Hmmm, I am in quite the quandary as to how to go about writing about ‘Eclipse’ by Stephenie Meyer as know it’s the readers, on and off the blogs, book version of Marmite. Some people love it, some people hate it, and some even avoid it. However strangely as someone who after reading Twilight was left completely puzzled by the experience I didn’t think I would read on. Then the film changed all that and reading ‘New Moon’ before seeing the film which carried on making me want to read further. Naturally with the ‘Eclipse’ movie coming out in the UK and wanting to see it – I had to of course read the book first. Warning there are some spoilers if you haven’t read ‘New Moon’.
It almost seems pointless to mention the characters or plot of ‘Eclipse’ because due to its success I think even those people who haven’t read it, steer clear of it or don’t want to touch it with a barge pole probably know the in’s and out’s. However what is a review with out mentioning either of these things? I must and so I shall. ‘Eclipse’ is the third of the Twilight series in which Bella Swann has moved to Forks and fallen in love with Edward Cullen who happens to be a vampire. This then gets doubly complicated when she discovers her friend Jacob, who she might or might not have feelings for – teenage hormones are devious aren’t they, is a werewolf. She also has a team of the Volturi (a vampire coven) after her, as knowing Vampires exist is something no human should know as it threatens their existence. She also has another vampire, Victoria, trying to kill her after Edward killed Victoria’s partner who tried to kill Bella… have I lost you yet?
So that’s where we are when ‘Eclipse’ starts and strangely, and rather annoyingly, that’s where we stay until around page 350 and things start to move at long last. After all Bella’s graduation is looming and she has said she wants to become a vampire herself after that, Victoria has been spotted by the werewolves and Cullen’s locally, and a new threat arrives as the ‘Newborns’ (uncontrollable young vampires) start a killing spree in Seattle and start looking in the direction of Forks. I can’t tell you what happens as that would be taking spoilers too far.
I feel rather like I did after reading ‘Twilight’ in terms of not being sure how I feel about ‘Eclipse’. I enjoyed it to a degree but I wasn’t bowled over and after ‘New Moon’ I expected quite a lot. I think if I look at it objectively it really did feel like a filler book in the series, we moved on a few people died, characters histories came to light (which was one of my favourite parts of the books as it had a mythical feel) and yet we weren’t really any further forward than I felt we could or should have been after 628 pages. I am well aware I am not the target audience for this book so that probably has something to do with it, but the teen angst that ‘Twilight’ was so full of and I got irked by seemed to have returned. If the book had been 200 pages shorter I would have been happier, I think for the true hard core fans it could happily have been another 200 pages.
All that said I will still be reading ‘Breaking Dawn’ how can I not when I have got three quarters of the way through the whole lot. I have also heard it is brilliantly over the top which I am more than happy for it to be, as long as it doesn’t dawdle over too much angst. Drama over angst anytime for me with this series which has been a rather bizarre and yet brilliant in parts reading rollercoaster for me.
A book you will: read because you have read the rest of the series.
What are your thoughts on the Twilight Saga? Love it or loathe it, or really not fussed at all? (By the way have seen the film and its brilliant escapism which of course made my dilemma all the more complex!)
Savidge Reads 