New Moon (The Twilight Saga)
by Stephenie Meyer
|
List Price: Our Price: $1.99 You Save: $9.00 (82%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of New Moon (The Twilight Saga)
Book Review: A neccessary link in the story
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased the entire Twilight Saga (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn). The book series was aimed at the yound adult audience, but as a "older" adult reader I can say that I was truely captivated. I purchased the entire saga series and read all four books in under 5 days even though I work full time. And I will definately read the series again.
I am going to skip specifics, as to not spoil the books for anyone.
What did I pull from reading this series? forbidden love, wanting something you can't have or that may not be good for you, facing fears, dealing with divorce, dealing with moving to a new place/school, making friends, sacrifice, selflessness, waiting to share yourself with someone else until you are married, Losing that one person that makes your life worth living, the feeling of Love from every possible angle (mother, father, family, friends, lover, yourself), self confidence, somethings are worth fighting for, somethings are better left alone and so many more topics.
Twilight - Book 1
It is the beginning of a wonderful forbidden love, the author successfully pulls you into the book allowing to easily feel the emotions of the characters. Not as well put together as next books in the series, but still, as I said before, captivating.
*After reading this book I would suggest downloading the authors partial manuscript of Edwards version from the authors website; It really brings you into the story further... I read it after book3, but wished that I had read it after book 1. Do not read it before book 1 though, It may ruin some of the suspense of book 1.
New Moon - Book 2
Again the author brings you into the book feeling the charaters strong emotions. You get a little upset with some of the characters from the first book. You can feel what they are going through and it sets the stage for the next three books.
Eclipse - Book 3
Books 1 & 2 are pulled back together with the same intensity and some of the things previously brought out are now in perspective.
Breaking Dawn - Book 4
Although there was some switching perspective in the previous book, this book has quite a bit more of that switching going on. With that said, I think that the switching was neccessary to get the full story out in the open. The author pulls evertything from all of the prior books into one nice package in the end, yet still leaves a little bit of an opening for future books or stories to shoot off from. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the "sci-fi" feeling in the middle of the book, but all in all I was pleased.
Note: You may not appreciate the time the author put into the character building and placement until after you have read all four books. Her unique style is wonderful to read and I feel it was this attention that made the books so good.
I do wish that this book was written to the adult audience so that the scenes didn't have to be so "PG" rated. It would have made it a little more interesting in some parts. However, she left enough details to let your imagination fill in the gaps.
Book Review: Bella - Edward = ZERO!
Summary: 2 Stars
Poor Bella Swan - first her vampire boyfriend dumps her, leaving her depressed and suicidal, and then her best friend turns out to be a werewolf. Life sucks sometimes, right?
New Moon is a disappointing follow-up to Meyer's much more entertaining Twilight. Teenage Bella, now 18, demonstrates even less self-esteem than she did in the first novel when vampire Edward Cullin decides it's just too dangerous for him and his family to remain in her life. This is the typical romance novel break-up - "I don't want you anymore," he tells her, and she believes him. Which begins four months of near-catatonic depression with Bella lifelessly going about her daily activities while the huge metaphoric hole Edward has ripped inside her chest grows ever larger and more painful. This girl has no life without her man.
So, of course, what does she do? She gravitates to another man, this time 16-year-old Jacob Black, an American Indian boy she knew as a child. The relationship between Bella and Jacob is actually the best part of New Moon - I liked her when she was with him (his upbeat, warm, fun attitude brought something out in her that was missing before - namely a personality!). The only negative is that while Jacob falls in love with Bella, she still can't get over Edward, the jerk who dumped her and disappeared. So a whole lot of the middle section of the novel is about Bella's guilt over leading Jacob on. She goes so far as to imagine herself as Juliet in Shakespeare's play, with Edward as Romeo and Jacob as Paris. She wonders whether Juliet would have been justified in hooking up with Paris if Romeo had run out on her - even if she didn't love him, wouldn't it be OK? Because after all, what's a girl without a guy? Absolutely nothing!
To make matters more confusing for poor Bella, it gradually becomes clear that Jacob is a werewolf, the natural enemy of vampires like Edward. Which means Bella now has two monsters in love with her - no easy answers for this girl! Edward returns about ¾ of the way through the novel and Bella makes her choice (come on, it's no contest - who wouldn't pick a gorgeous, ice cold, emotionless, rock hard vampire over a hot-blooded, gorgeous, sensitive werewolf . . . well, OK).
New Moon isn't as much fun to read as Twilight was. I was hoping Bella would develop into a well-rounded character, especially after Edward leaves her, but the devastating depth of her depression reveals that she really is nothing without this man she loves. It was hard seeing her so ready to accept Edward back into her life after he ran out on her so cruelly - I wanted so much for her to stand up for herself and hold this guy accountable for his actions. As long as Bella continues to see herself as a disaster on legs, there's no hope for a better outcome for her. I cling to my belief that it IS possible to love someone and still hold onto your true self. But for Bella to do that, she needs to HAVE a true self in the first place. Before she so blithely gives up her soul and her humanity for an eternity with Edward, I hope she discovers who she really is.
Book Review: Slow at the Start, Finishes at Pace of Book 1
Summary: 4 Stars
As the plot line increases, the description of this series being a Harry Potter on estrogen appears to be more fair than not.
Concepts, style and presentation are extremely similar. But, this is not an equal to the beloved Harry Potter. Bella is just a fine replacement of the boy wonder. During Harry's absence, booksellers worldwide ask or have asked: will there be another to that sells in such volume to make my store turn a profit for the year? Stephenie Meyer apparently has responded in the affirmative.
Although there is nothing as sinister as Voldemort - James begrudged mate, Victoria, is nasty. No one is as knowledgeable as Dumbledore, but Carlisle has his cool and calm demeanor and may be wiser than we think. In medieval Volterra, the leader (Aro) is as powerful as Voldemort or Dumbledore, and is neither good nor bad - he is something in between. And his sidekick, Jane, is still unknown and may be bad or good - something like Snape. The protagonist's new best friend, Jacob or Jake, is growing into his new found talents, like little Harry, and trips over things too often like Ron Weasley. It all centers upon a high school attended by werewolves and vampires. You can get the idea. There is something deja vu about this book.
But, it also is different from unequaled Harry and friends. The dialogue is more like Evanovich than Rowling. The occasional cute quips are. . . well . . . cute. You get a laugh every so often. And, that is one strength of this and the other novels of the series. All the laughs with Harry seem to be with the Weasley boys and Hagerich - here it is more spread out. Everyone can jest.
Delivery of the quixotic death-defying moment in the last few hundred pages (another Potter similarity) makes the adventure heighten in the end, and the post-stressful event period when the good guys congregate to attest to their good fortunes of not having blown this book's next-to-last scene ends with a peculiar and contrarian request by beloved Bella - forcing you to read the next novel to see if it will turn out the way you think it will turn out. Something the booksellers adore.
And, Meyer knows her audience. To assure pleasure for her reading public - preteen and teen girls - there are enough boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy regains girl (or is it girl meets boy . . .?) chapters or scenes to make even the seemingly heartless Grinch's heart palpitate a few times more per minute. They are tender, G-rated, and truly innocent. There is some kissing, but only by those who are in true love.
The science fiction of vampires and werewolves mixed with young people attending high school is not an automatic best seller. Meyer earns her pay by writing rich dialogue which seems believable - most of the time. And, if 110-year old Edward (who looks 17 years old) occasionally says something only a Ph.D. from Harvard could say, you take it with a grain of salt as he once did attend Harvard and is so long in the tooth that he must have absorbed some wisdom during his life's incredibly long journey.
Book Review: GT Book Review
Summary: 3 Stars
Bella Swan is at it again in the second book of the twilight series New Moon. Bella is still hanging out with the mysterious vampire Edward Cullen. She loves him with an extent that she always wishes have him in her presence. He is very protective of her, and wants to be around her also. Bella seems to see his change in perspective when he spills the news that he and his family need to move. Since vampires do not age, people get suspicious in one area after a wide range of time has passed but yet the vampires' complexion has aged none whatsoever. In this book, this is the time the Cullens decide to leave Forks, and go somewhere else. Bella was devastated. She could not let Edward leave without her, but no matter what she said about the move, he would stop her and change the subject. When the move actually occurs, Bella sobs and mopes everywhere for several months on end until she remembered her good friend Jacob Black. He was the repair man, and builder who helped to get her truck back to life again. She went to him with two tattered motorcycles from the dump to let him fix up so that they could both enjoy the excitement of adrenaline on them. They spent much time together fixing up the motorcycles, but had to make sure neither of their parents found out about their dangerous attempts. When the motorcycles were eventually done, Bella tried to learn how to ride, but found herself very klutzy, and enjoying the experience at the same time. The enjoyable ride became exciting when she heard Edward speak in her head telling her how she needed to stay safe, and not to do something so crazy. Bella was shocked at his voice, and slid off the road to be smashed by the bike with a gash in her head, this was, however, the bad part. Bella made up a silly excuse, and Charlie, her father, believed her because she is usually very klutzy anyway. After that wild experience, Bella wanted another adrenaline-rush kind of fun to happen again. She encouraged Jacob to go with her to do many crazy things like cliff diving, but she decided that she was bored one time and jumped off alone into the deep abyss of black water. Once she hit, she knew she was in trouble when she did not know up from down. She finally was saved by the heroic Jacob who towed her onto the shore. She found that Edward thought she had died, and was going to ask to be killed over in Europe. Alice gave her this news, and then they rushed over on a plane to barely meet him under the clock tower before he was revealed in the light to the entire town as a bloodsucking vampire. This book can be very, very boring at parts, but the plot of the novel leads the reader to continue reading until the book is read cover to cover. Edward is not in a large part of this novel because of his move, and his absence makes the reader somewhat bored, but makes the reader want to read because they want to hear about Edward again. I encourage a dedicated Twilight reader to READ THIS, but if you are a person who does not enjoy reading boring material, DO NOT read this book.Book Review: New Moon surprised and disturbed me on several levels...
Summary: 4 Stars
Although I liked New Moon, it disturbed me on several levels.
***Warning. A few spoilers are in this review.***
I went into this book eagerly. I couldn't wait to find out what happened next with Bella and Edward. However, things spiraled downward quickly. First of all, I understood why Edward chose to leave Bella, but I did not like the manner in which he did it. He lied to her and said he didn't love her (so she could have a "clean break" and therefore move on with her life). But he also stole (later, we find out he "hid") everything he'd ever given to her. He also ripped all the photos of him out of her albums. What??? Wasn't that vandalism and destruction of personal property?
After Edward left, Bella went into a walking catatonic state. Jacob believed Edward was like a drug to Bella. I agree. Her long, painful withdrawal resembled detox to me. While trying to recover from Edward's abandonment, Bella spent a lot of time with Jacob. They developed a connection she didn't understand. (It's clear to me, however--he was NICE to her. Not only that, he was there whenever she needed him.)
Bella soon learned that she "heard" Edward's voice whenever she behaved recklessly. He warned her to stop. She was so desperate to hear his voice that she put her life in danger over and over again. Was this a death wish? Would she rather be dead than without him? I have to admit, I was foolishly hoping Edward really WAS there during all of this drama. I was still rooting for their love. Even though I knew he couldn't read her mind, I illogically hoped he was nearby and could somehow "speak" to her mind.
However, when Bella jumped off the cliff, my last hopeful fantasy about Edward being her protector drowned. As Bella sank to the bottom of the ocean, Edward did not rescue her. Jacob did.
The book ended with Edward melodramatically engineering his own demise. He thought Bella was dead, and he could not live without her. I "get" the Romeo and Juliet parallel. However, I was brought up to believe that suicide is the ultimate selfish act. Edward apparently did not care what his death would do to his family. I guess their love didn't matter to him.
I gave the book four stars because Stephenie Meyer kept my interest from beginning to end, and I felt she did a great job building the angst between Bella, Edward and Jacob. However, I think her efforts to build up the love triangle backfired. By the end of the book, Edward seemed like a one-dimensional, maybe even selfish character to me. I didn't trust him anymore. Even though his rationalizations for his behavior made complete logical sense, I could not forgive him for the horrible pain he inflicted upon Bella. Jacob was the selfless one. Clearly, he loved Bella. Every one of his actions proved it. I began to root for Jacob.