feels like a set-up book, and didn't make me particularly happy, but just as interesting and important as the other books.
we're going to start this off by saying whose "team" i'm on, since that will probably influence the way i felt about the book, and hence my review. i'm on team edward. as i told K., i'm probably the head friggin cheerleader of team edward. that does not, however, mean that i dislike jacob. in fact, i kind of like him. not for bella, but still. lets just make that clear.
so i think i'm going to tackle this review by discussing what issues i had with the book. the first being that it goes against the grain for me that edward constantly thinks he knows what's best for bella. he was just so overprotective of her throughout the first half of the book. it irritated me. he rarely gave her choices, and in fact told her that she had no choices in a lot of situations. i wanted to punch him. and then i wanted to cheer for bella when she would do things like go to la push when edward was out of town. and i reveled when she came back and had to deal with a pissed off edward because it was like a slap in the face for him. (though there are some great bella/edward moments that i definitely reread a few times).
my second issue, which may seem to be in stark contrast to my attitude regarding edward in the previous section, is with bella and jacob being soulmates. eeew. i hated what she put edward through. i hated that she tried to have it both ways. i mean, i understand that, if given a choice, she would never have put any of them through any of it, and that she probably would have backed away from jacob before their friendship ever took of, but i think she should have had a little more sense once it was apparent how jacob felt (though if she could do that, the whole "soulmates" theory would have been trashed, i guess). i really hated when bella, edward, and jacob were up on the mountainside and jacob had to play "space heater" for bella. it was wrong. to be fair, edward's self-sacrificing was part of the problem, but still. i didn't like the fact that jacob made it so difficult for bella throughout the book by constantly throwing himself in her face. at a certain point, i feel like he should have just respected her feelings for edward, much like edward, in the end, respected her feelings for jacob.
now, what i liked. i loved that we got more of a glimpse into alice and jaspers lives. alice is one of my favorite characters, and jasper has always been slightly mysterious, so i really enjoyed them getting their spotlights. in particular, when she helped him with the training scene, and we got to see just how powerful her gift could be in a practical sense. i loved when a truce, however tenuous, was struck between the pack and the cullens. it was about damn time. and i am obviously thrilled that victoria is out of the picture. although to be honest she seemed like a very cardboard villain. she just never seemed to be as big a threat as they all made her out to be. i did enjoy the "big confrontation" in this book though, with the newborns and the attack in the clearing. even though we weren't able to be present at the attack, it kept me really interested through that entire section. i know that a lot of people were somewhat bored with the background info on newborns, etc., but i appreciated it, both because again it gave us a glimpse at jasper, and because i always like a good "set-up" book, since it has me on edge anticipating the next book to come.
and finally, i loved that, though there's the elephant of jacob and his soulmate status in the room, bella's choice is edward. the self-sacrificy aspect of it all got somewhat tedious, but if i love nothing else, it's a couple willing to go to the extremes for one another. i read some review where someone said she was annoying in her love for him. and it's almost true. but i feel like, for those of us who are rooting for bella and edward, that's the only thing saving us from throwing this book against the nearest wall. if bella wasn't so completely and visibly obsessed with edward, then there really would be reason to doubt that they belonged together.
and that just cannot happen.
alright, enough cheesy-ness for now!
so i think i'm going to tackle this review by discussing what issues i had with the book. the first being that it goes against the grain for me that edward constantly thinks he knows what's best for bella. he was just so overprotective of her throughout the first half of the book. it irritated me. he rarely gave her choices, and in fact told her that she had no choices in a lot of situations. i wanted to punch him. and then i wanted to cheer for bella when she would do things like go to la push when edward was out of town. and i reveled when she came back and had to deal with a pissed off edward because it was like a slap in the face for him. (though there are some great bella/edward moments that i definitely reread a few times).
my second issue, which may seem to be in stark contrast to my attitude regarding edward in the previous section, is with bella and jacob being soulmates. eeew. i hated what she put edward through. i hated that she tried to have it both ways. i mean, i understand that, if given a choice, she would never have put any of them through any of it, and that she probably would have backed away from jacob before their friendship ever took of, but i think she should have had a little more sense once it was apparent how jacob felt (though if she could do that, the whole "soulmates" theory would have been trashed, i guess). i really hated when bella, edward, and jacob were up on the mountainside and jacob had to play "space heater" for bella. it was wrong. to be fair, edward's self-sacrificing was part of the problem, but still. i didn't like the fact that jacob made it so difficult for bella throughout the book by constantly throwing himself in her face. at a certain point, i feel like he should have just respected her feelings for edward, much like edward, in the end, respected her feelings for jacob.
now, what i liked. i loved that we got more of a glimpse into alice and jaspers lives. alice is one of my favorite characters, and jasper has always been slightly mysterious, so i really enjoyed them getting their spotlights. in particular, when she helped him with the training scene, and we got to see just how powerful her gift could be in a practical sense. i loved when a truce, however tenuous, was struck between the pack and the cullens. it was about damn time. and i am obviously thrilled that victoria is out of the picture. although to be honest she seemed like a very cardboard villain. she just never seemed to be as big a threat as they all made her out to be. i did enjoy the "big confrontation" in this book though, with the newborns and the attack in the clearing. even though we weren't able to be present at the attack, it kept me really interested through that entire section. i know that a lot of people were somewhat bored with the background info on newborns, etc., but i appreciated it, both because again it gave us a glimpse at jasper, and because i always like a good "set-up" book, since it has me on edge anticipating the next book to come.
and finally, i loved that, though there's the elephant of jacob and his soulmate status in the room, bella's choice is edward. the self-sacrificy aspect of it all got somewhat tedious, but if i love nothing else, it's a couple willing to go to the extremes for one another. i read some review where someone said she was annoying in her love for him. and it's almost true. but i feel like, for those of us who are rooting for bella and edward, that's the only thing saving us from throwing this book against the nearest wall. if bella wasn't so completely and visibly obsessed with edward, then there really would be reason to doubt that they belonged together.
and that just cannot happen.
alright, enough cheesy-ness for now!
1 comment:
Edward was seriously testing my love for him through the first half of Eclipse, but I thought he redeemed himself when he apologized and loosened up. I never had a problem with Jacob until he forced himself on Bella. I couldn't trust him after that.
Eclipse was probably the book I most enjoyed reading, though I think Twilight is probably the best book overall.
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