katekintailbc | Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer (Reply)

Eclipse
by Stephanie Meyer
(Audio)

The plots in these books are so very simple and take such a long while to get going that I was actually thrilled when this one started a little earlier than the others. It was still simple and horribly predictable, but I still really liked it because:
1- the concept of a vamp turning newborns to create an army to take over an area/fight for dominance is a fantastic concept to think about/play with
2- I saw the Cullens' & packs' cooperation coming a mile away but it still really made me smile. Love it!
3- the battle scenes were finally long and detailed. Would have liked a lot more than, like, a chapter. But at least it wasn't as short as the James encounter that disappointed me when it lasted for just a few minutes.

As always, the emotions are wild and overblown, completely over-dramatic. But that's realistic to me since that's how I felt about love when I was a teen (and during my first few "relationships" around that time). The "I'll DIE without you!" mindset is very tiring to read, though, despite the realism. The Wuthering Heights allusions/comparisons were an okay addition after the R&J ones in the last book.

The "love triangle" tension was still there, and I still rather like Jacob after everything is said and done. But it turned out exactly as I thought it would. The prologue was fantastic, though. Totally shocked me. It was read by a man on the audio book to great effect. The last few lines sent chills down my spine so much that I had to go to Wikipedia and spoil myself for two paragraphs to make sure Jacob was okay. Which of course he is cause everything always ends happily in these books.

Oh, and from a 'playing with the legend' standpoint I also really like the werewolf concept of imprinting (though it kind of seems a convenience, the way Meyer does it) and that there are girl werewolves in the pack too. I rather liked it all boys and brotherhood and all that, but the added female dynamic is fun to play with now that the boys club was established in the previous book. And why should the boys have all the fun?

I put the next book on hold at the library. I should have done that long ago because my spot in the holds queue is 80. Yikes. It's going to take a while for me to finish this series! LOL But I have plenty to read in the meantime :-)