New Moon (Twilight Saga, #2)

by Stephenie Meyer

[Leah]

After reading Twilight a few months ago, which I absolutely loved, I tried to quickly get my hands on the rest of the saga. I've had the other three books for a few months now but I've felt very reluctant to carry on reading them as I worried that they wouldn't be as good as Twilight. I finally plucked up the courage to start reading New Moon and I can't believe it's taken me so long to read it as I found myself quickly getting sucked back into Bella's world.

I've been debating how to write this review since I finished New Moon and I didn't know how much would be OK to give away in my synopsis without ruining the entire book. I think I've managed that but now I need to make sure I keep it that way! For those who know nothing of the Twilight Saga, New Moon is book two and follows Twilight. The basic premise of book one is girl moves to Forks, becomes intrigued with mysterious family - in particular it's youngest member - and ends up falling in love with him. Trouble is, the mystery of the family is the fact they're all vampires. Cue drama! The synopsis for the book may not sound all that much but believe me, it was a fantastic read.

New Moon begins a few months after the life threatening situation Bella found herself in in Twilight, on the day of her 18th birthday. She doesn't want any fuss but the Cullens, who don't celebrate birthdays, ignore her and throw her a birthday party instead. A tiny papercut cuts the party short and the ensuing drama forces the Cullens to come to the decision to leave Forks - for Bella's own safety. Bella doesn't see it that way and she tailspins into depression - months pass by without her even knowing what is going on and it's only the threat of being shipped off to Florida that finally rouses her into action. She rekindles her friendship with childhood friend Jacob Black and although he's no Edward, he helps to plug the gap Edward left.

Of course, my description of New Moon probably sounds relatively dull and even to my eyes having read the book it seems as though there's little action. However if I dare to mention any of the action that happens I fear it will give away some interesting secrets. Just trust me that there is a lot of action - most of it near to the end of the book. I knew the basic premise of New Moon before I read it and I did wonder how the book would fare minus Edward. I think that was my main reason for not wanting to read the book as soon as I received it - how could it compare to Twilight without Edward? Yet somehow it did compare and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Having Jacob Black as the prominent male character was fantastic and as I got to know him more I began to like him more. He was barely in Twilight so it was hard to really gauge what he was like so to have him hugely involved in New Moon meant we really got to know him. The friendship between himself and Bella was fantastic and I enjoyed their scenes together. Jacob does disappear for a while, though, as he has a secret of his own. I knew what it was and what had happened to him so it was a waiting game to see how long it took for Bella to figure it out. It was an interesting twist, evne though I knew it was coming.

Although Bella spends a lot of time wallowing in her misery, I found her as likeable as ever. Her depression and heartbreak is easily believeable even if it may seem a tad much at times. The pages where the months pass by without anything was a very clever addition and helped to show Bella's situation all the more. Edward leaving meant she lost some of her sparkle and wit from Twilight but I still found myself enjoying her narrative. Her despair may seem a tad overbearing at times as well as being slightly unbelieveable but, I don't know, all I could do was sympathise with her and hope something would pull her out of her stupor.

The ending, like Twilight, is packed full of action and it had me racing to the finish regardless of the fact I knew how it would all pan out eventually. The action probably wasn't as shocking as the first book but nevertheless the tension and suspense was still there. It shocks me that the majority of the book can be so lacking in action and yet still hold my full attention. I don't want to be disrespectful to Stephenie Meyer but her writing probably isn't up there with the greats and yet her books still utterly compel me. Her writing flows incredibly well and she's tapped into the mind of a lovestruck teenager fantastically. I hugely enjoyed New Moon and now I can't wait to get stuck into Eclipse and then Breaking Dawn.