Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #314 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-04
• Binding: Hardcover
• 600 pages

Synopsis
'Bella?' Edward's soft voice came from behind me. I turned to see him spring lightly up the porch steps, his hair windblown from running. He pulled me into his arms at once, and kissed me again. His kiss frightened me. There was too much tension, too strong an edge to the way his lips crushed mine ? like he was afraid we had only so much time left to us. As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob ? knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which? Following the international bestsellers Twilight and New Moon, Eclipse is the much-anticipated third book in Stephenie Meyer's captivating saga of vampire romance.

Customer Reviews

Eclipse overshadows the others - as a disappointment.
I have to say it, painful though it is, I found this book disappointing. It was a fantastic page turner - but it was only that. Meyer strings this one out until the very end. Good for sales and the continuation of the series, but bad for us. Don't get me wrong: I love the whole series and Meyer continues to write about the characters in a passionate and engaging way, it's just not as tight as the first two. Give the whole series a go though; as an English teacher I've encouraged dozens of teenage girls to read these and they've all become avid followers, although the rows over Jacob and Edward do get a bit heated. I'm a Jacob girl for the record!

Ups and downs...
After much prompting by friends I gave in and read the three books in this series. I did enjoy them, after a fashion, but there were certainly good points and bad points.

Jacob and the werewolves are interesting and sympathetic characters for the most part. The 'imprinting' idea, while a little cliche, is touching. Their feud with the vampires and their legends were fascinating background to read.

I have to admit I didn't feel the insta-crush on Edward everyone else seems to, but OK, he's not a bad character. Not exactly what I'd expect from someone over 100 years old, but he's not unpleasant to read. Rosalie is a tragic sort of character, and Jasper's background was just what was needed to flesh the character out a bit. The vampires fighting was good plot, and the threat of the Volturi something of a cliffhanger.

The actual prose is maybe a little melodramatic and the constant literary references are a little overdone - one or two references to Edward as Romeo and/or Heathcliffe would have been enough, I get the point! - but it was easy to read and reasonably well-written.

My main problem with all three books was Bella.

As a character I found her totally unsympathetic, shallow (her obsession with not aging! 19 is not exactly bringing on the wrinkles, is it?), selfish, unthinking, unintelligent (literary quoting withstanding) and often just plain rude, especially to her other friends. Her lack of concern for her father's feelings, for Edward's (he asks her to marry her and she is horrified because NO-ONE at her age gets married, for shame! So much for eternal love...), for Jacob's and for her friends' was astounding. The attempt to cast her as the self-sacrificing Third Wife didn't work at all, and her obsession with becoming a vampire seems less about being with Edward as staying young and beautiful.

I don't understand the appeal for the men, frankly. Of a 100 years of existance, the best Edward can find is a silly twit who constantly whines, moans and takes no-one's feelings but her own into consideration? Jacob had a lucky escape! I don't see why he thinks she is 'the one' for him when they're so emotionally opposite. Personally I prefer her with Edward than Jacob, but honestly, I'd prefer her with neither of them and spending some time sorting herself out.

I hear one of the most recurring disappointments with Bella is her obsession with Edward's looks: that didn't bother me, on the other hand. He is special-looking, after all. It's her obsession with herself that gets old, and her insistance on defining herself BY the men in her life. Also, given the novels are all written from her perspective, it can get difficult being in the head of someone who is so difficult to empathise with.

So all in all, not a bad book if you're after a light supernatural romance - just a very unlikeable heroine.

I missed the eclipse....
Really disjointed novel, if you're looking at this book you have most probably read the others so the pro's of this book are...there are more characters so you dont have to put up with her horrible main characters all the time, I personally can't stand Bella one bit, and Edward irks me too, yes we know you love her, so stop making him say it. Cons, well, I had no idea how the conclusion of the book came about, it just did, she was outlining so many different possibilities and she lost track of her characters and I had no idea where I was, and suddnely the baddies are gone and they're playing their mushy act again. In fact the plot outline was so bad I cant even remeber what happened for most of the book!!

once again another terrible addition to the first book.