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Eclipse (Twilight Saga) | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publisher: ATOM
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy New: £3.73
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New (18) Used (5) from £3.73
Avg. Customer Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 3
Media: Paperback
Pages: 672
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1.8
ISBN: 1904233910
EAN: 9781904233916
ASIN: 1904233910
Publication Date: July 3, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 Enjoyed this! January 5, 2009
Eclipse is the third book in the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer. Bella and Edward are back together after their confrontation with the Volturi and are trying to have a reasonably normal relationship. Eclipse sees the character's laying out their wishes for the future; Bella wants to become a vampire as soon as possible and Edward wants them to marry before this takes place. As in the previous two books, Bella and Edward's relationship is extremely intense and I know that this irritates some readers but I think it is probably what I enjoy most about the books. Due to Edward being over 100 years old, it is quite an old-fashioned romance and it is interesting to see how he and Bella try to compromise on what they think are the correct values to live by.
This book also explores Bella's relationship with Jacob Black. She gradually realises that she does love him but it still does not compare to her love for Edward. I think that the character of Jacob serves to highlight all that she is willing to give up. Yes, he is a werewolf but she could still have a reasonably normal future with him. By choosing Edward she would literally be giving up her life, her family and everything she has ever known apart from him.
Eclipse also sees the return of Victoria who is pursuing Bella in order to avenge the killing of her mate James. Victoria has created an army of reckless, new-born vampires who she has rampaging and murdering their way through Seattle before setting off for Forks. The danger that Bella is in leads the werewolves and the Cullens to put their hatred aside and work together in order to bring Victoria down.
I did enjoy this book; I personally found some of the parts about the werewolve's history quite boring but I do understand why it was included. I felt that this book was really important in developing Edward and Bella's relationship and putting things in place for the future. Meyer has created amazing charcaters in her saga and I think this is what draws me into the story and makes me want to read the next book.
Second Favourite of the Saga January 4, 2009
Eclipse is my second favourite of the Twilight Saga because it is so funny. I laughed out loud so many times throughout the book.
I also loved the whole feud between Jacob and Edward.
The main plot of course was Victoria but that seemed insignificant compared to the love triangle.
My favourtie part was when Bella returns back to her home after punching Jacob and Charlie asks her whats the matter so Jacob tells him and then Bella phones Edward who is on his way and Charlie tells Jacob that he should leave but Jacob decides to stay and so Charlie says "Your Funeral" that had my hysterics for ages
A definite read
 Characters unrecognisable in a frustrating third installment January 4, 2009
Eclipse is the third instalment of the Twilight Saga, and as you make your way through the book, that point is hammered home. The story begins to "lose its bite", with the characters virtually unrecognisable in parts, and the plot appearing to lurch all over the place.
The dialogue is stilted, annoying and, yes, downright cheesy, in parts. The pithy exchanges from Twilight are a long-forgotten memory.
The behaviour of the characters in this book was, by far, the most irritating part, with the main characters of Edward, Bella and Jacob all acting out in selfish, ridiculous and frankly stupid moments to get their own way.
Edward's possessiveness becomes OTT, Jacob's arrogance reaches new levels and both treat Bella as if she hasn't got two brain cells to rub together (which, granted, you do begin to wonder yourself as her own behaviour cranks the dial on "silly" and "irritating").
In favour of the book, it does serve some purpose in giving us some background on some of the minor characters and this history is a welcome and worthwhile addition to the Saga story. The interaction between Jacob and Edward is an interesting one, but as a result of the clumsy handling of the plot-line, my interest quickly turned to irritation.
The idea was there for Eclipse, but sadly, the execution was not. This book seems like filler in an otherwise entertaining Saga. I remain hopeful for the fourth book, and even after this disappointment, I'll still be completing the full set, if only for the memories of Twilight and New Moon.
 Back to basics January 4, 2009
In my New Moon review, I finished by saying that it would have been a one star book without the rather good Quileute side plot.
And that's what Eclipse is. It forgets the well-written cult mystery featured in New Moon and goes back to the horrible writing of Twilight.
Eclipse is very, very long, somewhere around the combined length of Twilight and New Moon, but still nothing happens for a good two thirds of the book.
I'm disturbed again, like the way New Moon glorified the obsessive relationship, Eclipse glorifies the controlling relationship. Edward does not want Belal to see her friend Jacob, and he spends a large part of the bookdoing everything he can to stop this happening, even going so far to damage her car to prevent her from leaving.
Perhpas this would be fine if Bella complained, or took a stand for herself, but she doesn't. She thinks it's perfectly fine. She even allows him to sneak into her room and watch her sleep that night.
Eclipse is very similar to the last two books in that the first lot of the book has no plot but the relationship between Edward and Bella, but the last part suddenly does.
And again, Eclipse pulls that very tiresome move in which just before the action begins, something 'interrupts' causing Bella - and thus us, as she narrates the books - to miss it all.
The thing that perplexes me most about this series is the relationship between Bella and Edward. It is the main focus of the series, and the aspect the teenage girls and women love. But the relationship is terrible, and written so. It's dangerous, it's controlling (from one side) and it's very obsessive.
The two sides of the relationship are incredibly unlikeable.
Bella is a constant whiner. Despite the fact that all the boys in the series utterly idolize her, and everyone else treats her like a Queen (even more so in the sequel, Breaking Dawn) but all she does is whine. She never lets up on how ugly she is, and how there is no way she deserves Edward. Even when she is with Edward she can't be happy with him, spending all her time talking about how he deserves someone better.
And Edward? Angry, controlling, empty and cold. He is even described as such in the books.
How these are so popular confuses me.
Not the best, but not the worst January 3, 2009
I consider myself a fan of the Twilight Saga, however found Eclipse to be tedious to read.
As another reviewer mentions, I'd like to point out that it took me about 3 days to read Eclipse and I refused to put it down unless absolutely necessary and I drove my friends crazy by quoting it. But, as with each of the books in this saga, I'm not ashamed of admitting it is not perfect. It was a good addition, as each book (Breaking Dawn being a debatable subject) was to the story line of Bella and Edward's impossible love, but can hardly be called the best in the series.
Spoilers below.
So Edward is back - and he's as controlling and lacking-in-personality as before. I'm sure most people will argue, but I fail to see why his every single waking thought and moment has to include Bella. We get it. He loves her. That's all well and good. But where's his 100 year long life gone? Now that Bella's around, he seems to do nothing but fall all over her. It begs the question of what he did before she was around? Nothing? Obviously...
Bella has Edward back, fantastic; New Moon was pretty poor in his absence so he's pretty much a God send. Bella, who goes from being half-likeable in Twilight to totally unbearable in New Moon, becomes semi-genial again, which, in my opinion, saves the book. You can actually read Bella's diary entries without wanting to throw the book across the room. She still whines. Constantly. She's still rude with Charlie, still refusing to call him Dad, and fails to understand that by not letting her see Edward too much he is being caring. I'm sure, if my boyfriend left me for 6 months and then came back, that my mother would be pretty unsure of me spending my every conscious second with him.
Jacob, a once dislikeable character in many, many ways, finally receives some positive attention. At last, he develops a spine and confesses his love for Bella, however, and it's a great shame, goes about it the wrong way and obtains a totally negative image with the rest of the characters - except for Charlie, of course, who would much rather Bella date Jacob than Edward. I feel that, even though New Moon was all about Jacob and Bella, you actually get to know him in Eclipse. Because you're not so preoccupied trying to ignore Bella who is `holding [her] stomach because the pain of losing Edward is so great', you actually learn something about Jacob as a person - essentially that he has more of a back bone than Edward could ever wish for. Jacob has pride.
The plot (a recurring theme when it comes to these books) was a hell of a lot thicker than present in any of the other books. It gets introduced quite early on and I don't feel that it is drawn out at all. Victoria is creating an army of ravenous newborns in order to kill Bella in vengeance for Edward's family murdering her sole-mate, James. There is actually some sort of mystery in this plot as the family don't realise that the vampire in Bella's room, the killings in Seattle and Victoria's occasional reappearance in Fork's surrounding forests are linked together until later - I feel this plot line is sufficient. You finally get to know Jasper as a character also, as his past intertwines with the plot twists and becomes necessary - finally you are introduced to an interesting and remarkable character.
The marriage thing is sweet. Being a hopeless romantic, I fail to understand how Bella could turn Edward down in the first place. The conversation could be considered to be mentioned too much, always resulting in Bella turning him down again, but the whole idea of compromise I think is another entity that saves the book.
Fundamentally, this book aims to show that Bella, selfish and immature, has a decision to make. The choice of either Jacob or Edward. If she wants Edward, then she must accept that she will lose half of her life - that half consisting of Jacob (who would rather she be dead than undead), her parents and her friends. However, if she chooses Jacob, she would keep her human form therefore keeping her family and her friends, but she would lose Edward, her `only love', and his family, to whom she is incredibly close. This idea is great and develops to show that Bella actually does have some sort of organ warranting the name `brain'.
To summarise, the plot and the introduction to interesting characters saves this book. I would recommend reading Eclipse, but I would will you not to be too hopeful. It is not the best book in the series, but it is by no means the worst. In my opinion, Meyer should have stopped after Eclipse. Eclipse serves as a much better Breaking Dawn. Create your own ending for them after Eclipse and you need not carry on.
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