Eclipse

*****Possible Spoilers, read at your own risk!*****

I finally finished Eclipse this morning. I’m so sad to say that it wasn’t my favorite book ever, or even my favorite book of the series (for that, I have to vote for Twilight). My biggest thing was that to me, the first, oh, 400 pages were almost unnecessary. I can’t really remember what happened during them, only that I was anxious for what I’ve come to expect from a Bella/Edward/Jacob book to come through (can’t say that it ever did!). I have to agree with other reviews that I’ve read and say that Edward just wasn’t himself in this book. What man, even if he were 100 years old, would act that selfless? What happened to that sexy, funny, dangerous creature that Edward began as? His love for Bella really annoys me. She can do whatever she wants to him and he takes it, wearing his guilt of leaving her in New Moon around like a hair shirt, spouting how he won’t hurt her again, hauling her around like a 2 year old. It all just seemed so contrived: I didn’t feel like there was a story that Meyer was dying to tell, as she had in Twilight and New Moon.

There were some parts that I liked. I liked the distinction that she developed between Edward and Jacob, cold and hot. Jacob had far more spunk in this book than either of the other two combined. He was the only real one, and yet you even have him fawning over Bella all the time. I just liked that he did what he wanted: he thought mean things to torture Edward, he kissed Bella when she didn’t want him to, he showed up at the party uninvited, he gave Bella some guff when she told him her decision to stay with Edward. If not for Jacob, I doubt I would have finished the book. I could FEEL Jacob’s love for Bella; I couldn’t feel anything from Bella or Edward. They were as flat as pancakes for the duration of the novel. Alice even bugged me; she came off as more of a caricature of herself, using her future-vision left, right and center while planning which shoes would go best with Bella’s new dress. Even Rosalie was more real than that.

This makes me sad. I still can remember the breathlessness I felt when reading Twilight; when Edward would kiss Bella, my heart went a little swoopy in my chest. I read both Twilight & New Moon in a matter of days, and I was eager for more when I finished them. I didn’t feel much swoop this time round. The novels have always been very character driven, but there were events in them that were interesting and allowed them to develop. The events (graduation, Alice’s party, even the Volturi’s visit) in Eclipse were almost incidental. I felt like I could see the ropes & pulleys that drove the novel forward; there wasn’t enough interesting action to mask all the devices.

I wish that this review wasn’t so negative, but I’m just not impressed. I wonder if Stephenie Meyer has lost sight of the books that she intended to write & has given in to what her publisher et al insist that she write. It disappoints me, because I never imagined that happening. So much for MY future-vision, eh?