New Moon (Twilight)

by Stephenie Meyer

Hardcover, 2006

Status

Available

Collection

Publication

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (2006), Edition: New title, Hardcover, 608 pages

Description

When the Cullens, including her beloved Edward, leave Forks rather than risk revealing that they are vampires, it is almost too much for eighteen-year-old Bella to bear, but she finds solace in her friend Jacob until he is drawn into a "cult" and changes in terrible ways.

Awards

Soaring Eagle Book Award (Nominee — 2008)
Indies Choice Book Award (Honor Book — Children's Literature — 2007)
Colorado Blue Spruce Award (Nominee — 2008)
BILBY: Books I Love Best Yearly (Older Readers — 2010)

Language

Original publication date

2006-09-06

Physical description

608 p.; 6 inches

Media reviews

School Library Journal
Less streamlined than Twilight yet just as exciting, New Moon will more than feed the bloodthirsty hankerings of fans of the first volume and leave them breathless for the third.
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This best-selling sequel to “Twilight” — which introduced Edward, the world’s most gentlemanly 17-year-old vampire, and Bella, an ordinary teenager in Forks, Wash. — appropriately begins with an epigraph from “Romeo and Juliet”; love and death are once again entwined in their
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curiously absorbing romance.
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Kirkus Reviews
Despite Bella's flat and obsessive personality, this tale of tortured demon lovers entices.

User reviews

LibraryThing member atimco
What struck me about this book was the introduction of more dangerous relational dynamics, in addition to the issues that I explore in depth in my Twilight review. It seems that Meyer is going to search out new problematic ideas for each of her books and emphasize them in turn as positive — or at
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least acceptable — ways of behaving.

The plot of this one is a little less known than that of the first book, so briefly: Bella and Edward break up because Jasper almost kills Bella when she cuts her finger while opening birthday presents. Edward realizes that he is not good for her and ends the relationship. The Cullens move away and Bella falls apart. She has horrible nightmares and goes through each day like a zombie, trying to keep the pain at bay. She begins hallucinating, hearing Edward's voice when she does dangerous things, and so she starts doing them more often just so she can feel closer to him (fantastic role model for young women right there). During this time she becomes friends with Jacob Black, who turns out to be a werewolf. Of course Jacob is in love with her, and because she feels warmed by his presence, Bella leads him on.

Meyer often makes her characters do uncharacteristic things because it serves the plot. But the characters are much weaker for it. The explanation of why Bella does not commit suicide is completely unconvincing; Bella says that she never considers it because she owes too much to her parents. Please! When you are in that kind of distress, you aren't worried about who you're going to hurt when you are looking for relief. If Bella was as bad off as Meyer wants us to think, she would have killed herself. Without Edward, there is nothing worth living for, in Bella's mind. But then we wouldn't have two more best-selling books, would we?

It also does not make sense that Bella would be hesitant about marrying Edward simply because her mom doesn't think anyone should get married before age 30 — yet Bella is willing to make an eternal commitment to vampirehood for his sake. So she won't marry him yet, but she is going to take an irrevocable step so she can be with him for the rest of their existence, which is pretty much forever? Weak.

One of the most disturbing parts of this book was the character of Emily, the fiancée of Sam Uley who is the alpha werewolf. Sam became a werewolf without knowing what was happening to him... and one night he was too close to Emily when he lost his temper. He gouged her left side, raking his claws down her face and leaving her with horribly disfiguring scars all down her face. But Meyer portrays their relationship as a very loving one; the past is all forgiven. The physical abuse is just a regretful memory that Sam has to deal with occasionally. Emily is happy to stay with the man who disfigured her so horribly in a moment of anger... just like so many women in physically abusive relationships. Oh, he was so sorry, he bowed and begged and felt just awful. But the woman is the one who wears the scars. I felt a little sick about how that was portrayed. What kind of message is that sending to young girls?

Fewer people will probably agree with me on this next point, but I was uncomfortable with the idea that a girl can have a male best friend. Jacob demonstrates the point by not being able to "just be friends" with Bella — but Bella is somehow able to not return his feelings. It's because of the Incomparable Edward, of course. But there are no Incomparable Edwards in real life (thank goodness), and I think most girls would develop romantic feelings in a "best friend" relationship like that. I think your lover should be your best friend anyways. It doesn't make sense to me to compartmentalize like that.

Again, just as in Twilight, I did enjoy the plot of the warring vampires and werewolves, with all the history behind their unusual relationship. The Volturi were fascinating too. I've rated this book a half-star lower than the first one mostly because the plot was not as interesting and it left me even less enthused about starting the third book. I wanted a break from Meyer's mediocre writing and the unhealthy relationships of her inconsistent characters. I have since started the third book and will probably be finishing the series soon. I want to get this over with! I'm enjoying it, but I'm not. It's hard to enjoy a series with so many fundamental problems, and yet the idea is appealing enough to fantasy fans to make it worth picking up. I don't see myself ever rereading, though.
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LibraryThing member acl
This second installment in Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga is more of the same, really: a good 500+ pages of angsting, moaning, and worrying, topped off with a little "action" thrown in at the end for good measure.

Within the first three chapters, Edward has left Bella. Only because he loves her so
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much, of course. Bella spends a good two-thirds of the narrative not Getting Over It. Without her boyfriend of six months or so, she becomes a lifeless shell of a human and begins recklessly endangering herself so she can hear Edward's disembodied voice telling her to stop (a plot thread that is very poorly wrapped up in the last few chapters). There are some werewolves and vampires who growl and skulk around and don't get much done. Finally, Bella rushes to Italy because Edward is planning to commit suicide, believing she has done the same. I must add that I don't believe the author has ever been to Europe, much less Italy, and if she has then she writes it very poorly.

In the end, Bella takes Edward back and they return to their creepy, obsessive, co-dependent relationship.

In the first book, I took the Bella/Edward love story for merely corny and overblown, but with New Moon I found it became genuinely disheartening. Bella has no real life or substance beyond her feelings for Edward: she has zero hobbies that don't relate to him, beyond cooking and cleaning for her father. She's perfectly willing to abandon her family so she can be with him forever, even after he dumps her and disappears for months. Edward is characterized as perfect and god-like, despite his controlling behavior. What choice is it of his whether Bella becomes a vampire or not? When Edward disappears, Bella looses all hope and will to live, her only solace being another young man who she develops a similarly unhealthy dependence on. I couldn't comfortably recommend this book to any young woman. It's not that I need all my heroines tough-as-nails, but this one has no depth, no charm, and no backbone. Bella's supporting cast does little to redeem the book, considering their entire lives seem to revolve around her.

Ultimately, New Moon is 80% bitching and moaning, followed by 5% vroom-vroom, screech!, 10% syrupy "kiss-and-make-up", and then some "cliffhanger" nonsense to remind you that there are still two books for you to buy. Because Bella and Edward definitely aren't done bitching and moaning yet.
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LibraryThing member Course8
This was my first exposure to the Twilight Series. I will not be reading the the rest of the series. While I expected this young adult book to be light weight, it fell below even my minimal hopes. First, it is rework of the Romeo - Juliet story line which would be okay except that the author
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telegraphs this early on and then reminds you several times in a heavy handed fashion lest you forget the point. Secondly, the narrator, Bella, is self centered, impulsive, and bordering on psychopathic. Bella is actually angry and offended when Edward and others want to celebrate her birthday and give her gifts. She continually deceives her caring police-chief father . For example, Edward, her vampire boyfriend, routinely sneaks into her bedroom at night (not to worry, nothing more than a chaste embracing). She also lies to her father about the many injuries she sustains in the course various risky activities. She becomes nearly catatonic when Edward leaves her. Come on now, is this the 18th century that one must swoon at the loss of a beau? She takes extreme risks, bordering on suicidal,for the pleasure of hallucinating the Edward's voice warning her to avoid life-threatening danger. Bella talks about Edward as if he is second only to God - his beauty, his voice, his perfection. Yet her repeated descriptions of his cold skin that feels like marble, glassy lips, barely controlled anger and growling do not make him seem like Adonis. When she does get to be with him much of her dialogue is simply petty arguments. Edward is a very old man in an immortal 17-year old body. But he behaves like a 17- year old boy. There is no wisdom in his actions or his relationship with Bella. And why is he hanging out as a high school student anyway. With his experience, knowledge and wealth he could pretend to be a couple of years older and do something useful or even travel and have fun rather than sitting in English class (only on the cloudy days). The book is a long, repetitive series of pain-in-the-gut-at the-memory-of-perfect-Edward or oh-wow-some-vampire-is-trying-to-kill-me or its-my-fault-someone-else-got-hurt laments. By the end I was rooting for the werewolves to come back.
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LibraryThing member paintedbird
There's a certain melodrama to New Moon that makes its previous installment, Twilight, pale in comparison. Bella Swan's life is particularly complicated these days, what with the teenage angst and emotional turmoil. Not to belittle teenage angst, but Bella's version of it could be called
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Shakespearean if not for the giant billboards plastered all through the narrative that insist This Is Like Romeo And Juliet FULL STOP We Are Just As Emotionally Complicated And Tragic FULL STOP.

The comparisons to Shakespeare beat the readers over the head repeatedly. This is a tragic relationship, we got it. We don't need a constant analysis of Romeo and Juliet, nor do we need a play by play concerning which character in New Moon most accurately compares to Paris.

One point in New Moon that could be applauded would be that the story's topaz-eyed, bronze-haired, god-like Edward Cullen is absent for the majority of the book. Quite a bold move by the author, although it's wasted seeing as how the portions without Edward involve Bella acting like her life has literally ended. Instead of growing up and learning to exist without a perfect, beautiful boyfriend to guide her through life, Bella absolutely shuts down. Her only mild attempts to live occur only when she has Jacob to take on Edward's role, which suggests Bella is only fully functional when she has a man to please and be pleased by. This is particularly damning. Bella herself is easy to insist everything wrong be her fault, that she is simply too imperfect to deserve the attention she receives from the men in her life (hilarious, considering how many boys have fallen for her since the start of Twilight) and that she is just so painfully plain and human that she is nothing -- that her life is nothing -- without Edward by her side. She is incapable of being alone, of growing to support herself when no one else can. She is so dependent on Edward (and, to an extent, on Jacob) that whatever dangerous situation she intentionally (as her life means nothing now, without Edward) puts herself in that her own subconscious will tell her her actions are stupid and she should save herself not in her own voice, but in Edward's. This is shaky ground, as Bella lacks character anyway, striping her subconscious and replacing it with Edward's voice makes her seem less of an independent woman, much less a person.

There is no personal growth in New Moon for Bella or Edward. If anything, these two characters regress. The character that does make massive strides in terms of character development is Jacob Black, who will most likely be doomed to playing Edward's second fiddle and arch enemy.

Stephenie Meyer's third book in the Twilight series, Eclipse, comes out August 7th. While Edward and Bella continue their angst-ridden obsession with immortality and death and each other, one wonders if Jacob isn't the only thing worth reading about.
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LibraryThing member WomblingStar
Second book in the Twilight series. I probably did not like it quite as much as the first book but it was still a good read and kept me interested all the way through. I liked the fact that it followed Bella through other relationships rather than just with Edward. It does leave me wanting to find
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out what happens next in the story (so it is a good thing I already have book 3!).
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LibraryThing member VaBookworm87
This book is an emotional mess! Edward is gone after having ditched Bella at the end of the last book. Bella once again violates the norm of how a high school girl typically deals with a breakup. Instead of being bummed, eating ice cream and bashing the ex with friends and moving on, Bella slips
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into a virtually catatonic depression. So much so, that she literally misses 6 months or so of her life. This is ridiculous! She met the guy, was sleeping with him within a day or two of their first date, professing undying love right off the bat, and the world ends with his departure! Yes, high school girls can be a bit melodramatic, but seriously?!

Read this passage... Charlie (her dad) is talking to Alice (Edward's sister) about Bella's depression. Bella interjects a thought in the flow of the conversation for the sake of the reader:

"It was like someone had died--like I had died. Because it had been more than just losing the truest of true loves, as if that were not enough to kill anyone. It was also losing a whole future, a whole family--the whole life that I'd chosen..."

She's 18... most people these days don't get married until they're around 30. She has a LOT of time to find another love (ahem, Jacob), get married, have a family... She's merely being melodramatic!

Then, Edward reappears and says he had never stopped loving her. She immediately welcomes him back into her life (and her bed) without hesitation! Really?! Here sits Jacob, a sweet guy who has treated her with nothing but respect and was there for her when no one else was... he brought her out of her depression, was able to make her smile again, loved her even as the damaged goods she was... And who does she choose?!?! The guy who left her wandering in the forest! Even when Jacob was going through the most horrible and terrifying phase of his life, he managed to make time for Bella, to see her and make sure she was ok. And at the end of it all, she picks the guy who abandoned her, because she's brainwashed herself into thinking she and Edward are soul mates.

These books are awful. Stephanie Meyer has a poor perception of what true love is and doesn't understand the teenage psyche well enough to be writing about it.
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LibraryThing member pinkcrayon99
I love Twilight the first book in the Twilight series but New Moon almost made me want to give up on the entire series. New Moon started off very very slow. It did not pick up for me til chapter 19! The ending was simply ok. I'm putting off reading Eclipse because New Moon was so disappointing!
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
**spoiler alert** Yet another Meyer book that leaves me gobsmacked it managed to get published. A friend pointed me to Cleolinda's MSTing of the books, I read the first, Twilight with a mixture of curiosity about its following and thinking, surely, this can't be so bad? It is. I kept on reading,
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because I'm the kind that can't look away from a trainwreck, and each book gets worse. In this one, after her dear Edward is driven away by a papercut, Bella's despair is conveyed by successive pages of months (see, her life is empty without her Edward!). She is driven to greater and greater attempts to put her life in danger because she feels she can "hear" Edward calling out to her during these times. This isn't some pseudo telepathy--she really is hallucinating and will do anything to hang on to her dementia. When she jumps off a cliff, Edward, who hears about it, is himself driven to be suicidal, and only Bella rushing to assure her undead beloved she herself is among the un-living averts tragedy. The message? If you don't want to kill yourself when your Tru wuv is gone, it's not love. Great message, huh? And written in Meyer's usual style (IOWS, embarrassingly amateurish).
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LibraryThing member queencersei
New Moon picks shortly after where the events in Twilight left off. Bella is now dating her beloved Edward and all seems well, until a mishap at her birthday party forces Edward to decide between staying with his love or leaving her for her own good. Edward and the rest of the Cullans leave Forks,
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sending Bella into a month’s long depression. Bella eventually emerges somewhat from her depression and befriends Jacob, a Native American living on the local reservation La Push, who has some secrets of his own. Bella discovers that she can still ‘hear’ Edward whenever she is in danger. This drives Bella to endanger her life on multiple occasions, just so she can keep even a fantasy of Edward close to her. Added to the mix, Bella is being hunted by Victoria, a vampiress bent on revenge after her mate James was murdered by Edward at the end of Twilight. After a close brush with death, Edward mistakenly comes to believe that Bella has died. This drives Edward to travel to Italy to seek his own destruction at the hand of a group of ancient vampires, the Voltari. Bella, now joined by Alice Cullen, rush to Italy to save Edwards life.

The novel ends with several loose ends. The Voltari, agree to let Edward and Bella leave Italy on the condition that Bella be made into a vampire ‘soon’. Edward is resistant to this idea as he believes it will destroy Bella’s soul. But the rest of the Cullen’s vote to convert Bella after she graduates from high school. Victoria is still on the prowl and presumably still poses a threat to Bella. Jacob and his pack renew their uneasy truce with the Cullen family. Sparks are sure to continue to fly though, as Jacob and Edward vie for Bella’s affections.

Twilight painted Bella as a love sick teen who would do nearly anything to hang onto her vampire love, Edward. New Moon takes that plot device to new heights of idiocy. Stephanie Meyer drives home the point that without Edward, Bella’s life is not worth living. That death is preferable to living without her ‘Romeo’. A more co-dependent, shallow, vapid heroine would be hard to find. Bella is probably one of the worst role models for young women in modern literature. This series should come with a warning label. Silly, foolish girls who think they are nothing unless they have a boyfriend and who have self-esteem issues should be kept far away from this ridiculous series of books.
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LibraryThing member alanna1122
*Contented Sigh*

one of my friends said that reading these books is like eating warm brownies straight from the pan. I couldn't say it better!

This novel surprised me so much - I couldn't believe the courage Meyer (and her publisher) had in order to spend so much time on a what was a minor character
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in the first book.

It was a great, fast, fun read - I can't wait to start the next book!
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LibraryThing member momdebbie
It took me forever, but I finally caved in and started reading the series. I found it enjoyable and a super easy read even by Young Adult standards so it went by very fast.

Meyer knows hows to build excitement and get you wanting to continue on to the next chapter.

I can't say the same about her
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character building though, especially when it comes to Bella. Although I can clearly see why Bella is attracted to and then gets lost inside of Edward, I don't see what Edward sees in Bella. After all, the guy has been around as a mortal and then a vampire for for a very long time and this boring girl is who he wants to spend eternity with and risk his "family" for?

What is it about her besides that Edward can't read her mind and her blood smells so good? What are her passions? What does Bella want to do with her life? What is her favorite book and why? How did she cope with her parent's divorce? What gets her out of bed in the morning? What makes her so intelligent to the point she comes off so aloof , lonely and stand offish to her classmates who she doesn't appear to care about in the least? What does she learn about herself because of her relationship with Edward? Meyer wants us to believe Bella is a deep old soul, yet where is the substance? Surely Bella must have some thoughts about the existence of God and the mysteries of the universe and the soul especially after meeting Edward and the other Cullens.

Why should I like Bella? She is our narrator and heroine. Shouldn't I care about her for reasons that stand alone - apart from her interest in Edward? Give me a reason to care about her! As it stands, the only reason I care anything about Bella is the same reason the rest of the Cullen family puts up with her - because Edward likes her for some reasons I don't get.
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LibraryThing member LadyN
As this series has come recommended by people who's opinions I very much value, I was hoping that by persisting New Moon, the second in the series, I would be drawn into the story more than I had been by the first (Twilight).

Sadly, it took a huge effort to get to the end of New Moon.

For the large
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majority of the book Bella is in a deep depression, and very little happens. Meyer seems to want us to suffer as much as Bella is, but this doesn't make for a very gripping read. We are given a new plot development by means of Bella's new friendship with Jacob Black, but unfortunately I'd already predicted where Jacob's story was going to go by the end of Twilight, and thus I was left wanting while Bella took the first 50% of New Moon to work it out for herslef.

Edward Cullen and family are very compelling, and I was much happier when they were around (much as Bella is!). However, I don't feel I'm being given enough to get my teeth into, and the pendulum swings unsatisfactorily in favourof the highschool romance rather than the macabre dilemma and fantasy I so wish it would.

I'm still hungry. Maybe part three will help...?
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LibraryThing member xollo
Let me start by saying: I couldn’t put this book down. There is just something about Bella and Edward’s attraction, despite rarely a kiss between them, that sucks (pun intended) you in. But, does anyone else see Bella as the worst role model for girls EVER? Edward must constantly protect her,
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she’s unable to function when Edward leaves her, she’s crappy to her friends, she seems very much like a younger-than-her-18-years teenager in infatuation, while Edward, the creepy 90-something-year-old vampire fulfills Bella’s daddy complex, she does reckless things in order to hear (via delusion) his voice (and his scolding/ordering voice is only audible WHEN she does reckless things, which says something about this relationship), and, of course, she’s willing to give up her whole life for a guy. And still….and maybe because of all this open-faced bad female behavior, I love it. It’s a vampire soap opera, complete with crying, flailing female heroine. I put my ipod (I listened to this book) speed on “faster;” the suspense is so nearly-annoyingly thick. Pure guilty pleasure.
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LibraryThing member soliloquies
Another enjoyable book in the series which works better for the vampires being missing for the majority of the book. Bella's friendship with Jacob is much healthier and normal than her obsessive love for Edward.
LibraryThing member samantha.1020
From Barnes and Noble's website:

I FELT LIKE I WAS TRAPPED IN ONE OF THOSE TERRIFYING NIGHTMARES…For Bella Swan, there is one thing more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella ever could have imagined. Edward has already
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rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realize their troubles may be just beginning. . .

My Thoughts:

Sorry guys but really do you need more of a description than that? Everyone in the world seems to have already read these and of course I'm behind the times. My opinion on this book basically comes down to this: I liked this one better than Twilight. It still wasn't amazing or anything but I found myself enjoying it and wanting to pick it up again after setting it down. I've read the reviews and a lot of people find Bella annoying in this one. It didn't bother me that much but I found myself wanting her to look at Jacob as more than a friend. What it comes down to for me is that they are teenagers with those kind of emotions, and reading these books brings me back to all of it. I was less dramatic than Bella as a teenager but I remember being completely in love for the first and the first time that my heart was broken. Maybe that is why these books are so successful, because we identify with some of the emotions that the characters go through. Notice I said some and not all :) I like the way that we got to see the experiences that Jacob goes through in this book and by the end I was definitely rooting for him over Edward. Although I am pretty sure that Meyer is going to take it in the opposite direction. All in all, a good but not great book and I'll eventually get to Eclipse.
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LibraryThing member Crayne
So, book 2 in the Twilight series. And yes, I'm sure that some of you will think I'm automutilating, but I assure you this is all done in the spirit of scientific research into pop culture phenomena. Also, I'm a book whore. Anyway, this time in stuff starts happening on page 10. It's amazing how
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quickly the author learned. We're introduced to the new conflict now that the whole 'Oh Edward, I want you' 'Oh Bella, we can't, it's not safe' arc has been done to death. And this new threat to Bella's continued survival (since our heroine obviously needs to attract death and destruction like a magnet in order to have something to write about, never you mind actually exploring more philosophical themes) is werewolves. But not just any werewolves. REALLY attractive werewolves who are - of course - the mortal enemies of vampires.

That's the sarcasm and jabs over with, now on to some of the more positive things. The writing's improved for one. Book one was basically your favorite trashy romance novel with fangs stuck on to male lead (and an unhealthy amount of glitter), this time the writing is slightly more mature and engaging. There's a fair amount of action and I can see the potential in the whole setting. It's just a bit wasted on a teenage protagonist whose defining characteristic seems to be that she falls down. A lot.

So, to wrap things up: Dan Brown meets Anne Rice meets That Highprofile Writer Who Won't Admit to Writing 'Dr. Feelgood, Please Rub Your Hard Bits Against Me.'
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LibraryThing member Natalie220
I loved Twilight but I prefer New Moon any day. Jacob stole my heart and I felt myself hating Bella when she hurt him. Cried laughed and finished reading it in just a few days.
LibraryThing member lisacronista
My least favorite of the four books, although I did give it a high rating. I burned through this one as quickly as the other three and would read it again. However, I had trouble with the friendship between Jacob and Bella. His romantic interest in her seemed normal. Her need for him seemed
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dymsfunctional. I don't know any women who get attached to a guy like that.

The Volturi were another weird element. It seemed like Meyer reached a bit too far in creating a bunch of mobster vampires who police all other vampires across the globe. Since Twilight vampires are almost impossible to kill, why would they care whether humans knew they existed?

Other than that, New Moon was fun. The disappearance of Edward was painful, and it was great getting him back. Stephenie Meyer knows how to create characters that seem real.
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LibraryThing member magemanda
This is the sequel to Twilight, where Edward takes off due to the most spurious of reasons and leaves Bella in a catatonic state. The only ray of sunshine in her life is Jacob Black, who she grows closer and closer to - until the day she finds out her new best friend is a werewolf. Despite this,
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she still has feelings of affection for him and is contemplating a life with him in the absence of her soulmate. But then she finds out Edward is in grave danger and goes on a mission to Italy to bring him back into her life...

I didn't like this book much. I felt that there was a real 'plot device' moment going on when Edward leaves - he has been through bigger problems concerning his relationship with Bella, yet decides to take off at this point. Before he leaves, he managed to bring up the Volturi in a 'signpost' moment - they weren't mentioned by name even when Bella was beginning to learn about the vampire culture, so once again Meyer introduces something because she needs it rather than as a natural flow to the story.

Some of the language is problematic, with such gems as "Bright light shined from every window on the first two floors." I do accept that this might have been more of an editting problem than Meyer's choice.

I sincerely disliked the whole sequence where Bella discovers she is hallucinating Edward's voice in moments of recklessness - and the culmination of that particular thread to the story (in an epiphany experienced by Bella) is true melodrama. Not fun to read at all.

The best part of the book by far is between when Bella first starts going round to visit Jacob and when she discovers he is a werewolf. This part of the book is natural and fun. On the downside, it doesn't last for long.

Jacob is a lovely character, and is characterised well. I don't think Meyer treats him particularly fairly, especially when Bella drops him immediately on Edward's return. I know the love triangle becomes a large part of the third book, but I wish that both men had a fair chance at Bella's heart.

(For people who enjoyed this book, and the love triangle angle about to start, I would recommend L J Smith's Strange Powers trilogy).

Altogether, a book where the quality dips from Twilight. At times I was openly mocking the story as I read it, and I simply could not suspend my disbelief. A poor effort.
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LibraryThing member mikedraper
It's Bella's birthday and she's invited to Edward's house to celebrate. When she has a paper cut from opening her presents a number of Edward's relatives rush to Bella, hungry for her blood.
Edward tells Bella that he feels that he's causing her such pain that he's moving away.

Seeking adventure,
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Bella gets hold of a two year old motorcycle and goes to her old friend Jacob's house. She asks if she gives him one bike will he fix up the other for her. Jacob agrees and introduces her to his friends Embry and Quil.
Nothing happens in this book. Pages of pages of heart throbbing. Did not care for it. Overly long and no action.
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LibraryThing member PhoenixTerran
I read the first installment of the Twilight Saga before the series became such a phenomenon. It was still very popular a the time, but it had yet to develop the extraordinarily obsessive fan base or the as nearly fanatical group of opponents as it has now. The whole state of affairs make me rather
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uncomfortable and somewhat reluctant to read any further. But, I do think it's important to be aware and at least a little knowledgeable of current reading trends, so I did finally pick up the second book New Moon. At least I can carry on an informed conversation now.

The book begins with Bella's birthday. It is her senior year of high school and she is turning eighteen, in some ways making her older than the love of her life--Edward Cullen and his family are vampires, and he has been seventeen since 1918. Bella is not happy that she is growing older in age or that Edward still refuses to allow her to be changed into a vampire. When the Cullen's leave Forks without much explanation, Bella finds herself abandoned and heartbroken. Eventually, she finds interest in life again and renews her friendship with Jacob Black who lives on a nearby reservation. Soon, Bella will learn that vampires aren't the only danger lurking in Forks.

I didn't notice it so much in the first book, but Edward is kind of an over-controlling jerk in addition to being gorgeous and charming. I like Jacob much more as a character (and no, I'm not going to declare any allegiance to one camp or another). Some nice things happen in New Moon--Edward clarifies some of his reasons behind wanting Bella to retain her mortality; more back-story is given to both the werewolves and vampires, including some unique twists hiding amongst the more generic conventions. However, some things were not so good. The majority of the first part of the book for one thing. Really, Bella, I got that you were devastated when Edward left, you didn't need to keep going on and on and on about it. (Granted, her friends felt pretty much the same.) Which brings me to the writing--it's either an extraordinarily authentic portrayal of a high school girl's voice, or just sub-par execution. Either way, the book could have seriously used another edit and an expanded vocabulary. (In at least one instance, within two pages of each other, a sentence was repeated with only a change in the word order.) And the almost continuous references and comparisons to Romeo and Juliet (et al.) were way overdone.

I'm really not sure how these books became so outrageously popular, and I don't think they live up to the hype, but I will admit that they are oddly addicting. The first half or so of New Moon really had to be slogged through (I did like getting to know Jacob better, though) while the second part was much better and moved along quite nicely (and gave a more in-depth view of Meyer's vampires). The books are decent enough, but I had more issues with New Moon than I did with Twilight. I'm sure I'll get around to reading the third book, Eclipse, eventually, but I'm not in any sort of hurry. My favorite part of the series so far? Probably the covers.

Experiments in Reading
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LibraryThing member CBuncombe
It is so cool i couldn't stop reading
LibraryThing member anotherjennifer
I agree with the previous review, but I think this series is fun in a B-movie kind of way, not necessarily as wish fulfillment. I know a lot of readers see themselves in Bella, but even though I tend to project myself onto characters more than I probably should, I don't get that at all with her.
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She has two attractive mythical creatures vying for her love and her main goal in life is to become a vampire (Plan B is going to college and Plan C, it seems, is suicide). At twenty-somthing, there's not much there for me to latch onto.

Nevertheless, when you get through all the teenage angst (which seems under-edited), the plot can be really fun. It largely consists of Bella running away from various bad vampires who aren't as wonderful and human-like as the Cullens and the centuries-old werewolf vs. vampire feud. I also like that some of the other characters are fleshed out a bit more in this novel, even though Bella doesn't treat anyone other than the Cullens with much respect. It is difficult to balance relationships in real life, but I always feel like Bella's thought process works like this: "Wow, I'm really neglecting my friends and family and I think I'm hurting them. Maybe I should--Oh my gosh! Edward still has pretty eyes! Everything is good now." This was particularly frustrating, because New Moon focuses on the blossoming friendship between Bella and Jacob. If Bella weren't so insistent on Edward being "the one," I'd be routing for a Jacob/Bella romance right now. Although Bella might off herself before that could ever happen.

There is something about these books I like, and I think I'd be less negative if Bella gained some perspective. She's eighteen and there's nothing for her to look forward to except Edward? If she's going to live forever as a vampire, she needs some serious hobbies. I thought she appreciated Jacob's friendship for a while, but even that became questionable. In the novel, Bella is two years older than Jacob, and the pair joke about who is actually older based upon their different skills and abilities (i.e. Bella gains a few years for being a good cook, Jacob gains a few for being able to fix cars). Based on Bella's conduct, I'm left feeling that Jacob is "older." I wish that Bella, as the protagonist, were more mature than a high school sophomore who happens to be a werewolf.

But I'm still reading the third and fourth books . . .
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LibraryThing member lunacat
My best friend got me Twilight for christmas and then got me New Moon and Eclipse for my birthday. I didn't think I would get round to reading them any time soon but as I had to go home from work today because of sickness and near fainting, I needed a light read and this was there.

Again, we have
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more or less the same storyline. Bella and Edward battling reasons they can't be together, Bella ending up in hospital, Bella having teen dramas, Edward being distant and weird at the same time.

In some ways I preferred New Moon to Twilight, due mainly to the larger role Jacob plays in this book. He appeals to me far more than Edward does, and the fact Bella isn't obsessed or worryingly infatuated with him is just a plus in my box. She appears to be able to have a normal friendship with him, which rang slightly truer for me than anything else does in these.

However, I found I was disliking more and more the way Bella is weak without Edward and strong with him. I'm by no means what you would describe as an avid feminist but I am independent and her inability to function or be happy without a man at her side doesn't feel the right message to be giving young girls. Love and friendship is all very well, but this felt like obsession and fanaticism which I didn't appreciate.

However, the book kept moving at a reasonable pace and I read it in one afternoon. It served its purpose in stopping me thinking about throwing up!

In one line: Badly written teen drama involving vampires that still manages to keep the interest to the end
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LibraryThing member amandafincher
I thought this book would be hard to get through because Edward leaves and it is mostly about Bella and Jacob. However, once I got into it, I found that I really appreciated Bella and Jacob's relationship. And of course, Edward comes back in the end which made it all worthwhile. :)

Lexile

690L

Pages

608

Rating

½ (13312 ratings; 3.6)
Page: 9.4859 seconds