get together is easily the best part of Twilight and the whole break up and move on plot of New Moon was really well written but here, I don't know, something just feels off with the dialogue, I don't even know why, it just feels staged, unnatural, I can't put my finger on why. I guess that makes it a shit criticism, since it's just a feeling but take it as you will.
There are a lot of interesting concepts in Eclipse, for all the insults for what Meyer did to vampires, I think she has a lot of cool ideas. Like remember when I was wondering why Alice was the only vampire whose powers wouldn't work on the wolves? Well Edward theorises the reason for this is because with them having human and wolf halves, every time they shift it's like resetting, creating new futures, Alice couldn't physically follow them. It does get a little muddy, because apparently Alice can't see Bella when she is around them, which doesn't make sense with the phasing theory really. But Jake does make a good point, if Bella had waited for Jake, jumped with him, Alice would never have seen Bella jump and the entire story would be changed. I'd be interested to see Meyer could write as an alternative final act for New Moon. I'd also like to see a few other what if scenarios, maybe if Edward fought in the war - maybe if Jake or Edward died in the war - maybe if Bella changes her mind, picks Jake. Meyer introduces the chances for so many what if scenarios.
This book reminds me a lot of the first Twilight book. When reading the book, you realised just how condensed the movie was. The same can be said for Eclipse, I was glad when we finally got some back stories for the Cullen's in the Eclipse movie but in the book they go into massive detail, making them almost spin off stories in themselves. I really enjoyed them. I couldn't believe how dark Rosalie's was, I can't help but feel massive sympathy towards her and really just feel closer to her character, I mean what a badass she was hunting them down and killing them all, not spilling their blood because she didn't want a part of them in her new body, epic. Same with Jasper, the abuse he suffered as the vampires as they fed on him is... horrible, haunting and much more played up in the book than it was in the film and it works. I also liked how Carlisle is like some kind of superhero.
One thing I think Meyer messed up on is not having Edward having a past, with women I mean. I'm only twenty years old and yet I am already meeting and getting involved with women who have had serious relationships, sometimes more than one. It is very stressful for me, to know they once moved in with someone else, they once loved someone else, they were once happy with someone else and to know that not every relationship ends because the love is gone. People will argue it is the past and now is the present, but we all know it is impossible to completely stop the past creeping into the present. So being that Edward is over a hundred years old, Meyer could really have played with the stress Bella would have gone through to know just how much love Edward has shared in the past, all the experiences, all she is competing with in a sense, all the baggage he is carrying. I know it isn't quite as romantic as Edward never being interested in anyone but Bella, but I feel it would have made a more interesting dynamic. Plus, she could have still made it romantic in a sort of 'Every girl I 'loved', Bella, I was happy but something always felt wrong, something always felt missing, the thing I think was wrong, Bella, is that in that picture you are missing. Although I have shared love with many women, you were the woman I was made for, destined for, the only person who my heart truly belongs to. I didn't truly know love, until I met you and now I am yours forever'. In many ways, I think that is more romantic. It is impossible to know who the one is, until you've had a few failed relationships, surely? And this actually plays an important part in Bella's story, why turn down Jake and pick Edward before you've even tried Jake? Edward is your first boyfriend and you're going to die for him?
Eclipse the book is considerably more violent than the film version is, the description for the first werewolf vampire clash told by Old Quil is brutal and the description of how the torn apart vampire tries to put itself back together is horrifying. The same can be said for how Rosalie's flashback is described in the book.
I also much prefer how it does the Newborn angle, I liked the horror elements of the film, but here the way we learn of the vampires massacre through newspaper articles written with the assumption this is a human killer(s) in mind is really interesting. It gives it this weird sense of reality, despite the fact it couldn't be farther from the truth, is this how it'd be if vampires were real? Jasper really changes things, vampires aren't just existing in a human world, vampires are existing in their own world, they make of the Earth as they choose, they have their own separate history etc it's fascinating.
One big problem with the book is that despite Meyer has all these fascinating ideas and back stories I couldn't help but feel that the book was never particularly well thought out or even thought out at all, she instead was simply making it up as she went.
I mean take the party scene, no matter how hard I tried to make sense of any of it, it just completely goes against everything that the book has stood for. Even looking aside from the fact that the Cullen's up until this point wanted to stay away from human attention, the danger here is ridiculous, it shouldn't just be the werewolves here that are uncomfortable. Remember last time there was a party and Bella got a paper cut? Well Jasper is still here... in this room... full of drunk teenagers... any one of them could cut themselves. Even with THAT aside these vampires aren't all Carlisle, surely ramming their house full of humans is going to tease even the strongest willed vampire? Eurgh this whole idea is so fucking stupid and the worst thing is, despite building up to it for ages in the end none of what I just said comes into play and none of the build up to the party becomes important because as soon as the party scene happens it then drops into the background so they can continue with the actual plot. And I mean that isn't a bad thing but why introduce this ridiculous and frankly close to plothole party sequence if you aren't even going to use it? EURGH!
The final battle leaves me torn, I'd be happy with the stylised snippets of the war fed through Edward's telepathy if it wasn't for the fact the entire book was leading towards the war and building it all up and then I never even got t see it... I'd be happy with the rather awesome Seth/Edward vs Riley/Victoria if it didn't feel somewhat out of place and tacked on despite being hinted at. This seems an ongoing theme for the series... honestly if you rewrote the context of the Volturi fight at the end of New Moon and swapped it with the fight with Victoria here, it'd all feel much more in place I mean Victoria was basically entirely dropped for a book and a half just to arrive and get killed at the end of Eclipse, she didn't even get a hit on Edward. Plus I honestly believe Jake should have died because his injuries provided no impact. We don't see him get hurt and by the time Bella and his stories reintertwine again he's stable and okay so in the end it adds nothing to the story but could you imagine if he leaves on high spirits after kissing Bella and then dies on the battlefield? Could you imagine the impact, the outrage, it'd be incredible! She even took basically her main character out of New Moon so I really don't get why she pussied so much when it came to Jake and his injuries.
So do I recommend this? Although this is as close as a Twilight book has gotten to being genuinely good, it still doesn't quite work. It is centred around supernatural action we never actually get to see because Bella can't be anywhere near it without contrived reasons. That is why this fails so much as Twilight book, this book could have only worked if it was written in Edward's or Jake's perspective and considering most of the action surrounds them and not Bella it makes me wonder why Bella was chosen as the person we are supposed to follow.
Think About It!
-Locke
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