I’m 75% of the way through my nostalgic Twilight journey now that I’ve finished Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. I definitely recommend you read my reviews for Twilight and New Moon before this one. This review will have spoilers. Let’s get started!

Synopsis:

In the dead silence, all the details suddenly fell into place for me with a burst of intuition. Something Edward didn’t want me to know. Something that Jacob wouldn’t have kept from me… It was never going to end, was it?

Sink your teeth into Eclipse, the third book in Stephenie Meyer’s riveting vampire love saga.

My Thoughts:

Of the four books, I remembered the least about Eclipse when I started it. I like it just as much as any of the others but if I had to rank them, it would be last. This book primarily focuses on Victoria’s quest to destroy Bella. Edward killed her mate, James, and she wants revenge. Victoria creates an army of newborn vampires and there’s an intense battle of the newborns against the Cullens and the werewolves. This book is also where the Bella, Edward and Jacob love triangle really intensifies.

If I was reviewing this book by 2020 standards, it would DEFINITELY be considered problematic; arguably, the most problematic of the series. However, as I said in my reviews for the previous two books, it’s important to keep in mind when this series was released. Eclipse was published in 2007. What was and wasn’t problematic was completely different in the early 2000’s. So, where does Eclipse go wrong?

I think both lovers and haters of Twilight can agree that Edward is protective to the point of being controlling. In New Moon, Bella had became really close friends with Jacob. Jacob, however, is a werewolf and so Edward believes he can’t be trusted around Bella. To prevent Bella from seeing her best friend while he’s out hunting, he has his sister, Alice, KIDNAP her and lock her in their home. Bella then has to sneak out to see Jacob. Eventually, Edward relents and Bella is “allowed” to hang out with her friend. All of that and Edward constantly being with Bella is supposed to be very romantic but it’s just unhealthy. Edward isn’t the only problem in this, though. Oh no, Jacob is perhaps even worse.

Jacob makes the decision to “fight” for Bella’s love and by fight, I mean he kisses her against her will TWICE. The second kiss wasn’t technically against her will but he threatened to let himself be killed in the aforementioned battle if she didn’t prove that she cared about him… That’s just gross. Did it add more drama to the story? Sure but I think there’s ways it could have happened differently to keep Jacob from looking like a jerk. Then again, I’m sure the point of that whole scene was to prove that Edward is the better choice for Bella and that was accomplished.

Other than Jacob and Edward acting foolish, Eclipse was just as fun to read as the others. It was fast paced and entertaining. This is also the book that really explains Rosalie and Jasper’s backstories. I love them so much and both of their stories are heartbreaking, especially Rosalie’s. The book ends with Bella and Edward getting engaged which sets things up for Breaking Dawn, my personal favorite.

Final Thoughts:

Eclipse is good but it’s not the stand out of the Twilight series, in my opinion. I would like to know, however, which of the four books is your favorite and what you think about Eclipse! Thanks for reading and have a great day!