Product Descriptions  

New Moon by Stephe­nie Meyer was a much antic­i­pated book by many read­ers. How­ever, New Moon was a slight dis­ap­point­ment. The most cap­ti­vat­ing parts of New Moon for me would have to be the begin­ning and the end.

Yes, those are the scenes with Edward in it. How­ever, the author decided to _not_ have Edward and the Cullen fam­ily included in much of the book and what a mis­take. The reader is reduced to Bella’s delu­sions and ora­tory hal­lu­ci­na­tions of Edward in its place.





The story opens with the Cullen’s throw­ing Bella a birth­day party. The mer­ri­ment doesn’t last long when Bella gets a paper cut and nearly gets her­self killed. So, the Cul­lens pack up and leave and Bella expe­ri­ences her first heart­break. I didn’t see the need to wal­low in Bella’s angst as much as we did. I read every bit of it as quick as I could but it didn’t get any bet­ter. The author then goes on to start a thread with Bella and Jacob becom­ing best friends, cre­at­ing a com­pli­ca­tion to be expanded on later.


 

The plot thick­ens even fur­ther when it is revealed that Vic­to­ria has come back to Forks to hunt for Bella. Vic­to­ria was apart of James coven and who was later killed by the Cul­lens when he went hunt­ing for Bella in Twi­light. It was the most sus­pense­ful part of the book.

The thread then moves toward the Cul­lens return back to Forks when Alice fore­sees wrongly Bella’s death which would pro­vide the impe­tus for Edward’s destruc­tion. Thus to Flo­rence, Italy they flee to save Edward and thus you have the reunion.

New Moon was not as engag­ing as Twi­light in that we spent very lit­tle time with the Cul­lens. The Cul­lens for me make the book. The pro­tag­o­nist and narrator, Bella, hap­pens to be the weak­est char­ac­ter in the story and the most annoy­ing. To spend most of this book with Bella and not with Bella and Edward together was what made this book a chore to read. I didn’t really care for the teenage angst. The thread with the were­wolves was a bit uneven; for abbre­vi­ated time period it was men­ac­ing and at other times a joke.

When­ever the author is focused on Edward and Bella or the Cullen fam­ily — the story is pretty smooth. As a reader I’m engaged in the story. I am right there. How­ever, in New Moon, there was very lit­tle of Edward or the Cul­lens except at the begin­ning and end. New Moon took longer to read because I could eas­ily put it down and for­get about it. I had high hopes that if Edward wasn’t going to be in the story, then the author would make up for that some­how with more sus­pense and an intrigu­ing story.

So, what is the ver­dict from this reader? New Moon for me rates about a C+. It wasn’t com­pletely bad nor was it great. All one has to do is read the begin­ning and the end and be ready for the third book. All the mid­dle parts was just for filler. Bor­ing filler. Sub­terfuge. I read most of it and skimmed the rest when I got tired of Bella’s silli­ness. Die hard fans are going to want to read this. New Moon will not be a book that I would reread but up on the shelf next to Twi­light is where it will sit until the third book. I love Ms. Meyer’s voice/style of writ­ing so that was never an issue. I think her writ­ing much of the story with­out Edward and the Cul­lens was a mis­take but that’s my opin­ion. I just don’t think there’s much story with­out them.

And one other thing: if Bella gets turned into a vam­pire then that will be the last of the series for me. I find her want­ing to be a vam­pire rather stupid. Its her human­ity that pro­vides a chal­lenge to Edward and the Cul­lens. It’s what keeps me reading. Without that com­pli­ca­tion, what would be the con­flict? I could some­what under­stand his dilemma in hav­ing her grow older than him and hav­ing that be a prob­lem but –I just wouldn’t want it to hap­pen unless it was absolutely necessary.