Eclipse
Eclipse is the third book in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. The story starts with establishing that Jacob Black and Bella Swan’s friendship has been broken due to the return of the Cullen vampire coven to Forks. Jacob is a member of a wolf pack who are by nature the mortal enemies of vampires, meaning that Bella had to choose between her vampire boyfriend Edward and wolf friend Jacob. Naturally, she chose Edward which led Jacob to resent the Cullen’s even more. Meanwhile, a serial killer has been reported to be at large in nearby Seattle but the Cullen’s believe it to be at least one, if not more, new-born vampires. Victoria, a vampire hunting Bella, is still at large and known to be in the area so reluctantly, Edward allows Bella to see Jacob so he can protect her while he hunts, despite a lack of trust between the two.
The Cullen’s soon realise that it is Victoria causing all the deaths in Seattle as she is raising an army to come and seek her revenge on them for killing her mate, James. They join forces with the wolf pack to put aside their differences and fight their mutual enemy together, hopefully killing her at last. Bella is still trying to convince Edward to turn her into a vampire, and he agrees under the condition she marries him. Reluctantly she accepts but makes him keep it a secret until she can find the right time to tell Jacob and her parents. Jacob overhears the couple discussing their engagement just before the battle with Victoria and goes off in a rage. Bella follows him, furious at Edward because he knew Jacob was listening but continued to discuss the engagement with her. This leads Bella to kiss Jacob to calm him down and prevent him from being careless in the battle.
Rekindling the love triangle with Bella and Jacob’s kiss this time had more persuasion behind it, but nevertheless it is never suggested that Bella would ever pick Jacob over Edward. Of course, Jacob is like a dog with a bone, forgive the pun, and won’t give up on Bella until her “heart stops beating”. Stretching out the love triangle over two books makes them very similar reading. The characters go through almost the same motions; Jacob constantly vying for Bella’s affection, while she moons over Edward, who resents Jacob for his feelings about Bella. New Moon injected the Victoria hunting Bella storyline with Jacob falling for Bella, where Eclipse injects the Jacob/Bella/Edward triangle with a battle with Victoria. This battle brings an end to the ‘Bella the hunted’ storyline that has run through the first three books, which is even more overstretched than the love triangle.
These three books are much like one long narrative set in three parts. While detail is needed, there is still plenty that could have been removed from these books that would not have impacted greatly on the main story, which is much of what the films did when adapting them. The climax of the Victoria sub-plot during the battle finally allows the exhausting narrative to draw to a close. Meyer could have easily have left Bella and Edwards story with Eclipse, which she initially did as she was signed onto a three-book contract. But with the potential of a wedding and Bella as a vampire on the horizon, Breaking Dawn was almost compulsory to draw the narrative to an end.
Click here to read reviews on Twilight, the first book, and New Moon, the second book in the series and don’t forget to check back tomorrow for a review of the fourth book, Breaking Dawn.
By Sophie Atherton @SophAthers