Book Review: Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

I started reading the Twilight series on the recommendation of a friend. I wasn’t thrilled with Twilight, mainly because of the semi-creepy level of intensity of the young relationship in the novel. Teen love-bordering-on-obsession aside, Twilight was entertaining and an incredibly fast read. I wasn’t nearly as entertained by book two, New Moon. It was slow, predictable, and Bella’s whineyness drove me crazy. I almost stopped reading it, but my friend had sent me books three and four, so I knew I had to continue.

I was glad I did. Eclipse was way better than New Moon. The obnoxious obsessive teen love was still there, but at least Bella stopped whining. Eclipse follows Bella, Edward, and the rest of the cast of characters just weeks before Bella’s high school graduation. Bella’s caught in the middle of an ancient feud – her best friend is a werewolf and the love of her life is a vampire, sworn to hate each other for eternity. The fact that both of them are clearly in love with her doesn’t help things.

Despite being in love with Edward, Bella still wants her dear werewolf friend Jacob in her life, which is difficult with the ancient grudge in the way. Edward doesn’t trust Jacob with Ella and Jacob hates that Bella loves Edward. Oh, the drama!

My favorite part of the Twilight series has been Alice, Edward’s future-seeing sister. She’s charming and funny and brings a breath of fresh air to the mostly life-or-death feeling that surrounds Bella and Edward’s relationship. I especially like her in this book. Her gift is interrupted by interesting circumstances, which frustrates her, but also gives her an interesting new layer – it makes her more human, for lack of a better description.

As a teenager, I probably would have loved this book. It has vampires, teen romance, action, boys fighting over the girl, and other things teenage girls are interested in. As an adult, I found myself falling into the story, but still being annoyed by the things that have annoyed me throughout the series (the desperate, obsessive love with a slightly stalkerish twist). It was definitely worth the read, if only because it redeemed the series after the bland New Moon. For what it’s worth, I’m looking forward to finishing out the series with Book Four – Breaking Dawn.

Eclipse is available on Amazon for the Kindle and in hardcover.