Reviewed by K. Osborn Sullivan for TeensReadToo.com
NEW MOON is the much-anticipated sequel to last year's exceptional vampire romance, TWILIGHT. When I first got my hands on a thick copy of TWILIGHT, I ended up losing sleep for a week until I finished it. Night after night I could not put down the gripping tale of 17-year-old Isabella Swan and the family of vampires who virtually adopt her - some more willingly than others.
With the thrill of TWILIGHT fresh in my mind, I eagerly plunged into NEW MOON. The story takes up several months after TWILIGHT ended. Bella has enjoyed a magical summer with her vampire love, Edward Cullen, but as she closes in on her eighteenth birthday, her own mortality weighs heavily on her. Edward will be eternally young and beautiful, while Bella is doomed to age like a normal human.
In this sequel, author Stephenie Meyer starts out strong. For example, she offers some foreshadowing when Bella and Edward discuss Romeo and Juliet for a school assignment. Also, Meyer masterfully set up a potentially epic conflict that must be resolved in the next book. I'm already on the edge of my seat waiting for that one.
Unfortunately, NEW MOON did not captivate me and keep me awake way too late the way its predecessor did. It was largely lacking in the two things I liked best about the first book. First, the vampiric Cullen family did not feature as prominently here. Yes, Bella managed to make other unusual friends, but these new pals were not as compelling as the eternal Cullens.
The other thing I missed in NEW MOON was that it did not emphasize the heroine's stumbling, bumbling klutziness. That aspect of her character made her endearing in the first novel, but while it existed here to some degree, it did not provide the same level of comic relief that I enjoyed in TWILIGHT. Overall this felt like a more serious book.
NEW MOON's rating doubtless suffered from the extraordinary expectations created by TWILIGHT. I loved NEW MOON's beginning and its end, but I only liked the middle. Despite the criticisms, this is an intriguing tale that I highly recommend. And I can't wait to see what happens next.
NEW MOON is the much-anticipated sequel to last year's exceptional vampire romance, TWILIGHT. When I first got my hands on a thick copy of TWILIGHT, I ended up losing sleep for a week until I finished it. Night after night I could not put down the gripping tale of 17-year-old Isabella Swan and the family of vampires who virtually adopt her - some more willingly than others.
With the thrill of TWILIGHT fresh in my mind, I eagerly plunged into NEW MOON. The story takes up several months after TWILIGHT ended. Bella has enjoyed a magical summer with her vampire love, Edward Cullen, but as she closes in on her eighteenth birthday, her own mortality weighs heavily on her. Edward will be eternally young and beautiful, while Bella is doomed to age like a normal human.
In this sequel, author Stephenie Meyer starts out strong. For example, she offers some foreshadowing when Bella and Edward discuss Romeo and Juliet for a school assignment. Also, Meyer masterfully set up a potentially epic conflict that must be resolved in the next book. I'm already on the edge of my seat waiting for that one.
Unfortunately, NEW MOON did not captivate me and keep me awake way too late the way its predecessor did. It was largely lacking in the two things I liked best about the first book. First, the vampiric Cullen family did not feature as prominently here. Yes, Bella managed to make other unusual friends, but these new pals were not as compelling as the eternal Cullens.
The other thing I missed in NEW MOON was that it did not emphasize the heroine's stumbling, bumbling klutziness. That aspect of her character made her endearing in the first novel, but while it existed here to some degree, it did not provide the same level of comic relief that I enjoyed in TWILIGHT. Overall this felt like a more serious book.
NEW MOON's rating doubtless suffered from the extraordinary expectations created by TWILIGHT. I loved NEW MOON's beginning and its end, but I only liked the middle. Despite the criticisms, this is an intriguing tale that I highly recommend. And I can't wait to see what happens next.
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