Product Description

Edward’s soft voice came from behind me.

I turned to see him spring lightly up the porch steps, his hair windblown from running. He pulled me into his arms at once, just like he had in the parking lot, and kissed me again. This kiss frightened me. There was too much tension, too strong an edge to the way his lips crushed mine–like he was afraid we had only so much time left to us.

As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob–knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68475 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-14
• Released on: 2007-08-14
• Formats: Audiobook, Unabridged
• Original language: English
• Binding: Audio CD

From AudioFile
High school graduation looms for Bella, and conventional worries over college applications vie with her plans for immortality and marriage to a vampire classmate, Edward Cullen. In this sequel to Meyers TWILIGHT and NEW MOON, Ilyana Kadushins elegant voice again moves from scenes of typical teen angst to moments of horror, including an attack by newborn vampires on the Cullen family (who have forsaken traditional vampire fodder for big game). Kadushins growling tones and pace are terrific as she differentiates the star-crossed lovers, immersing listeners in the clandestine world that exists around us. D.P.D. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About the Author
Stephenie Meyer graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English literature, and she lives with her husband and three young sons in Arizona. After the publication of her debut novel, Twilight, booksellers chose her as one of the "most promising new authors of 2005". (Publishers Weekly.) Look for Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse on audio from Listening Library.

Customer Reviews

Filling in the gaps.
I was recently coerced into reading this series by a coworker, and though it's not nearly as good as people make it out to be, it is definatly an easy read and well-worth the time.

The author does a good job of portraying Bella as an angsty teen and narrates in a way that keeps readers interested.

The only real problem I have about this series is that in Twilight and New Moon the reader is put in a world where nothing exists but Edward, Bella, Carlisle, Alice and Jacob. The other characters used in the book aren't fleshed out and don't have a history of their own. Most of the time being used to push Bella to one of the fleshed out characters so something interesting can happen.

This is where I find Eclipse starting to fill in the gaps. Within the first half of the book, we're explained Rosalie's history, the Quielutes(sp?) history and Jasper's history. Other people around the couple start getting much more involved with the story, which is a refreshing departure from the problems-with-edward, make-me-a-vampire sections which have filled most of the previous books.

All things said, this is a good read. It's hard to put it down once you've gotten started though, so make sure you have time to read it.

Nobody puts Bella in a corner...
....And yet, the "heroine" Bella is content to be passed back and forth like a doll between Edward, Jake, Alice, Charlie, and anyone else willing to babysit her. She is one of the weakest-willed, most utterly uninteresting main characters I've come across- not to mention hypocritical. I honestly don't get what they all see in her...she has no interests or dreams in life outside of being with Edward. Grow up Bella, you spoiled brat!

Both Edward's and Jacob's characters took turns for the worse in this book, which were big mistakes on Stephenie Meyer's part. The Jacob of the first two books would not have kissed Bella against her will, so that scene was surprisingly out of character. (I'm going to forget it happened, because to me, Jake made the 2nd book worth reading.)

Edward struck me as controlling and patronizing, traits which I for one would neither tolerate, nor be attracted to. Stephenie Meyer seems to think that being impossibly beautiful makes that okay. Edward improved a lot towards the end of the book, but were we supposed to be okay with his being such a control freak?

Anyway, I'm still excited to read the fourth book in this series. I hope the author actually knows what she's doing, rather than letting all the potential dissolve into yet another teenage angst-a-thon.

Just not worth it.
There really was no saving point in this book. Bella was as annoying as ever. We were supposed to feel sad for her, yet there wasn't a moment where I didn't wish she would be killed just so the story could move onto someone more interesting.

Jacob, who was the only saving point of the last book 'New Moon', spiraled down into a jerk by physically forcing himself on Bella (twice) and then having the nerve to stand back for a bellowing laugh. I suppose it was lucky that his sexual assault didn't borderline anywhere near rape, yet what really irritates me the most is that Bella's reaction to his assualt was played off comically by both Jacob and her father Charlie. WTF?

This isn't even the start of Eclipse's problems. Then there's Edward, who literally kidnaps the poor girl and holds her hostage in the start of the book, which made me wonder if Bella knew exactly the type of relationship she was in.

I know, I know, he loves her and wanted to protect her, but damn, when I was reading the entire thing from her perspective, it felt like I was watching a horror flick with an obsessed and mentally disturbed stalker instead. Luckily, that kind of over reaction didn't last because Edward was a bit more tolerable here for the rest of the book. He actually seemed to have somewhat matured from the previous book, but again, like in the past, his constant need to cradle or hold Bella's face to tell her how perfect she was became pretty annoying as well.

Even the ultimate alliance between the Werewolves and the Vampires didn't interest me. There was nothing in there that was remotely intriguing, especially since most of their allied battle was told to us off-screen, which is a complete shame because I was looking forward to that the most.

However, the biggest gripe I have about this series is how everything, including the sun and moon, seems to revolve around Bella. As close to a definition of a Mary Sue if I've ever seen one in a long while. Between the hundreds of growls that every character seemed to make in this book, I found myself lowering my IQ just to tolerate the characters and the story.

Why were all these 100+ year old vampires so dumb? The big twist where Bella figures out the connection between Victoria, the newborns, and Seattle was plainly obvious. In fact, after Jasper explained the entire newborn story, I thought that everyone assumed that Victoria was behind this. Imagine my surprise when it's BELLA who's friggin' telling all these smarter, faster, and experienced vampires that there might be a connection. The fact that they found this revelation surprising was what that baffled me.

This was not the only example: The twist of the final battle itself where Victoria used the newborns as a distraction seemed like a big deal to all the characters, even to the great military expert Jasper, but it was just as something that was so obvious and predictable that I felt like I was personally dealing with idiots. The entire thing just made me want to scream. AGH!

The only characters that I found that I could truly tolerate in moderation were the secondary characters - Charlie, Billy, Sam, etc. The stories that both Jasper and Billy's relatives told about their pasts were the only parts where I enjoyed the book. The conflicted romance, and even the danger that surfaced in this book, were laughably bad. I can only shake my head at anyone who thinks this is good writing. Perhaps as a way to fill some time, but other than that, it's a pass for me completely.

Sorry Stephenie Meyer.

1 out of 5.