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| New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2) | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
Category: Book
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $11.09
You Save: $8.90 (45%)
New (42) Used (20) Collectible (5) from $11.09
Avg. Customer Rating:  1051 reviews
Sales Rank: 45
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 608
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.9
ISBN: 0316160199
EAN: 9780316160193
ASIN: 0316160199
Publication Date: August 21, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new and in stock. Your satisfaction is our top priority. Thank you for your business.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Romeo and Juliet Wannabes June 7, 2007
20 out of 25 found this review helpful
throught 90% of the book I wanted to grab Bella by the sholders, shake her, and scream "Stop complaining!" She's a weak character and such a crybaby. Edward is little better. The few enjoyable characters in this book were Alice and Jake. But how can I like a book when I hate the two main characters? Grr.. I'm just sorry I wasted my time.
Meyers' books are GREAT.... April 4, 2008
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
...if you're an aspiring writer in need of a primer that gives never-ending examples of what NOT TO DO.
I'm working on a teen fantasy novel of my own, and Meyers' Twilight series never fails to remind me of the things I want to completely avoid in my own writing. Let's consult the list, shall we?
1) THE BORING SUE HERIONE. You may have heard of the Mary Sue, the perfect female protagonist who can do no wrong, who has unnatural beauty, who is beloved by all; Bella isn't quite a Mary Sue. She's described (by herself, at least) as plain and is endlessly clumsy (though her clumsiness is so contrived that it seems like a magical Sue ability, practically). She also has no interests, hobbies, or anything that she excels at in particular. Despite these flaws, Bella nevertheless ends up a Sue because everyone loves her for reasons that defy explanation or logic. Even when she is behaving in a selfish, whiny, and intolerable way, Bella is never called out for her behavior. The only character who ever seems disgusted by Bella is Jessica, but since Jessica is written as a shrew anyway, we're clearly not meant to put much stock in her opinion.
2) FATED TRUE LOVE. In my world, Fated True Love isn't romantic, it's lazy. It says "hey, instead of working out why these characters are attracted to each other and showing how their relationship develops, I'm gonna just put it in the hands of FATE and have them fall in love for no reason whatsoever!" Edward loves Bella because she smells good, which means Edward loves Bella like I love freshly baked bread. Bella loves Edward because he's beautiful. God-like. So beautiful...really BEAUTIFUL, in case you missed it in all the numerous descriptive reminders. But really, why do they love each other? I have no idea. Shakespeare was all too aware of the ridiculousness of star-crossed love, which is why he was smart and killed his teenaged lovers off. But Bella and Edward's happiness hinges entirely on their togetherness. What a strong, solid message to send to the young women of the world: happiness isn't something you create for yourself, oh no, it's something you can ONLY find in a beautiful, immortal man. Bella's slow recognition of Jacob as a potential suitor was far more interesting and realistic, and it was teeth-gnashingly disappointing to see Bella repeatedly insist to herself that no one would ever do it for her again but Edward.
3) THE ZERO-HOUR PLOT. Nothing much happens in Meyers' books, aside from Bella's enthrallment/suffering over Edward. In the last few chapters, Meyers will attempt to inject some kind of conflict into the narrative, either in the form of James, Victoria, and Laurent ("Twilight") or the Volturi ("New Moon"). It's difficult to get invested in this conflict at the last minute, and again feels like a lazy, tacked-on, "oh right, I am writing a book, maybe something should happen!" move from the author.
Of course, as someone who hopes to be successful at writing teen fantasy, it's depressing to know that all I would need to do to achieve this success is construct a BORING SUE HEROINE, a FATED TRUE LOVE, and a ZERO HOUR PLOT.
Or maybe it's not depressing...maybe it's an incredible relief! After all, coming up with those three things shouldn't be too hard. If a lazy writer like Meyers can do it, anyone can!
For readers looking for good, solid teen-level fantasy featuring interesting heroines, more complex and realistic portrayals of love, and truly gripping plot, I recommend Diana Wynne Jones and Libba Bray.
Where have all the feminists gone? July 13, 2007
17 out of 19 found this review helpful
After reading TWILIGHT, I hoped Bella might grow a backbone. But no. She goes from too stupid to live to "shouldn't she have died fifty pages ago?" I skimmed ahead and found her riding motorcycles too fast, leaping off cliffs, etc. just so she can hear Edward's voice in her head. I obviously share no damsel-in-distress fantasies.
As in the previous book, Edward and the rest of the vampires are far too perfect for me to even faintly imagine they could ever be real. They're immortal, strong, fast, beautiful, telepathic, and gee! They sparkle, too. Why don't they have any flaws? Why should I care what happens to any of them? The werewolves seem like yet more excessively powerful males to rescue Bella. I don't like the gigantic rage-driven wolf concept, either. It seems too Hollywood. I do, however, like the use of Native American skinwalker legends.
Disclaimer: I never read the last fifty or so pages of the book because I chucked it aside.
Shoot me, shoot me now *spoilers* June 3, 2008
17 out of 19 found this review helpful
You end the book hating the character of Bella more then you could have ever thought possible. She comes off as two things throughout the book. First a bit of a bitch to one her father, for ignoring him for months then running off to Italy with only a note to tell him where she is. Also for obviously jerking Jacob around by his heart strings throughout the book.
The second thing? She comes off as very much not in her right mind. She goes catatonic for a week and into a zombie trance for months because Edward left her. I'm sorry I refuse to believe one's soul mate leaving them would warrant a reaction like that. She's obsessive about Edward to a degree that if it weren't for the fact he's equally as obsessed, we would have a set of psychotic stalkers on our hands. Instead it's true love, ain't that just the most darling message?
Edward comes off as a dick for leaving Bella, who is very much not in her right mind (she goes catatonic for a week then goes zombie trance for months?), and honestly seems very suicidal. He constantly tosses around the idea of suicide so much and how he's going as soon as she goes, you get the idea that he's going to cut her brakes, just so he can off himself.
Any actual plot was procrastinated off to the very end, when Alice deus ex machina's in and tells Bella about suicidal Edward. Then it's off to Italy, a narrow save of Edward (who could have seen that coming?), and the Volturi lovingly shoving it down our throats that Bella is the most special snowflake of the lot.
And I very much appreciated the Romeo and Juliet comparisons being shoved down my throat every other chapter. Ms. Meyer, I'm sure you've read it (because Bella is so obviously a young Mary-Sue version of yourself), the main things I took away was a cautionary tale of feuding and how it will destroy what you care for most.I never saw the true love of the play, and it always seemed like a plot point more then anything, for the rest of a more interesting story to go off of. Hey maybe New Moon is more like it then I thought... except with the lacking of a more interesting story.
In review what does her brand of true love tells us what? You can't live without your man. It's perfectly okay to drop entire lives for someone you love. It's perfectly okay to commit suicide just to hear your ex's voice. It's perfectly okay to go comatose because you where dumped.
I only have one question after being forced to read this book. Why. Ms. Meyer, Why?
 Sink your teeth into this worthy sequel! September 3, 2006
16 out of 21 found this review helpful
New Moon picks up a few months after Twlight left off, with Edward and Bella just as in love as ever and life proceeding as normally as it can when your boyfriend is a vampire. Bella's big problem is that with her birthday, she technically becomes older than Edward, and is still insistent on becoming a vampire so that she can be with him forever. Edward doesn't see things her way, and disaster strikes when an accidental paper cut at her birthday party causes the Cullens to have to fight to resist the sight of her blood. With this danger on his mind, Edward convinces Bella he no longer needs her and he and his family leave Forks.
This book is big on emotion; Meyer does an incredible job of forcing us to feel Bella's pain at losing Edward and her moments of joy when she realizes that doing dangerous stunts bring on the "sound" of his voice. We're led to understand the growing friendship between Bella and Jake, and Meyer pulls us in with the reveal of Jake's own problems. The relief Bella feels upon seeing Alice and then the terror of Edward's dilemma are all events that caused my heart to jump. Rarely do I get so caught up in the lives of characters, but Meyer makes it impossible not to. The fact that she moves her stories along less on action (though there is plenty of that at times) than on emotion is the driving success of both Twlight and New Moon, and the imprint all of the characters leave on you as you close the last page makes you want to simply turn the book over and begin again.
Highly, highly recommended for all who love well-drawn characters and inventive story-telling. Just be prepared to be disappointed as you are forced to wait for the next installment!
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