PanThe Times (UK)It’s hard not to take issue with the prissy no-sex morals, Cullen’s stalkery behaviour and the endless references to his car. The first four books were criticised for giving Swan little agency, and although Meyer does attempt to empower her here, she only does so by making Cullen appear weaker and anxiety-ridden — like a vampiric, less interesting Karl Ove Knausgaard. She remains the wimpiest of female leads. Just eat something, just leave, just stop blushing, you want to say when she nibbles on another apple and takes another cue from the manipulative Cullen ... The difficulty with a second take on the same story is the lack of surprise, which can only be countered with exceptional writing. Instead, Cullen’s central dilemma — how do you love someone you want to eat? — is picked to the bone until you wish they’d eat each other and spared us another 400 pages. The dialogue is so clunky that it might have been written in another language and put through Google Translate ... Meyer told The New York Times that she found this book her most difficult yet and each sentence was a struggle. I’m afraid that you can tell. Time to shut the coffin on this series.
