New Moon
No. 2 in the Twilight series
by Stephenie Meyer
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Little, Brown and Company (New York): 21 August 2006. Hardcover: 608 pages. ISBN-10: 0-31-616019-9 ISBN-13: 978-0316160193 Suggested retail price: $18.99 (US) Tags: Italy; motorcycles; Native Americans; Romance; vampires; Washington (state); werewolves; Young Adult Tactical strength: [6/10] |
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Stephenie Meyer picks up her tale of vampires and romance pretty much where she left off in Twilight. Bella has fallen in love with Edward Cullen the teenage (looking) vampire. The Cullens don't believe in drinking human blood, and sate their bloodthirst by hunting big game animals. Accident prone as ever, Bella accidently cuts herself while at the Cullen's home and barely escapes being bitten by Edward's brother Jasper. The Cullens reason that Bella will just be safer without them around, and the entire family disappears.
With the love of her life gone and unreachable, Bella falls into a deep depression -- that lasts for about the first half of this 600-page book. Bella's continual bemoaning Edward's absence gets tedious and probably could have been trimmed down. Bella does have one bright spot in her life -- former childhood friend Jacob. Jacob lives on the nearby Native American reservation.
Jacob has his own problems as he turns into a werewolf and joins the tribal werewolf pack. Meyer's brand of werewolves represent the natural predator of vampires, and the Cullen's presence has caused most of the teenage boys in the tribe to turn into werewolves. These werewolves can change form at will and have telepathic communication while in wolf form.
Out on the town with a girlfriend, Bella encounters a dangerous situation on a dark street, and she hears Edward's voice warning her away from the situation. Desperate to hear the voice again, Bella decides to engage in as many dangerous activities as she can to hear the voice again. With Jacob, she takes up motorcycle riding, which regularly produces Edwards voice in her head. Next Bella takes up cliff diving, and Edward's sister Alice clairvoyantly sees Bella fall into the ocean and not surface. (We learn later that Alice cannot see werewolves, so she cannot see Jacob rescue Bella from the ocean.) Alice believes Bella has died, and word gets to Edward, who immediately decides to kill himself by upsetting the Italian Voltari clan -- oldest of the vampires and enforcers of vampiric laws. Alice realizes her mistake, and rushes Bella to Italy in an attempt to save Edward.
While the narrative centers around Bella's depression and how empty she feels without Edward, the story stagnates and seems to take forever to get going. Once Meyer introduces the real conflict of the book (Bella and Alice's rescue attempt), the pacing picks up quite nicely. At the end, you feel like you have just ridden a roller coaster -- a long, slow, boring ride up the hill and a brief thrill as you run the course. The excitement happens so fast, that you really want more and wish that Meyer hadn't spent so much time letting Bella mope about.
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