ALA Booklist (Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2007)

It began as a simple vampire series and quickly became a megaselling publishing phenomenon; now, in the third installment, decisions about college, marriage, and, oh yeah, immortality are pressing in on heroine Bella Swan. Werewolf Jacob's declaration of love for Bella adds even more pressure (his violent kisses may trouble some readers). Acerbic humor remains a strength of Meyer's storytelling, but despite the multitude of concerns, there isn't much action. The plot, which ultimately evolves into another war with the evil vampires, unfolds at a leisurely pace, slowed even more by flashbacks from prominent secondary characters. Readers familiar with Bella's favorite book, Wuthering Heights, will enjoy allusions to the classic, and the sexual tension in the previous books continues here. Bella begs to consummate her relationship with handsome vampire Edward while she is still human, but he refuses to give in until they are married; their passion remains at the kissing level. With Bella's fate still hanging in the balance as fans await the fourth and final volume, we can expect the prepub clamor over the next year to reach Harry Potter like intensity.

Kirkus Reviews

It's the countdown to graduation and immortality for Bella, since the events of New Moon (2006) have convinced boyfriend Edward to let her join him in vampirism. While Bella desires only to leave this mortal coil, Edward wants her to try college and marriage first. Bella knows that becoming a vampire will forever sever her ties to best friend Jake, who's a werewolf and therefore an ancient racial enemy of all things vampiric. Luckily—and predictably—a gathering of bloodthirsty, vengeful vampires is headed straight for Bella. To protect her, the vegetarians of Edward's vamp coven need to stop trading racial epithets with the werewolves and work with them, instead. Bella wants the villains to be defeated so she can return to her everyday life of high school, anticipating immortality and fighting Edward's determination to avoid premarital sex. Unsettling racially charged characterizations are offset by messages of overcoming difference and working together. Fans of Bella's angst-drenched love triangle will gobble this entry up, and the open-ended conclusion paves the way for Jake's story to come. (Fantasy. YA)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

The legions of readers who are hooked on the romantic struggles of Bella and the vampire Edward will ecstatically devour this third installment of the story begun in <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Twilight, but it’s unlikely to win over any newcomers. Jake, the werewolf met in <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">New Moon, pursues Bella with renewed vigilance. However, when repercussions from an episode in <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Twilight place Bella in the mortal danger that series fans have come to expect, Jake and Edward forge an uneasy alliance. The plot patterns have begun to show here, but Meyer’s other strengths remain intact. The supernatural elements accentuate the ordinary human dramas of growing up. Jake and Edward’s competition for Bella feels particularly authentic, especially in their apparent desire to best each other as much as to win Bella. Once again the author presents teenage love as an almost inhuman force: “[He] would have been my soul mate still,” says Bella, “if his claim had not been overshadowed by something stronger, something so strong that it could not exist in a rational world.” According to Meyer, the fourth book should tie up at least the Edward story, if not the whole shebang. Ages 12-up<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">. (Aug.)

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-Picking up where New Moon (Little, Brown, 2006) left off, this book continues the tortured love story of a human teen and her vampire boyfriend. Having returned from a quick trip to Italy to retrieve an errant Edward, Bella finds herself severely grounded by her father and at odds with her friend Jacob, a werewolf and mortal enemy of Edward as well as being inconveniently in love with her himself. Adding to these complications are Bella's impending graduation and vampire transformation and a wild pack of vampire newborns on a killing spree. As in the two previous installments, it is Meyer's effective and intense portrayal of first love in all its urgency, passion, and confusion that drives the story along with the supernatural elements coming in a close second. For the three main characters, being in love, making a commitment, and choosing a future is literally a life-or-death situation and they constantly discuss, analyze, and describe their feelings for each other, giving readers a deep connection to them. Upping the emotional ante is an injection of heightened sexual tension and sensuality that hasn't been present in the series before. The story is slowed down in the middle by both the origin stories of the werewolves and vampires Rosalie and Jasper, and the vampire newborn subplot seems to be a convoluted add-in. However, all of these stories contribute in some way to Bella's epiphanies about her future. Meyer knows what her fans want: thrills, chills, and a lot of romance, and she delivers on all counts.-Anne Rouyer, New York Public Library Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Voice of Youth Advocates

Forks and La Push are like any other towns in the Pacific Northwest except that they are home to a vampire family, a werewolf clan, and one danger-prone young woman. The installment picks up where New Moon (Little, Brown, 2006/VOYA August 2006) left off. Edward promised his paramour, Bella, that he would transform her into a vampire as long as she marries him after they both graduate from high school. The impending marriage does not sit well with Bella's werewolf friend and suitor, Jacob, who believes that she deserves a "normal" life within his strong, furry paws. Meanwhile evil approaches from Seattle, where a string of murders plague the metropolis, and from Italy, where the powerful Volturi watch to see if Bella remains human. The danger culminates in a vampire/shape-shifter showdown in which fur flies, alabaster vampire parts burn, and only one side emerges victorious. Again Meyer's combination of romance, jealousy, angst, and action creates a read as addicting as opium with an absinthe chaser. There is more exposition here than in the predecessor, including the story of the first Quileute/vampire battle and back story for Rosalie and Jasper. This book has much-needed comic relief to offset Edward and Jacob's squabbling over Bella and macho posturing. Despite welcome additions to the saga, the old standards remain: Edward broods, Jacob is sullen, and Bella fails to display any mettle or backbone. Complaints aside, fans will burn the midnight oil to finish and then gnash their teeth awaiting Breaking Dawn, forthcoming in 2008.-Angelica Delgado.