Eclipse (Meyer novel)

Did You Know?

• The book jacket features a torn red ribbon, which represents choice and Bella's inability to completely break away from her human life.
• Movie tie-in covers featuring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner were released in May 2010.
• Eclipse was the first and only Twilight film to be converted in IMAX.

Plot summary

The story begins with Seattle plagued by unsolved murders, which Edward Cullen suspects are caused by a newborn vampire. As Edward and Bella apply to colleges, Bella wants to visit her friend Jacob Black, a Quileute shape-shifter. Edward worries for her safety, but she assures him the wolf pack would not harm her. Jacob tells Bella he loves her and wants her to choose him over Edward; she says she considers him only a friend. Alice Cullen has a vision that vampire Victoria has returned to Forks to kill Bella. Alice takes Bella to the Cullen house, where Bella learns Rosalie's past and why she treasures humanity. Bella is determined to become a vampire but agrees to reconsider. Edward proposes; Bella accepts on condition that he will have sex with her while she is still human. The Cullens realize the Seattle murders are committed by a newborn vampire army controlled by Victoria. The Cullens join forces with the wolf pack to combat the threat. Edward, Bella, and Jacob camp in the mountains to stay hidden during the battle. Jacob overhears Edward and Bella discussing their engagement and threatens to join the fight. Bella stops him by kissing him and realizes she also loves him. Victoria tracks Edward's scent to Bella's hiding place; Edward fights and kills Victoria. The Cullens and allies defeat the vampire army. Bella tells Jacob she loves him but her love for Edward is greater. She tells Charlie she intends to marry Edward. The epilogue reveals a heartbroken Jacob has run away in wolf form; Leah is sympathetic.

Development, inspirations and influences

Before Twilight was even published in October 2005, Stephenie Meyer had already completed a rough draft of Eclipse. The final published version stayed very close to that original draft. Because Meyer was initially signed for only three books, Eclipse was originally meant to be the series finale, which is why it had a different ending at first. Meyer has explained that the entire novel focuses on Bella’s decision to become a vampire and her growing understanding of the real cost of that choice—something she hadn’t fully grasped in the earlier books. According to Meyer, every backstory, relationship, and action in the story revolves around this central theme.

Meyer has said that Eclipse was inspired by Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, even though she personally dislikes the novel. She finds the characters fascinating and enjoys certain passages, but overall she considers the book too depressing—a view that Edward himself shares in Eclipse. When asked about comparing Edward and Jacob to Heathcliff and Edgar Linton, Meyer noted that one reader might see Edward as Heathcliff and Jacob as Edgar, while another might see it the opposite way. She likes that ambiguity because it mirrors real life. In August 2009, The Telegraph reported that HarperCollins had released a special edition of Wuthering Heights with a gothic cover similar to the Twilight series. Since May of that year, that edition had sold over 10,000 copies—more than double the sales of the traditional Penguin Classics edition—and topped the newspaper’s classic books chart for the first time, largely because Meyer had referenced the novel.

Release

In the months before Eclipse came out, Stephenie Meyer threw a prom-themed event at Arizona State University, working with a local bookstore and the school’s English department. The first batch of tickets sold out in seven hours, so she added a second prom that same day, and those tickets vanished in four hours. At the prom, she read the first chapter of Eclipse, which also appeared that day in the special edition of New Moon. Meyer then went on a 15-city book tour. She put that first chapter on her website and, for 37 days leading up to the release, posted a different quote from the novel each day. She also appeared on Good Morning America. On July 25, Barnes & Noble accidentally sent advance copies of Eclipse to some customers who had pre-ordered, much like what had happened with the seventh Harry Potter book. To keep spoilers from spreading online, many Twilight fan forums shut down, and Meyer locked the comments on her MySpace page. In an open letter to the fan site Twilight Lexicon, she asked those lucky early readers not to reveal the ending until everyone else had a chance to read and enjoy the book.

Publication and reception

Eclipse hit shelves with a first printing of a million copies and moved 150,000 on its release day alone. It bumped Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows from the top of global bestseller lists, including the New York Times list, even though that book had come out just two and a half weeks earlier. The novel reached number one on USA Today’s top 150 list and stayed there for over 100 weeks; in October 2008, it was ranked 45th on that paper’s list of the best-selling books of the previous 15 years. It was the fourth best-selling book of 2008, trailing only Twilight, New Moon, and Breaking Dawn, and the second best-selling of 2009, behind New Moon. Publishers Weekly also placed it first on its 2008 list of bestselling hardcover backlist children’s books, with over 4.5 million copies sold. Reviews were mostly positive. Anne Rouyer of School Library Journal noted that Meyer gives fans what they want—thrills, chills, and romance—and that the added sexual tension and sensuality boosted the emotional feel. Katie Trattner of Blogcritics liked the character development, especially the backstories of Rosalie and Jasper. Selby Gibson-Boyce of Tulsa World said she couldn’t stop reading, describing the book as impossible to put down.