Twilight Saga - Eclipse

Eclipse is the third novel in the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. It continues the story of Bella Swan and her vampire love,Edward Cullen. The novel explores Bella's choice between her love for Edward and her friendship with shape-shifter Jacob Black, along with her dilemma of leaving her mortality behind in a terrorized atmosphere, a result of mysterious vampire attacks in Seattle.

Eclipse is preceded by New Moon and followed by Breaking Dawn. The book was released on August 7, 2007 with an initial print run of one million copies, and sold more than 150,000 copies in the first 24 hours alone. Eclipse was the fourth bestselling book of 2008, only behind Twilight, New Moon, and Breaking Dawn. A film adaptation of the novel was released on June 30, 2010.

Critics and reviewers found the novel engaging and romantic, and said that it explored more mature themes than its predecessors. It gained much praise for its well-written love triangle and character development, along with an exciting and suspenseful ending.

Plot summary

The story opens with the revelation that Seattle, Washington is being plagued by a string of murders, which Edward suspects is caused by a new vampire that is unable to control its thirst for human blood. As Edward and Bella apply to colleges, Bella explains to Edward her desire to see her friend, Jacob Black, a werewolf. Although Edward fears for her safety, Bella insists that neither Jacob nor his wolf pack would ever harm her, and she begins visiting him occasionally. On one of these visits, Jacob tells Bella that he is in love with her, and wants her to choose him instead of Edward, but Bella says she just sees him as a friend. Meanwhile,Alice Cullen has a vision that Victoria, a vampire who is hunting Bella for revenge, has returned to Forks. A few days later, Edward proposes to Bella and, despite harboring an aversion to marriage, she accepts.

Bella and the Cullens soon realize that the Seattle murders are being committed by an "army" of newborn vampires, controlled by Victoria. The Cullens join forces with the wolf pack to combat this threat. As everyone else prepares for battle, Edward, Bella and Jacob camp in the mountains, hidden during the battle, where they are later joined by Seth Clearwater, a young wolf pack member, to wait out the fight. In the morning, Jacob becomes upset when he overhears Edward and Bella discussing their engagement and threatens to join the fight and get himself killed. Bella stops Jacob by kissing him, and she comes to realize that she is in love with him as well. During the battle, Victoria tracks Edward's scent to Bella's forest hiding place, and Edward is forced to fight. Edward manages to kill Victoria and her vampire army is destroyed. Afterwards, Bella explains to Jacob that while she loves him, her love for Edward is greater.

Development, inspirations and influences

Meyer finished the rough draft of Eclipse before the release of Twilight in October 2005; however, she said that the final manuscript did not differ much from the rough draft. Originally, the book had a different ending when Eclipse was intended to be the final book in the series, as Meyer was signed to a three-book deal with Little, Brown and Company. Meyer stated that the events of Eclipse are centered on Bella's choice to become a vampire and fully comprehending the price she has to pay to undergo the transformation, which she didn't understand in Twilight and New Moon. She said that "every aspect of the novel revolves around this point, every back story, every relationship, every moment of action."

According to Meyer, the book was inspired and influenced by Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, although she does not like the book. She said that characters of the book fascinate her and she enjoys reading certain parts, but does not enjoy the book as a whole because she finds it very depressing—an opinion expressed by Edward in Eclipse. When comparing Edward and Jacob to Heathcliff and Edgar Linton of Wuthering Heights, she said, "You could look at Edward and Jacob from one perspective and say: Okay, this one is Heathcliff and this one is Edgar. And someone else might say: No, wait a second. Because of this reason and that reason, that one is Heathcliff and the other one is Edgar...I like that confusion, because that's how life is." In August 2009, The Telegraph reported that HarperCollins' Wuthering Heights edition—which has a "gothic" cover similar to the Twilight covers—has sold more than 10,000 copies since May of that year, more than twice as many as the traditional Penguin Classics edition, and topped the newspaper's classic books chart for the first time due to Meyer referencing the novel.

Cover

The book jacket features a torn red ribbon. Although it was supposed to be disclosed to the public in May 2007 at the Eclipse Prom, Barnes & Noble and Meyer's official website premiered the newly released cover in March 2007, along with a preview summary of the book's plot. The broken ribbon represents choice, as in the book Bella must choose between her love for the vampire Edward Cullen and her friendship with the werewolf Jacob Black. Meyer also stated that the ribbon represents the idea that Bella is unable to completely break away from her human life. Movie tie-in covers featuring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner who portray Bella, Edward, and Jacob, in the feature film, were released in May 2010.