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A review by pbraue13
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Oh my god I think this and "Breaking Dawn" are my least favorite/most hated of the series (when I read "Breaking Dawn" I will see if this opinion still holds up). Edward starts this book worse than ever being even more manipulative, crazy, and controlling. He applies to colleges without her consent, uses everyone he can to get control over her, he lies to her to get her to travel with him out of town, and does his best to restrict what information she can have about her situation at all times. At one point he disables her car so she can't visit Jacob and pays his sister to basically hold her hostage while he is out of town. This gets to the point where she is terrified of what his reactions to situations will be - BELLA YOU ARE IN AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP! Even though between these moments of being an abusive jerk he does a 180 and is a complete saint, he is still a jerk, honey!
Then there's Jacob...oh Jacob...My boy...look at how they massacred my boy. Yes, this book basically assassinates Jacob's character by making him not only tell Bella he would rather she be dead than be a vampire or that he was only pretending to be the "nice guy" in the last book to get with Bella, but also ASSAULTS BELLA BY KISSING HER WITHOUT HER CONSENT AND THERE IS AN EXTENDED PASSAGE THAT DESCRIBES THE EXTREME DISCOMFORT BELLA FEELS NOT BEING ABLE TO FEND OFF SOMEONE STRONGER THAN HER AND HAS TO LIE THERE AND TAKE IT AND THEN WHEN JACOB APOLOGIZES AND GIVES HER A BRACELET SHE FORGIVES HIM! I HATE THE IMPLICATION THAT PEOPLE WHO ARE ASSAULTED SHOULD PUT IT BEHIND THEM/GET OVER IT IF THEY ARE GIVEN A HALF ASS APOLOGY! STEPHENIE WHAT ARE YOU DOING???? I purely think she did this to him because people really liked him as a potential romantic option and she had to make people focus on the character she wanted Bella to end up with/she as the author was obsessed with. She really made this character horrific along side her already messed up love interest. At least, (the very least) Edward does not victim blame Bella when she breaks her hand after Jacob assaults her...there's that one moment of him being a halfway decent person. This is where we are introduced to the werewolf concept of "imprinting" aka grooming and the obsession with babies. Don't even get me started on how vampires treat the indigenous characters that are werewolves...OOF.
Also, apparently vampires retain the mentality of when they were human - I.e. Edward was made in 1911 so he's an old fashioned dude and wont sleep with Bella before marriage (basically slut-shaming her for wanting it so bad) . This begs the question of Jasper...being a Confederate soldier... thank goodness Meyer didn't bring in any vampires of color around him...I do not want to picture what that would have been like.
Positives being: Meyer knows how to write fight scenes that are exciting and fun. Bella as a character is much better in this book, I'd almost call her badass as a heroine for fighting back and planning on possibly sacrificing herself to save those she loves. Otherwise, yikesssss.
1.5/5 stars
Then there's Jacob...oh Jacob...My boy...look at how they massacred my boy. Yes, this book basically assassinates Jacob's character by making him not only tell Bella he would rather she be dead than be a vampire or that he was only pretending to be the "nice guy" in the last book to get with Bella, but also ASSAULTS BELLA BY KISSING HER WITHOUT HER CONSENT AND THERE IS AN EXTENDED PASSAGE THAT DESCRIBES THE EXTREME DISCOMFORT BELLA FEELS NOT BEING ABLE TO FEND OFF SOMEONE STRONGER THAN HER AND HAS TO LIE THERE AND TAKE IT AND THEN WHEN JACOB APOLOGIZES AND GIVES HER A BRACELET SHE FORGIVES HIM! I HATE THE IMPLICATION THAT PEOPLE WHO ARE ASSAULTED SHOULD PUT IT BEHIND THEM/GET OVER IT IF THEY ARE GIVEN A HALF ASS APOLOGY! STEPHENIE WHAT ARE YOU DOING???? I purely think she did this to him because people really liked him as a potential romantic option and she had to make people focus on the character she wanted Bella to end up with/she as the author was obsessed with. She really made this character horrific along side her already messed up love interest. At least, (the very least) Edward does not victim blame Bella when she breaks her hand after Jacob assaults her...there's that one moment of him being a halfway decent person. This is where we are introduced to the werewolf concept of "imprinting" aka grooming and the obsession with babies. Don't even get me started on how vampires treat the indigenous characters that are werewolves...OOF.
Also, apparently vampires retain the mentality of when they were human - I.e. Edward was made in 1911 so he's an old fashioned dude and wont sleep with Bella before marriage (basically slut-shaming her for wanting it so bad) . This begs the question of Jasper...being a Confederate soldier... thank goodness Meyer didn't bring in any vampires of color around him...I do not want to picture what that would have been like.
Positives being: Meyer knows how to write fight scenes that are exciting and fun. Bella as a character is much better in this book, I'd almost call her badass as a heroine for fighting back and planning on possibly sacrificing herself to save those she loves. Otherwise, yikesssss.
1.5/5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence