Title: Eclipse
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Series: "Twilight Saga" #3
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Page Length: 629 pages
Publication Date: August 7, 2007
Rating: 4.5 // 5 stars
Book 2 Review
Like with my reviews for Twilight and New Moon, I'd like to preface this one by saying that I've already read Eclipse. I read it for the first time eleven or twelve years ago and it's been at least eight years since I last read it. That being said, this review will be based off of a reread. I know that I love the story but these are going to be my thoughts as a full-fledged adult. Additionally, most of these comments are addressing problematic aspects even though I enjoyed my reread and gave it 4.5 stars.
So I always enjoyed Eclipse when I was watching the movies over the years. I figured I would like reading Eclipse more than I liked reading New Moon. I was wrong. While I still massively enjoyed Eclipse and it was such a nostalgic time, there were way more problematic things in this book.
For one, the love triangle was dumb. I always thought it was dumb because it was obvious who Bella was going to end up with but after reading through the book where it was most prevalent, I was just rolling my eyes over it most of the time. To be fair, I never feel super connected to Edward more than Jacob and I like them both equally. However, I am vehemently Team Bella and there's a reason why I support Edward more in this relationship.
At the beginning of the book, both Edward and Jacob annoyed me. Edward was being possessive and controlling (even going as far to disable her truck and have his sister kidnap her for a weekend so she couldn't see Jacob). However, after a conversation with Bella (aka her telling him off), he begins to change and actually becomes so much better. Jacob on the other hand doesn't understand consent. He kisses Bella and when she couldn't get him to stop, she just went limp and waited for him to be done. He constantly insults Edward and, at the end of the book, manipulates Bella into kissing him again in a very mean way.
It seems to me that the movie definitely made these two characters a lot better. Edward is slightly less possessive and controlling and Jacob is way less of an ass. However, I am glad to see Edward's development in this book and even some of Jacob's minuscule development. I will say that I like Jacob in every other book and even part of this book, but then he turned into a douche.
There were also a few things with the representation of the Quileute tribe. I am not a part of this community so I cannot comment fairly on how good the representation was, but I felt that there were a few times when a non-Quileute character would say something about a member of the Quileute tribe and it seemed a bit problematic. This book is obviously quite old but yikes.
Other than these issues, I did enjoy my reread. I definitely thought these issues made me like it a bit less, but I still had the nostalgic feelings and strong connection to the characters to make me enjoy it. If I'd read this for the first time this year, I probably would have given it such a lower rating. But as it stands, I love this series and story too much to be able to give it an unbiased rating. I will say that after this reread, I do expect it to be my least favorite book in the series just because of the problems I mentioned above (though I do think the movie did a much better job of not being problematic).
Like with my reviews for Twilight and New Moon, I'd like to preface this one by saying that I've already read Eclipse. I read it for the first time eleven or twelve years ago and it's been at least eight years since I last read it. That being said, this review will be based off of a reread. I know that I love the story but these are going to be my thoughts as a full-fledged adult. Additionally, most of these comments are addressing problematic aspects even though I enjoyed my reread and gave it 4.5 stars.
So I always enjoyed Eclipse when I was watching the movies over the years. I figured I would like reading Eclipse more than I liked reading New Moon. I was wrong. While I still massively enjoyed Eclipse and it was such a nostalgic time, there were way more problematic things in this book.
For one, the love triangle was dumb. I always thought it was dumb because it was obvious who Bella was going to end up with but after reading through the book where it was most prevalent, I was just rolling my eyes over it most of the time. To be fair, I never feel super connected to Edward more than Jacob and I like them both equally. However, I am vehemently Team Bella and there's a reason why I support Edward more in this relationship.
At the beginning of the book, both Edward and Jacob annoyed me. Edward was being possessive and controlling (even going as far to disable her truck and have his sister kidnap her for a weekend so she couldn't see Jacob). However, after a conversation with Bella (aka her telling him off), he begins to change and actually becomes so much better. Jacob on the other hand doesn't understand consent. He kisses Bella and when she couldn't get him to stop, she just went limp and waited for him to be done. He constantly insults Edward and, at the end of the book, manipulates Bella into kissing him again in a very mean way.
It seems to me that the movie definitely made these two characters a lot better. Edward is slightly less possessive and controlling and Jacob is way less of an ass. However, I am glad to see Edward's development in this book and even some of Jacob's minuscule development. I will say that I like Jacob in every other book and even part of this book, but then he turned into a douche.
There were also a few things with the representation of the Quileute tribe. I am not a part of this community so I cannot comment fairly on how good the representation was, but I felt that there were a few times when a non-Quileute character would say something about a member of the Quileute tribe and it seemed a bit problematic. This book is obviously quite old but yikes.
Other than these issues, I did enjoy my reread. I definitely thought these issues made me like it a bit less, but I still had the nostalgic feelings and strong connection to the characters to make me enjoy it. If I'd read this for the first time this year, I probably would have given it such a lower rating. But as it stands, I love this series and story too much to be able to give it an unbiased rating. I will say that after this reread, I do expect it to be my least favorite book in the series just because of the problems I mentioned above (though I do think the movie did a much better job of not being problematic).
Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren
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