There are so many wonderful book challenges going on for 2010 that I just want to join them all. But, that would be unrealistic. Speaking of reality, I rejoin the work force tomorrow after what feels like forever. I’m excited and nervous all at once. It’s been a rough year for Michael and I but we have survived. I owe much of that to my beautiful and loving family. Michael’s family deserves a bow too. They’ve been incredibly warm and welcoming to me … and incredibly supportive. I guess it is important to remember that it is always darkest before the dawn. I am looking forward to brighter days in the new year.
Phew, enough of that gooey garble. Lets talk books. Since I wasn’t slayed in the night by any bitter Twilight fans I thought I should take this time to post my New Moon review. On the bright side, I haven’t read the last two so you’re safe for a bit. You know I’m just busting your chops, Twilighters. Any book series that gets people reading is a-okay in my book. I was just extremely surprised to find that it was this book series.
Without further adieu – I present my review of Stephanie Meyer’s New Moon after the cut. You’ll find this and my other reviews on GoodReads and please be advised of possible spoilers.
GoodReads Book Description: 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.
Rating: 
Recommended For: Not for anyone I actually liked, that’s for sure.
My Review: Here is a short list of things I do like about this book:
1. The wolves are not man-wolves, they’re actually wolves. I dig the Native American background on that.
2. Stephanie Meyer seems to have taken a writing workshop or two since her last book because the writing is marginally better.
Before we start handing out the awards, lets remember that it would be pretty difficult for anything following Twilight to not be at least a marginal improvement. At least Stephanie Meyer s…more Here is a short list of things I do like about this book:
1. The wolves are not man-wolves, they’re actually wolves. I dig the Native American background on that.
2. Stephanie Meyer seems to have taken a writing workshop or two since her last book because the writing is marginally better.
Before we start handing out the awards, lets remember that it would be pretty difficult for anything following Twilight to not be at least a marginal improvement. At least Stephanie Meyer seems to have come to the phenomenal realization that *gasp* we do not need to know everything from what color underwear Bella puts on in the morning to how many pillows she sleeps on at night to identify with the character. What we need is for the character to actually be identifiable which, for a number of sad and hopeless reasons, she is not. While Bella is vaguely less annoying in this book, you realize very quickly that is mostly due to Edward’s absence through most of the book. The second Meyer puts these two paper-thin characters on a page together it instantly loses what little credibility it has gained. I can’t speak very highly of a book that centers it’s plot around a torrid love affair between two characters that you have no desire to read about when they’re in the same place at the same time.
We get a little action straight out the gate with Bella, oh clumsy Bella, giving herself a paper cut while opening birthday gifts at the Cullen house. The blood sends a room full of vampires reeling and that oh, so ridiculously clueless Bella crashing into a table of glass. More blood? Oh, what will the vampires do?! Yes, the action is predictable and flimsy but it does beat reading 300+ pages on the transparent hope that something entertaining will happen. While this book seems to overcompensate for the action that was missing from the former book, it really doesn’t make it all that much more enjoyable. The characterization is still vague, at best, especially where supporting characters are introduced.
In Twilight, Stephanie Meyer could not find a plot till the book’s conclusion while in New Moon she cannot seem to commit to one. Let’s see, we’ve got the fact that Bella loses Edward (he tells her he’s through with her) and alienates all her Forks “friends” as she tries to cope with losing the love of her life, much to the dismay of her dear old dad. In Edward’s absence Bella grows close to Jacob Black and, oh no, Jacob ends up being a werewolf — just in case it wasn’t made blatantly obvious in the first book. And, insert gasps of shock and amazement here, werewolves and vampires don’t get along. All the while, Victoria – the accomplice of the previous book’s vampire villain – is on the rampage out looking for that sweet smelling delicious morsel that is Bella Swan. Will poor Bella ever catch a break? No, of course not, because Bella’s still an idiot who seemingly can’t pull her head out of the sand long enough to realize that hanging out with monsters is not a keen idea. Not even after she meets Emily, girlfriend to the werewolf pack’s ring leader. Emily was mauled by her own boyfriend during one of his werewolf-evoked fits of rage and is brutally scarred as a result of it. Finally, Edward’s love for Bella sends him on a suicide mission in Italy where an ancient vampire clan resides because he fears that his beloved Bella has killed herself. With all the references she makes in her books to Romeo and Juliet did Meyer not think anyone was going to catch onto the fact that she shamelessly rips this suicide/star-crossed lovers motif straight from it’s pages? I understand the need to recycle themes in literature, but seriously, isn’t this taking it a bit far? And vampire suicide? It’s like she is striving to make these characters as unbelievable and irritatingly useless as possible.
Still, all things considered, a terrible read. I really need to stop reading these books because clearly I lack the mental incapacity to cope with the asinine musings of blundering Bella and her fickle vampire lover. I’m so over this series.
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