New Moon (The Twilight Saga)
by Stephenie Meyer
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Book Reviews of New Moon (The Twilight Saga)
Book Review: Owner of a Broken Heart
Summary: 3 Stars
I don't know what to think about this series. I like it and loath it at the same time. I like the ideas Meyers has and the love story and even the pain and suffering of loving someone you're not supposed to love. Not to mention the battle of clans with Vampire and Werewolf. She has good stuff there, but it's executed horribly. "New Moon" has Bella alone and without Edward. In his absence and in her pain she clutches onto Jacob the werewolf who turns into her new best friend. I believe she really likes Jacob, maybe even love him, (but that doesn't get too far). Edward is never far from her mind. I can buy this, I will cut this all some slack because I can see Bella being stuck like a broken record on Edward, he is her first love, she's seventeen, stuck in Forks and secretly dealing with both Vampires and Werewolves, all while managing high school and a solemn, somewhat clueless dad. I'll give the girl a break. HOWEVER, it would have been nice of Meyers to just give us Bella and Jacob and let that relationship develop WITHOUT the undertones of Edward. Yes, Edward is still on her mind, but it is not fair what we're treated too. I can not cheer for Bella when she's just filling the void with someone, even if she comes to like and even love that someone else.
It's already horrible that Edward is missing over half of the book, so I'm not looking forward to this second movie AT ALL, but I digress. I try to keep in mind Bella is a teen and should not be expecting to have such insight, but I still would have liked Meyers to just give us a Bella that grew a little, that was dealing with her pain and betrayal with just being with her new friend and not turning everything into something about Edward. It would have made Bella a hell of a lot more likable, strong and more of an individual. Should she forget all about Edward? Of course not, I don't expect her to, but then what is Jacob really to her?
The Volturi are interesting and prove to be trouble. Not bad there. I still HATE, HATE, HATE the idea of Bella wanting to become a vampire. This is not new news, even from the first book, and I still find the idea absurd. Meyers could have had even more drama and intensity by having Bella conflicted with loving a Vampire and being human. I suppose she instead decides to turn things the other way and instead of forbidden lovers, one lover just don't care about being the undead. I don't like it. Overall, New Moon can be very boring at times, but Jacob Black is written as a caring, genuine friend; he has a personality, faults and his own issues and that makes him interesting. If you like seeing Bella and Edward together you gotta wait about 400 pages for that to happen. I didn't enjoy this book that much for that fact. So far I think this series has good themes, but aren't handling them very well. Even as teen novels they could be much better.
Book Review: Yes, after a year, I am done reading New Moon!
Summary: 3 Stars
I FINALLY finished New Moon! I started it a year ago, but it really dragged for me, so I stopped reading it. I was a couple of chapters in, and I kept wondering, "When the hell are they going to be done fixing the motorcycles???"
I didn't really enjoy Twilight (the first book), but people kept telling me that New Moon gets better. The story is still the same: the everyday life of Bella Swan and her current love interest (who is Jacob Black in this book).
Two things got me through to finishing New Moon:
1) I had to block out the images of Kirsten Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, and the rest of the cast from the movie, which was incredibly awkward to watch.
2) I had to believe that the Twilight saga wasn't in a craze at the moment and that New Moon was just published with barely any reviews on Amazon.
Those beliefs helped -immensely. In addition, unlike a lot of Twilight-haters, I disagree that S. Meyer is a terrible author. I admit that she writes beautifully. She has a talent for creating vivid images, BUT she writes horrible prose. It's so cheesy and tacky at times, I had to laugh out loud in a senseless manner so as to dispel the awkwardness.
I like Jacob WAY, WAY better than creepy Edward. I usually prefer bad boys / brooding men (ie. Mr. Darcy and Mr. Rochester), but I just couldn't find Edward sexy in any way. He's just so . . . clingy to Bella, as she is to him. I know that he's about 150 years old, but I can't seem to think of him that way. He seems too much like a teenager in the books. Plus, I don't understand what he finds so interesting in Bella besides her sweet-smelling blood. What I basically got from the books is that Edward doesn't love Bella; he loves her blood. I don't remember a time when Bella asks, "Why do you love me?" and Edward replies with an answer other than the reason of her blood. If someone can contradict me on this, I would highly appreciate it because it's hindering me from thinking that the love between Bella and Edward is real.
Onto Bella, I did not enjoy her suicidal tactics throughout the book. Her depressing thoughts were not helpful either. New Moon can be dubbed as "Bella's Diary of Complaints." Seriously. I am also angry that she chose Edward over Jacob! That's just an opinion of mine though.
Overall, it was a very slow read for me. Even though I enjoy reading romance, I thought the love tension in the Twilight saga is overdone to the point that I find it a burden to read. For example, though I enjoy sushi, I bet that if I ate it everyday, I would find it tiring soon. If S. Meyer would just lighten up on the romance, add a bit more action/adventure in, cut out the unnecessary parts that add nothing to the actual plot, then I probably would have enjoyed this book much more.
Book Review: Part 2 In The Saga, Or What's Up With Bella?
Summary: 3 Stars
I finished Twighlight, and that led me to New Moon. The writing style is about the same as Twighlight, though the book could have been edited down a few hundred pages.
In New Moon, Edward and Bella have had an enjoyable summer, and have celebrated Bella's 18th birthday. (For which, in typical Bella fashion, she does not appreciate, does not like, and is completely depressed about - this girl is just one lump of sunshine, let me tell you!) Then, out of the blue, Edward breaks off the relationship and tells Bella he and the Cullens are leaving the area. Bella is devastated and goes into a severe depression.
I've noticed others here seem to think this is a bit extreme. Actually, I thought this was the only believable part of the book. When I was not much older than Bella's character, I experienced a wrenching breakup that left me completely devastated and depressed, to the point of being in an almost catatonic state - much like what Bella's character went through. I really felt that Stephenie Meyer captured that raw torment so very, very well. It's the reason this review was given 3 stars instead of 2. That emotional breakdown was so real to me, it was almost difficult to read through it. (And I'm now 48 years old, so it has been a good long time since then)
After a few months, Bella kindles a friendship with Jacob Black, and through this friendship she eventually and slowly returns to life and leaves her depression. Jacob's feelings toward Bella are on his sleeve, and he wants more. Yet, Bella knows she cannot give him that - she is in pieces. But he is there for her and there is something special between them.
With Jacob, Bella learns to take chances, and finds she hears Edward's voice in her head. She begins taking bigger chances to feed on this rush.
Then, suddenly Alice Cullen makes an appearance with news that Edward is in danger, and Bella rushes off to save him. She leaves Jacob in the dust. Obviously, this isn't the whole story, there is lots more.
I lost a good deal of respect for Bella in New Moon. In my opinion she is a selfish, self-centered, immature, little brat. This girl has no ambition whatsoever. No plans for her future, except to hopefully become a vampire, of which she knows very little. (Except she gets to be with Edward for "eternity") She's like a slug, and there isn't very much that is appealing about that. I know I'm looking at Bella's character with the eyes of an adult, but that's what it is for me. And while the reaction of Bella to the breakup seems real and life like, the fact that Bella is so eager to take Edward back so easily is enough to make one's stomach turn.
Simply put, Bella is a child who needs to learn to grow up.
Book Review: Co-dependent Bella: Act II
Summary: 1 Stars
Anyone who enjoyed the first book but found the phrasing repetitive and the character of Bella to be mildly annoying, be warned.
Pgs 1-70 are actually interesting, aside from Bella being a brat about turning 18
Pgs 70-400 are basically the plot of the first book, recycled, with Jacob as the new love interest. As with Edward, she shuns the other kids at school, wants to spend all her time with him, and, when she finds out what he really is, she embraces it, meets the family...etc etc.
pgs 400-the end are essentially the only novelty to the book. Even so, it's ruined by the fact that Bella is so helpless and insecure. I don't understand why Edward loves you either, Bella, but he does. And I don't want to have to read 500 pages of him convincing you of that.
This book is basically ACT II of the first book, but with a few less obnoxious descriptions of Edward's bronze hair/marble body/topaz eyes, and a few more obnoxious descriptions of the aching hole/depression in Bella's soul when Edward leaves her.
Bella morphs from being slightly annoying and whiny, to being completely pathetic. Her world revolves around Edward, so when he leaves, she is left in a catatonic state...until eventually she decides to rebel and do crazy things, in the hopes that she might hear his voice (oh yes, that velvet voice of his is in this book too, and velvet must be on Meyer's 'favorite adjectives list").
But then Bella finds reason for living again, in the arms of another man, Jacob. Her basic attraction to him is based on...wait for it..."she's less miserable with him". Hmmm....the co-dependent latches on again. She completely leads him on, because the whole time she is with him, she is still thinking about Edward and how she can reunite her crazy messed up head with a precious delusion of him.
In the end, Edward and Jacob are mortal enemies (oh no!) and Bella is left choosing between the man who is the world to her, and the man who is the world to her when the man who really is the world to her is unavailable. Gee, I wonder who she'll choose in the end. Apparently Meyer wants us to think it's a toss up and plans to make another book of it. Yeah right.
I can only hope that the third book doesn't contain the following phrases and/or words, because I HATE THEM BY NOW:
grimaced
smirked
topaz
velvet voice
touseled bronze hair
marble slab
perfect face
singing laughter
aching hole
russett skin
angelic anything
it felt like I was dreaming
I wasn't sure if it was a dream
it had to be a dream
Book Review: Chelsea from Lake Tapps says, "This is the best book series on Earth!!!"
Summary: 5 Stars
It's your 18th birthday. You usually have a good day, looking ahead to it, right? No. In Bella's small town of Forks, Washington, it means being older than her boyfriend Edward Cullen, and his adopted brothers and sisters, technically. Under one circumstance, Edward is a vampire, staying frozen at 17. For the rest of his existence.
In the book New Moon, sequel to Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer, it's Bella's 18th birthday and she's extremely terrified. She's and accident-inclined klutz and she's got experiences to prove it! So after a few arguments with her vampire beau, she's off to his house after dinner. But first, they watch Romeo and Juliet. This is when Bella finds out about the Volturi. An evil vampire family that is well over 3,000 years old. Edward takes Bella to his house and starts opening presents. Bella gets a paper cut, and Jasper, Edward's adopted brother, can't resist Bella's blood and tries to attack her! Edward unfortunately saves Bella. Edward realizes he needs to move on and leaves Bella. Bella is glum person for while, until she goes and plays with Jacob Black, and old Family friend. Jacob lives on the La Push reservation, whose tribe comes from wolves. Bella later finds out that Jacob Phases back from human to werewolf. When Bella and Jacob plan to go cliff diving, Jacob is busy and cancels. Bella goes anyway, and almost drowns. Alice, Edward's adopted sister, can see the future, based on decisions, and sees Bella fall. She tells Rosalie, Edward's other adopted sister, and Rosalie tells Edward Bella is dead. So Edward goes to the Volturi to ask them to kill himself (which I wish was true) in Italy. NO!!! Will Bella be too late? Read New Moon by Stephenie Meyer to find out.
I love the part where Edward leaves; I picture him leaving Bella for me! I usually think of different ways he could have said it, and the way he does. I like it when Bella is just sitting there. It's so pitiful; she knows he loves me more, he just didn't realize it yet. Duh.
Parts that made me cry are when Edward leaves, and Bella is emotionally dead. My favorite character is Edward Cullen. He makes himself fascinating because he's so suffering and he's trying to protest his blood thirst for Bella, but he just can't, and he's trying to leave but he knows he'll just have to come back!
My recommendation is for humans 11 and over to read these books. I rate this book 5 stars. I love this series. You really should read all of them in order, though. This book is second, Twilight is first, second is New Moon, Eclipse is third, and Breaking Dawn is fourth. Above all, these books are fan-tab-u-los!!!