"Tonight the sky was utterly black. Perhaps there was no moon tonight—a lunar eclipse, a new moon. A new moon. I shivered, though I wasn't cold." ―Bella Swan
Ready to dive in to New Moon, the second book in the Twilight Saga? Just like the first novel, this one pulls me in. It’s another book that’s hard to put down. The story picks right up where the last one left off. Again our narrator is Bella. Edward is of course another main character of the story, though surprisingly is absent in a good chunk of the book. I was excited to see that a minor character from book one – Jacob Black – prominently features in this book. He becomes a second “hero” to the story and becomes quite the lovable guy. On the surface he’s your typical easy going teenage boy who develops a crush on Bella. Below the surface, he’s a kind, caring guy very unlike Edward, but very lovable non-the-less.New Moon is narrated in first person by Bella and has an obvious parallel with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and I mean obvious because even Bella recognizes that she is in danger of playing out history’s greatest romantic tragedy. I think keeping Romeo and Juliet in the forefront of the readers mind actually helps the author build the tension for the climax of the story because we can all see the tragedy that is waiting to happen.
New Moon is the continuing story of Bella Swan's unusual life in Forks, Washington. The book opens with what can only be described at the birthday party from you know where. A small cut on Bella causes members of Edward's vampire family to go into frenzy. As a result, Edward in an effort to protect the disaster prone Bella from herself and being torn apart by vampires decides that they will all leave her alone.
When her vampire boyfriend, Edward, suddenly leaves, Bella is heartbroken in a way only a teenager can be, leaving time on her hands to develop a friendship with Jacob Black, another boy with a strange family background. The pain that Bella feels when Edward abandons her is extremely well written and is really what this story is about. Most of the things that happen to Bella in New Moon are as a result of the overwhelming loss that she is trying to bear. Her friendship with Jacob has a doomed quality to it not only because he obviously loves her while she is in love with Edward but because he is a werewolf and he naturally hates all vampires. After pulling herself from a deep, dark depression mostly is rebounding by spending time with Jacob and also acting out with irresponsible and dangerous behavior. Being dangerous brings out the voice of Edward in her head, so of course in an effort to stay "closer" to him or to continue to hear his voice, she acts out even more, with her action culminating in the belief by Edward that she was dead.
Meyers does a superb job drawing contrast between the two love interests in Bella's life. Hot vs. cold, dark vs. light, and puberty vs. maturity. New Moon expands on the vampire story and draws new conflicts into Bella and Edward's relationship. It maintains a brisk pace and near-genius balance of breathtaking romance and action. Meyer does a good job portraying the melodrama of teenage life and love in New Moon – it often made me roll my eyes in recognition of my own thoughts as a teenager. She has keen insight into the mind of teenage girls and conveys well the tension between friendship and romance Bella and Jacob struggle with. It makes for a story most readers will relate to, but is more entertaining and intriguing than real life, given the presence of mythical creatures.
For me, the novel has its ups and downs. I loved the second half of the novel. That's when the action really begins, when all secrets are revealed to Bella and when the main conflict arises. At the same time, I didn't particularly like the first half of the novel. For 250 pages, Bella complains about the whole in her chest, the pain of losing her true love. It took me about 4 days to read the first half of the novel, and a little over 1 day to read the second half. Although the middle section is a little slow, the book still manages to hook its readers and rewards them when the adventure begins to pick up halfway through. Some of the plots points are predictable, however, and certain things that are mysterious to the characters, particularly Bella, were obvious to me.
As a fantasy fan, New Moon isn’t all about Bella and her emotional pain. The rogue vampires Laurent and Victoria return to Forks. They are looking for revenge against Edward but they only find Bella. The Quileute werewolves are an exciting addition to the story and it will be interesting to see how this plot line is developed in the next novel in this series.
Bella and Edward are truly in love. Can you possibly dream of finding the perfect match to spend the rest of your life with? To think that he would be so mean that Edward would just disappear and leave Bella behind to fend by herself? This is a book that anyone male or female can get into. It has action, romance, and a little comedy and there's always a character you can relate to. Would you be like Bella, quiet and shy, or would you be more like Jacob young but wise for his age, a proctor. You should take a read and get lost in a world of disbelief where Vampires and wolves can be either friends or enemies. As others have stated, Edward and Bella are the Romeo and Juliet of modern day love, but I can't really compare Stephanie Meyer to Shakespeare. I can say that this is a love story with enough drama to keep you involved, so much that you don't want to put the book down. While the writing could be better, this author does find a way with her descriptive phrases and dramatic approach to keep you interested in the story as well as having almost an emotional response to this love story.
How will it end? Will Bella keep Edward from vampire death? Will she remain with Jacob? How does the whole werewolf storyline begin and will it end with the leaving of the vampires? Does the Cullen family return and where does the relationship go from here?
This second book in the "Twilight" series is a pleasant read and a welcome distraction from the worries of the world. It has merit as young adult fiction. I was enthralled from the very first sentence, and rarely put it down for anything. The characters from the first book come back in a new and exciting way with more emotions and more personal history. I can say that the storyline was immensely expanded here and that questions are answered, but many more questions will plague you by the end of the book. "New Moon" makes many references to "Romeo and Juliet," the ultimate Shakespearian story of young loves and uses some major plot devices from the classic play. I do find the overall story to be very interesting, and I do want to know what happens next and I find the overall plot to be interesting. The book kept my attention and kept me reading just to figure out what is going to happen next. It kept my eyes glued to it and kept me grasping for more. I also loved the introduction of the whole werewolves’ theory and how the author really incorporates traditions of different cultures. This book makes you want to keep reading the series and it fast paced action packed and not a sickening romance novel in my opinion. Blending real life situations with the realm of make believe and romance, this is a thrill ride I will not forget.
New Moon is nevertheless a fitting continuation of the Twilight saga, endearing me as a reader to its characters even more, and leaving plenty of unanswered questions for the following novels.
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