Book Reviews
What's a girl to do when her choices of guys to date are either a vampire or a werewolf? Teenaged Bella does not seem to make wise choices when it comes to boyfriends in this sequel to Twilight. The original book focused on Bella's relationship with her "good" vampire boyfriend, Edward. Nevertheless, in this novel, the vampires only appear in the beginning and the end; in the middle, the action grinds to a halt. The story starts out with Bella and Edward splitting up; Bella spends the next 100 pages or so mourning his loss. Gradually, the sullen teen rekindles her interest in a friend, Jacob Black, who lives on a nearby Indian reservation. Still depressed over Edward, she initially resists Jacob, and just about the time she wonders if she might be falling in love with him, she finds out he is not quite who or what he appears to be. The last portion of the book primarily focuses on Bella in a race against time, trying to locate Edward. Edward believes that Bella has died when she has not—a la Romeo and Juliet—and he is determined to end his vampire existence. Readers who have not read Twilight may find some of the references to previous relationships and plotlines hard to follow. This is an overly long novel with a minimum of action. The ending makes it clear that there is another sequel to follow.
Children's Literature
Readers return to the Pacific Northwestern hamlet of Forks in Stephenie Meyer's sequel to her debut novel, Twilight (Little, Brown, 2005). Human Bella remains incredibly enamored with her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen, and continually hints at her desire to become a fellow nosferatu. A disastrous birthday celebration leads to the Cullens' exodus from Forks, leaving behind a devastated Bella. Morose and depressed, she discovers that reckless activities elicit auditory hallucinations of Edward chastising her to stay safe. Bella's new friend, Jacob Black, helps bring her out of her melancholia. As their friendship begins to shift into something deeper, Jacob himself undergoes an unexpected metamorphosis. Misunderstanding and miscommunication lead to Bella's flight from Forks and into the clutches of the Volturi, an influential vampire family in Italy. From its orchid-embossed cover to the epilogue, vampire aficionados will voraciously consume this mighty tome in one sitting, then flip back and read it once more. It maintains a brisk pace and near-genius balance of breathtaking romance and action. While certainly better written than its predecessor, it may leave the reader wishing for something different—a more empowered and self-assured heroine, comic relief to balance the perpetually brooding Edward, fewer references to the vampires' innate beauty. Meyer is at work on the third addition to the Forks saga so there is hope these transformations can occur. Despite the flaws, expect this book to remain checked out by its legions of fans as they await the third novel's release.
Angelica Delgado - VOYA
Recovered from the vampire attack that hospitalized her in the conclusion of Twilight (Little, Brown, 2005), Bella celebrates her birthday with her boyfriend Edward and his family, a unique clan of vampires that has sworn off human blood. But the celebration abruptly ends when the teen accidentally cuts her arm on broken glass. The sight and smell of her blood trickling away forces the Cullen family to retreat lest they be tempted to make a meal of her. After all is mended, Edward, realizing the danger that he and his family create for Bella, sees no option for her safety but to leave. Mourning his departure, she slips into a downward spiral of depression that penetrates and lingers over her every step. Vampire fans will appreciate the subsequently dour mood that permeates the novel, and it's not until Bella befriends Jacob, a sophomore from her school with a penchant for motorcycles, that both the pace and her disposition begin to take off. Their adventures are wild, dare-devilish, and teeter on the brink of romance, but memories of Edward pervade Bella's emotions, and soon their fun quickly morphs into danger, especially when she uncovers the true identities of Jacob and his pack of friends. 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.—Hillias J. Martin, New York Public Library
School Library
(Audio version.) Not since TV's Buffy "the Vampire Slayer" Summers battled demons in the halls of Sunnydale High has a teenager faced the number of monsters that Bella Swan does in Meyer's melodramatic sequel to Twilight. Bella's vampire boyfriend Edward and his unusual clan are joined by an ancient pack of werewolves—also with connections to Bella—in a story that's got romance, adventure, thrills and even a quick detour to Italy. Thanks to Kadushin's (who also read Twilight) consistently smooth delivery and her plausibility as a teen navigating heartbreak, hormones and confusion, listeners are likely to hang on for the many fever-pitch moments of suspense here, even if the lengthy tale could have used some pruning.
Publishers Weekly
All is not well between demon-magnet Bella and Edward Cullen, her vampire Romeo. An innocent papercut at Edward's house puts Bella in grave danger when various members of the Cullen family can barely resist their hunger at the smell of blood. The Cullens promptly leave town, afraid of endangering Edward's beloved, and Bella sinks into an overwhelming depression. Months later, she finally emerges from her funk to rebuild her life, focusing on her friendship with besotted teen Jacob from the reservation. Bella's unhealthy enthrallment to Edward leads her into dangerous and self-destructive behavior despite her new friends, and supernatural complications are bound to reappear. Bella's being hunted by an evil vampire, and Jacob's adolescent male rage turns out to be incipient lycanthropy: It seems many Quileute Indians become werewolves in the presence of vampires, their natural enemies. Psychic miscommunications and angst-ridden dramatic gestures lead to an exciting page-turner of a conclusion drenched in the best of Gothic romantic excess. Despite Bella's flat and obsessive personality, this tale of tortured demon lovers entices.
Kirkus Reviews