New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Shruthi | Holmdel High School, Grade 11

Rating: ****

From the award-winning and New York Times best-selling author Stephenie Meyer comes New Moon, the sequel to Twilight, from a series of books. Fans rave about the Twilight Saga and the movies that were made on it, and when Midnight Sun came out recently, readers flocked to Barnes and Noble and the book instantly became a Barnes and Noble Teen’s Top 10, and continues to stay at the Top 10 even now, three months after it was released.

After Bella narrowly escapes death in Twilight, Edward dumps her in the fear that he is the one putting her in danger, However, after he and his family relocate to keep her out of danger, ironically, that’s when the danger starts. Veronica, her original offender’s girlfriend, starts hunting Bella down to seek revenge at Edward for killing her lover.

If you’ve read Twilight and have survived to tell the tale, don’t put yourself through more pain and read the sequel like I did. I read it because despite the fact that Bella was a dull character and didn’t do much at all but drool over Edward and mope, the series has such a large following. I was hoping that maybe Bella’s character developed in the sequel. It did not. In fact, I think she got worse. After Edward broke up with her, Bella literally sulked for months, to the point that it wasn’t about how much she loved him anymore, and more about needing professional help. I was hoping that maybe she could help in the resolution this time, but all she did was find Edward and hug him. No fight scenes, other than the ones that Edward was in. She did practically nothing. If you didn’t heed my advice in my review for Twilight, heed it now: don’t read the book.

Kaitlyn | Eisenhower Middle School, Grade 8

Rating: *****

New Moon is the sequel to Twilight, another Stephenie Meyer book about a forbidden love affair between a human, Isabella “Bella” Swan, and a vampire, Edward Cullen. Bella’s fallen in love with Edward’s whole vampire family, Alice, Esme, Carlisle, Emmett, Jasper, and even Rosalie who’s envious of Bella because she’s a human. In the beginning of the book, Bella turns 18 and worries that she will grow old and Edward will always look beautiful and young. Afterward Edward makes a decision that will not only affect their relationship and lives but the others around them as well. Bella will be left with the feeling of nothingness for a couple of months until she starts to spend time around Jacob Black when she realizes that she could make up her own Edward whenever she’s in any immediate danger. At school, she makes amends to all of her friends but some are still who are mad at her for ignoring them for so long. She hangs out with Jacob until he starts ignoring her and having a secret of his own that she should know based on their conversation at the La Push beach the year before, but she was only focused on the one story about the Cullens. She eventually remembers the conversation and Jacob’s secret only to come across more problems. She continues to endanger herself when eventually it puts other people’s lives at risk. I found this book similar to the first, slow and then couldn’t put it down. It had more action all the way through the middle to the end of the book.