Friday, September 14, 2007

Was Eclipse good? Not so much....


A year and a half ago when I read Twilight by Stephenie Meyer I was pleasantly surprised. I had heard about the book months before it's publication due to internet buzz and a great marketing campaign. So when Madeleine, from Indigo's JAB, recommended the book to me, I listened to her because Madeleine has great taste. She got me into Joan Bauer, and I will be eternally grateful to her for that. And I liked Twilight, I really liked it!


New Moon was a bit of a let down after Twilight. It seemed like not much happened until the last third of the book, then suddenly the author woke up and added a bunch of plot and then it ended. I wrote this off as a typical middle book. You know - book one introduces the problems, book two extends them, resolves a few things, introduces a few new issues and then wham in book 3 everything comes together.


Complication! Meyer signed a longer book deal and suddenly book 2 wasn't just a middle book, it was one of many middle books....seems she has to stretch out her story to keep us entertained and in suspense for more books - until book 6.


I'm not sure if the sudden lack of an end in sight is what went wrong with Eclipse, or if I was somehow influenced by my new knowledge that Stephenie Meyer is a Mormon (I'd like to think this isn't the case) but what I really think is that her editor copped out. Once authors get really big it's amazing how timid and useless some editors become! The book deal is signed people, she's not going anywhere for 6 books - so edit her work, damn it! Don't be afraid to tell her to cut back, let's say 200 pages and that totally long, boring First Nations legend. Snore! ZZZzzzzzzz.


So will I be reading book 4? Maybe, maybe not...I guess it depends on what else is out at the time. If it's less than 629 pages, I'll consider it...


2 comments:

suzy in sacramento said...

so, here's my take:

it's funny you mentioned the mormon thing. i wouldn't have thought of at all, and didn't even make the brigham young-mormon connection until in the middle of new moon and only when my boss mentioned it. at which point i went "huh". and suddenly in eclipse i was very conscious of it. did it make a difference? maybe. i started seeing weak allegories in places, and finding myself explaining away character's motivations in light of the mormon thing, and was disappointed.

in the end i was frustrated with the book in some respects, especially because both bella and edward's characters are becoming increasingly one-dimensional and irritating to me (on the other hand, how in love with jacob black are you now? that development was very nicely done, i thought, oooh boy).

and you know despite the fact that the prose lags in places and feels sluggish (and the editing, especially for simple typos and, you know, english, is a little choppy) there is something about the story and characters that is compelling, so for that i will likely continue.

i read a review of betwixt by tara bray smith that says she does for fairies what twilight does for vampires, but i have to say after having read the arc that it is in an entirely different league. just stunning. for older teens, absolutely, but i very much enjoyed it.

i will still be attending the stephenie meyer event though, i can't see myself missing it. haha.

liza! i'm sorry for flooding your comments with this.

xo-
sanam

Anonymous said...

Liza, you know I'm a huge "Twilight" fan but I was incredibly irritated by both Bella and Edward when I read "Eclipse." My feminist sensibilities got their back up every time Bella begged Edward to turn her into a vampire and I wanted to scream at her to grow a pair and be an independant woman. And that whole marriage thing? How very....eighteenth century.
I will keep reading because I am still hoping that Bella will snap out of it. Enough with the extreme, overly-dramatic dependance on Edward already. Also, I am firmly in the Jacob camp, although he needs a stronger, more interesting woman to love.

Vanessa