Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Twilight Saga: Book 3)

5/10

Bella Swann’s days are numbered. The Volturi have made a threat which the Cullen’s will have to follow through or face their annihilation. There is also the not so insignificant matter of the vampire Victoria wanting to avenge her mate’s death by torturing Bella to death. Not to mention the fact that by changing Bella into one of them, the Cullen’s will break a century old truce with the werewolves of the Quileute tribe, one of whom is Bella’s best friend Jacob Black.

New Moon had a fantastically gripping conclusion; one that I’m sure left most readers desperately waiting for the next instalment of the saga. Eclipse has so much promise, so many sure-fire story paths that could be filled with excitement from start to finish.

Instead, Eclipse was a big disappointment for me. The story is good and keeps the reader interested, but not gripped. It is not an unputdownable book. So much of the book focuses on the three-wheeled relationship between Bella, Jacob and Edward. The love triangle all starts to get a bit repetitive. The readers see that Bella starts to fall deeper and deeper in love with Jacob, but that love is still nowhere close to the love she feels for Edward. It seems that now they have already trodden the path of the impossible love that became possible, Meyer needed another challenge to give Bella and Edward’s relationship. Stephenie Meyer has used another clichéd fate of great lovers in literature, and she knows it and shows it in the book. From a Romeo and Juliet type of forbidden love, the author has transgressed into a Wuthering Heights love triangle.

The story starts with news of a spate of killings in Seattle which seems to be getting worse and worse and the police are blaming it on gang activity. The Cullen’s know better. These are the signs of newborn vampires, released on civilisation without a mentor vampire to keep them under check and prevent the unveiling of vampires to the human world.

Instead of mixing some action in with all the long descriptions of the relationships, Meyer leaves all of the action to the last 70-80 pages. The action that the author has put in the book is a bit reminiscent of James hunting down Bella in the first instalment, Twilight.

Eclipse doesn’t leave me with a need to read the next book, Breaking Dawn, as the previous two books did. Mild curiosity would be my only reason to read the final book.

Overall I would give Eclipse 5/10. Some excitement, but an unoriginal, repetitive and unnecessary book in the saga.