New Moon (The Twilight Saga)
by Stephenie Meyer
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Book Reviews of New Moon (The Twilight Saga)
Book Review: skim and hope for better
Summary: 2 Stars
Hard to believe that if the Cullen kids have gone to school for decades -- or even function in any way in society, that they haven't encountered a minor cut or scrape. So the idea that Bella's papercut sets off the events that it does is just unbelievable to me. Even more unbelievalble than the idea of vampires living in society in the first place. If they are, it presupposes they have enough social control skills or they wouldn't have lasted the years they have in Forks. So to begin with, the events that starts off this books action are just too contrived and don't match with the existing situation the author has set up.
The change in Bella's character afterwards, where she uses one person shamelessly and puts herself in danger repeatedly, is unbelieable for a different reason -- hard to accept that a teen writer would make their "heroine advocate" have so little conscience and self control. You wonder that she doesn't start cutting herself or something -- it's that bad. When I saw how she was going to continually escalate this -- using one person and hurting herself until she either killed herself or hurt someone else, either emotionally or by putting them in danger too -- I skipped hundreds of pages of this masochistic behavior until she meets up with Edward again.
By that time,Bella's reasoning was so deranged I honestly thought her past activities had made her lose her mind. She's willing to kill herself for Edward, she's willing to become a souless vampire -- at least Edward thinks vampires have no souls -- so she can stay young for him, but she doesn't love him enough to marry him unless he turns her. What happened to the girl who went to live with her father to give her mother some space? Does love so completely turn your character to selfishness?
So these are the messages this books seems to advocate: Be completely unable to live without a man, use people shamelessly, if you are in pain hurt yourself and others for self gratification, regardless of how it affects your friends and family, and when that finally brings your boyfriend back, refuse to commit to him until he ensures you get exactly what you want.
I realize these characters are immature, but I didn't like any of them by the end of the book.
I give it two stars because I am curious to see what happens. I may skim a lot of it, but I'm that invested. Maybe it's like seeing a train wreck happen in front of you - you can't look away. Hard to believe Bella can come back and be some sort of admirable person after this, but if the author can pull it off, that would be interesting.
Book Review: Surprisingly genuine heartbreak
Summary: 5 Stars
I finished reading New Moon only about 48 hours after I read Twilight, as I found both books quite consuming. My review does contain spoilers, be warned.
Twilight opens with Bella's 18th birthday party and quickly segues into a tale of desolate heartbreak as her vampire boyfriend, Edward, chooses to leave her "for her own good." With Edward and his family gone, with no lingering hope of their return, Bella spirals into a profound depression for most of the book. Many reviewers have noted that Bella's character seems weak in her despair over losing "a boyfriend" and lament that she lacks many qualities of a strong young woman. It seems to me that the point of the heavy romance in Twilight was to set up a context in which Bella's destruction in New Moon would be understandable. Edward was not her "boyfriend," but her true love. Their lives and hearts are twined together in a way that cannot be gotten over when the two separate. Bella describes feeling physically pulled apart in her chest, feeling even that her heart is literally bleeding out in despair without her love.
I was moved to read what I took to be such a viscerally honest account of real heartbreak. When one loses a great love, either through a horrifying break-up, divorce, or death, life often does lose its meaning and sense. Bella's behavior throughout most of the book would be strange indeed for the average teen sorrowing over a lost boyfriend. She engages in quite a bit of dangerous thrill-seeking, uses a good friend in a painful manner, hears Edward's voice in her head, and loses touch with family, friends, activities, interests... more than grieving a break-up, Bella is grieving the loss of half of herself. Perhaps more readers could identify with Bella's grief in the context of the loss of a mother, or a partner of 50 years perhaps. It is not typical for a 17-year-old to make such a deep connection to a partner, so perhaps that has lead many readers to bristle at Bella's downward spiral in this book, seeing her behavior as unwarranted.
** major spoiler **
At the end of the book, Bella at last recognizes that Edward has always loved her and always will love her, just as she loves him. This recognition generates a shift in her perception of herself as well as of their relationship and allows her to embark on healthier path than she had been able to take before. The stage seems to be set for Bella to move into book three with a strong relationship AND an independent sense of self and of her self-worth. I will continue to enjoy seeing how her character develops in each book.
Book Review: Dropping the ball with the second installment
Summary: 2 Stars
I went in to read this sequel looking to see how Meyer improved or matured her writing style with her sequel, however to say I was disappointed in the end is an understatement. I wanted her to fix the problems ever present in her first book only to see them perpetuated in magnification in the sequel, which makes me wonder if she even realizes the flaws that will most likely follow in the third book.
For starters part of what made the first book intriguing despite it's dry, boring, moody, and shallow protagonist (yea you guessed it Bella) was the mystery that was Edward Cullen. After the mystery was unraveled it was then the danger that surrounded him that added to the fire of engagement. For the most part Edward and his family pretty much make the book, and without them well...we'd be stuck with Bella and there are few people who would read that book and describe the experience as pleasurable. What I wanted Meyer to do that she failed to do in the first book is to give Bella a personality, at the very least give the reader a reason to like or even care about her or even connect with her in some way. But even that was even more of a pathetic attempt than what we saw in the first book.
Meyer pretty much cow-towed Bella's very existence into loving Edward Cullen. Throughout the book all Bella does is cry about how she misses her beautiful Edward, acting as if someone had died which at the very core of the matter is disturbing. Things do pick up when Bella starts hanging with Jacob Black though. I'll admit that those chapters were most likely the most exciting part of this sequel considering Bella and Jacob had actual chemistry. It wasn't even just that, it was that Bella had actual reasons for liking Jacob in being in his company. But Bella is so shallow and mental that she'd rather be with a "beautiful" person who she shares no real common interests with but still wants to be turned into a vampire as well so she won't grow old cause lord knows getting older is the worst possible thing that could happen to you.
This sequel get's a star less than its predecessor because the protagonist is simply an empty shell chasing after shallow hopes and dreams and thinking of no one but herself all the while. My head keeps telling me not to waste time on the 3rd one but having liked the character Jacob Black I do want to see what happens to him. As for Bella, I'm starting to wonder how Meyer could have fashioned this awful character and then admit to likening her to the daughter she never had.
Book Review: A great combination of two fascinating lores--vampires and werewolves
Summary: 4 Stars
I'll admit I read a lot of reviews, both negative and positive, and it's taken me a while to pick up Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, but as soon as I finished it I bought New Moon.
Reading the reviews here, it's easy to see that it's a mixed crowd. People either love this series or hate it. I think it's important to remember this is a young adult fantasy novel, meant really for teens--or at least for us adults who still remember what it was like being a teen.
While I agree that the writing could have used more editing, it's the story that hooked me. And trust me--I'm known for being picky about editing. Most times poor editing will keep me from finishing a book, and I won't review it. I suspect the editor got carried away by the plot, just as I did, and the red pen may have fallen to the floor.
This time I was able to overlook these errors. They're minute compared with the immenseness of these interesting characters, the exciting plot and the sweet young romance, albeit with a vampire. It takes me away to unimagined lands. Pure escapism. That, folks, is what "fantasy" is all about. :)
I found Bella Swan (don't get hung up on her name--it's called irony) to be delightful with all of her quirkiness. She is smart and sassy, doesn't think she's beautiful, loves with all her heart, and falls down a lot. Sounds like my own teenaged daughter.
Edward is pale--okay, yes too much emphasis on his description at times--and has dark circles under his eyes and can run faster than the wind and hear people's thoughts. He has a strange family with stranger tastes. That's what makes him all the more interesting.
Jacob grows before our eyes as pages turn, and yes, we may have guessed early that he's a werewolf, but that doesn't matter. Here is a friendship we see mature between Jake and Bella. Jake is a loyal friend who'll do anything for her. I recall having a friend like that in high school.
As an adult reading this series, I am taken back to the time of young love, adventures, sneaking out at night, getting into trouble (of course, not like Bella) and everything that makes up a teen's life. Reading New Moon is simply plain FUN.
Don't read this series looking for word perfect prose and stunning dialogue. Read it for the STORY--a Romeo and Juliet fated romance that makes us remember what it was like to be young and in love (ok, not with a vampire, maybe).
Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
Author of Divine Intervention
Book Review: An Excellent Sequel to Twilight
Summary: 5 Stars
New Moon continues the saga of Bella and her relationship with the Cullens. It is inevitable that Bella would have an unfortunate encounter with a member of the coven. When it happens, Edward concludes that Bella's vampire contact must end.
The desolation and dislocation that Bella feels is well described; she feels her pain strongly, more so than many people who break feel. Like all of us, the pain abates by finding someone new. Jacob is a natural choice as an acquaintance of Bella but he brings an unexpected dimension when he undergoes physical changes and becomes a werewolf. The early relationship that Bella has with Jacob is nicely written but may be slow for some readers. I did not find the book to be slow and enjoyed the laid-back relationship Bella develops with Jacob. But, again, she is dating a monster that has less control than Edward does so there is a feeling of menace to Jacob and volatility. The action does pick up when Alice believes Bella has killed herself and Edward goes off to the sinister Volteri to ask them to kill him. Alice and Bella must go to the rescue to save Edward. There are many tense moments, which Stephanie Meyer brings off very well. The only part of the story I find a bit odd is that a vampire in Italy would be named Jane.
Many reviews have criticized Bella's character as shallow, annoying, too clumsy, idiotic and a host of other degrading epithets. Instead, they say Bella needs to be strong, assertive and more considerate. I think that Bella is a well-rounded character who does know what she wants and is clearly demonstrated by the fact she wants to join the Cullens in opposition to Edward. The goal of a writer is to create real characters, warts and all. Bella has many dimensions: she is clumsy, gets into trouble easily and is a loner. But she has another side that is more deliberate and assertive. She actually is a complex character.
New Moon is a well-written book that carries the reader along with a strong level of commitment. Everyone I know who has read the book is hooked from beginning to end. With this book, Stephanie Meyer introduces a new level of conflict between Edward, Bella and Jacob. While committed to Edward she still longs for the peace she enjoyed with Jacob. Edward and Jacob are naturally opposed to each other with Bella in the middle trying to keep the peace. New Moon is an excellent sequel to Twilight and makes the reader wanting for the next installment.