Eclipse

I finished New Moon over the weekend and finished Eclipse last night. The fourth and final book comes out at midnight on Friday, so I'm back to reading a non-vampire book until I can get my hands on Breaking Dawn sometime this weekend (No, you won't find me at a release party dressed in vampire garb).

I liked this book just as much as the others. New Moon ended with danger still on the horizon for our main characters, so Eclipse opened with some tension from the start. Bella has found herself torn between two loves, a serial killer is on the loose in a nearby city and a significant deadline is fast approaching. I don't know how she gets anything done with so much on her mind.

What I enjoyed about this book was the evolution of Edward and Bella's relationship. While I mentioned previously that I don't quite agree that an 18-year-old girl should be so in love and broken without a certain boy, I got over it. Edward has been on Earth for more than 100 years and it's a bit refreshing how mature he is compared to the other boys Bella could be dating. While it doesn't hurt for her to experiment, have fun and learn who else is out there, I can see why other boys might pale in comparison (ironically) to Edward, who rarely throws fits, controls his jealousy and is willing to let Bella go (whether for an hour or forever) if that's what would make her happy.

The two of them also worked on compromising a lot in this book, which if you're set on being in a relationship, is the most important thing to understand and learn to excel at. They held rational discussions, came to terms with the struggles of a human/vampire relationship and made decisions both of them could be happy with. I enjoyed these parts of the book. While Edward's need to "protect" Bella would get to me sometimes - she's not a child! - I do think that as a girl who took care of her scatterbrained mother for her entire life, letting Edward hold the reins in their twosome might be a bit of a relief.

The entire book led up to a battle scene that I thought would be the "epic" battle of the series. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be and wished for a bit more action. But that part of the story was important in its own way. Maybe the big fight will come in the end, ala Harry vs. Voldermort or the Fellowship and the Battle for Middle Earth. I can't wait!