New Moon, by Stephenie Meyer – Book Review
The Twilight Saga Continues in This Second Book
Apr 24, 2009
New Moon is the second book in the Twilight saga of Bella and her vampire boyfriend Edward. Bella and Edward though that the worst was over when Edward saved Bella from James’ attack, but they will soon discover that there are many other dangers involved when a human and a vampire fall in love.
New Moon Overview
Bella’s 18th birthday arrives and Alice has prepared a small family party for her at the Cullens’ house. As a reluctant Bella unwraps her birthday gift from Edward, she suffers a paper cut which sets off a near vampire frenzy.
After almost everyone in his family wanted to kill Bella, Edward decides that it is far too dangerous for her to be around him, so he leaves her, shattered and broken.
New Moon Review
The story begins with Bella’s birthday party and, while Bella survives with a few cuts and scrapes, Edward and the Cullen’s decide to leave Forks for Bella’s own safety. The scene where Edward leaves Bella is incredibly moving and readers will sympathize and relate to Bella’s anguish.
After living many months in a zombie like state, having heard no word from Edward or the rest of the Cullen’s, Bella eventually begins to spend a lot of time with Jacob Black. Jacob Black's character is quite interesting, as is the relationship that develops between him and Bella; however, some readers may find this to be too similar to the relationship in the first novel, Twilight.
Meyer creates enough suspense and romance in this second book to keep the reader turning pages, especially with the introduction of the wolf pack, which is the natural born enemy of the vampire. Some readers may miss the presence of Edward in most of the book, but Jacob Black makes up for this, especially when he discovers he himself is one of the wolf pack.
Bella is an accident prone, ‘danger-magnet’ who seems to need the company of a man who will look after and protect her. She is still an endearing character, despite this behaviour. With the vampire Victoria, still hunting Bella, it seems that once again Bella is in need of protection. Fortunately she has the love and protection of Jacob, but will it be enough, and will she ever completely get over Edward?
New Moon is a highly enjoyable sequel, despite or perhaps, because of its similar style to Twilight and due to the conflict between vampires and werewolves; whose mission is to protect humans from vampires. Either way, it will have the reader staying up to finish it and encouraged to read the next installment.
New Moon was published in 2006 by Little, Brown and Company, and again in 2007, 2008 and 2009 by Atom (ISBN 978-1-905654-35-2) and is currently being made into a movie. The series began with Twilight , also now a movie,and continues in Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Meyer has also written a book outside of the twilight series called The Host.
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