Review of New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Legions of readers entranced by Twilight are hungry for more and they won't be disappointed. In New Moon, Stephenie Meyer delivers another irresistibl ...more Legions of readers entranced by Twilight are hungry for more and they won't be disappointed. In New Moon, Stephenie Meyer delivers another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural twist. The "star-crossed" lovers theme continues as Bella and Edward find themselves facing new obstacles, including a devastating separation, the mysterious appearance of dangerous wolves roaming the forest in Forks, a terrifying threat of revenge from a female vampire and a deliciously sinister encounter with Italy's reigning royal family of vampires, the Volturi. Passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns, this vampire love saga is well on its way to literary immortality.

During the last one hundred pages, I had a hard time putting this one down. I enjoyed this better than the first, which surprised me, and I definitely want to continue on with the series.

I felt that Meyer put more plot into this book, although I know some will disagree with me. The first 300 pages of Twilight were, "I love you Edward!" "You shouldn't, I'm dangerous." In this book, however, I thought Meyer actually created a bit of a mystery by allowing the reader to try and figure out what was up with Jacob. That kept me reading. I thought that even though up until the last part of the book, it wasn't chalk full of plot, I think it became more obvious that Meyer is using the first two books to develop information and characters that will be crucial later on the series. I found Bella a lot more bearable by the end of the book. In the first 50 pages, I was worried that this was going to be exactly like Twilight, and it is true that for a while, Bella was pretty mopey and emo.

***THE FOLLOWING PORTION OF THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!***

I have to say that I knew that Bella and Edward would get back together in the end, because spoilers are very hard to avoid with this series. However, even if I hadn't known, I still would have believed that they would. There are two more books in the series, how could they not end up together?!?!?!? However, I really liked how she took some agency in the end and didn't let Edward have total control. I even liked Edward more by the end, because his emotions felt far more realistic to me. He seemed more vulnerable, and I believe to a certain extent, that comes with the territory of being in love. He did still seem controlling, which I found irritating. Their relationship still seems unhealthy, and I still think Bella is a poor role model for super young, impressionable kids, so although I thought some of the dynamics worked better in this book, I'm saving a full on commentary for once I finish the entire series.

***END SPOILERS***

I do have to say that the whole Jacob thing made me sad. Also, I was glad that Meyer presented Jacob as a romantic prospect, because I think if that had never crossed her mind considering how much time they spent together, it would have been seriously unrealistic. However, I became frustrated with him by the end of the book.

New Moon is an excellent novel for character development. It contains an appropriate mix of background information and action. I was eager to get my hands on Eclipse after finishing this one!