Release date: September 6th, 2006
Since New Moon was the only Twilight movie I saw, New Moon is the book I’ll cover. As I remember it (because it has been some time), New Moon was a good book. The first time I read it, it took me all of a day because I wanted to hurry up and get Edward and Bella back together (because we all knew he wasn’t going to stay away). The second time I read the book was much slower, and it was still a good book, but not as good as I remembered it being the first time. For the most part this series in general is very “fluffy” and so you have to be in the mood for something light to enjoy it. If you’re looking for a complex, thought-provoking book, New Moon is not for you. In fact the protagonist, Bella, spends the majority of this book in a fit of depression because her boyfriend broke up with her. While this may sound ridiculous for those of us who are college students and up, I’d like you to take a moment and think back to your high school days. Relationships are life and death to the average teenager and Stephanie Meyer does a great job portraying this in New Moon through Bella’s repeated attempts to remember Edward’s voice and face by exposing herself to varying degrees of danger—everything from riding a motorcycle to cliff diving. Just like the first book, this one also begins with a “premonition” or “foretelling” piece which describes a climax that will occur later on in the book. Also like the first book, the build up for this climax doesn’t start until over half-way through the story.
The basic summary of New Moon is that Edward decides he is endangering Bella far too much and so leaves her. She spirals into a depression Jacob helps her get through by being her friend, and eventually she discovers a secret that makes Jacob and his friends just as dangerous as Edward. I don’t know for sure how many people were surprised by Jacob’s secret because I had it spoiled by my friends before I’d even started the first book, let alone the second. I don’t, however, think knowing what was coming ruined the book for me—I still really enjoyed it, and I think knowing what was happening to Jacob and his friends before Bella was nice because I wasn’t as frustrated with them as I might have been. The amount of action in the book is minimal, but that’s to be expected from a romance novel. I also feel the climax of this book wasn’t as intense as the one presented in the first book (partially because it involved more sparkling vampires) so that was a bit of a disappointment, but the scene that followed between Edward and Bella was rather funny.
For those who like numbers, here’s the google run-down: About.com gives it a 3.5/5, Amazon gives it a 4/5, Commonsensemedia.org gives it a 4/5 and Goodreads.com gives it a 4/5. So the general consensus is that it’s a pretty good book.
Something readers should beware, however, is that this is a book for young teens—Commonsense rates the reader age at about 13. So those of you who are older should probably take it with a grain of salt—New Moon wasn’t meant to be perfect because what teenage romance is?
I thought you ended this review very well. It is true The Twilight series isn't good at all, at least to me. But you a good point that its for preteen adolescents who love and crave that romance, and if older people like it too so be it. I was very skeptical of it because of the sparkling vampires and because of the huge "buzzz" from the media about it. I wanted to wait until the "bustle" was over and then watched the movie. The movies have gotten better, but the first one was wayyyyy to mushy gooshy "NO EDWARD NO!" for me hahaha
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