New Moon

The obsession continues. Just as I put down my copy of "Twilight", I was then desperate to get my hands on a copy of the next book in the series. I did so and was not disappointed. By the time you read this book, you are in one of two groups of people. You are either absolutely completely obsessed with the book and can't sleep, eat, or do anything until you have finished reading it. For others, you are reading it to keep up with your children or students (if you are a teacher like me). Either way, the book does not disappoint.

Unless you are a die-hard fan of Stephenie Meyers's Twilight books, you would never pick up this book. If you did, you would be confused because there is simply not enough said in the first few chapters for readers to really understand what is happening. This is the second book in a set of four books. It begins as Bella, her vampire boyfriend Edward, and the rest of the students at Forks High School begin their senior year of high school.

We know that as the last book ended, Edward, along with his vampire family members rescued Bella from imminent death at the hands of an evil vampire. Edward believes he is evil, but he isn't. He chooses to kill animals instead of humans, but still knows that if he loses control, he could hurt or even kill Bella.

Things are going well as Bella enjoys her eighteenth birthday party. Then a tragic event spins out of control and the result is that Bella is left alone. Edward leaves; unable to be with Bella because of his fear of killing the only person he has ever loved and will ever love may overcome him. His love for Bella is so strong that he sees leaving as the only way to keep her safe. The scene where he leaves is heart wrenching and I will admit there were tears in my eyes.

Bella goes in a trance like state until finally she finds friendship and familiarly with Jacob Black. The novel develops their friendship nicely and we are then told about how Jacob is a werewolf. Of course he is. I mean if there are vampires in Forks, Washington, there has to be werewolves. The intriguing part of this is as an adult I am using prior knowledge of mystical beasts as a starting point to understanding the struggle between vampires and werewolves. I wonder as a teen reader where their starting point is or whether whatever Stephenie Meyer says about vampires and werewolves will be written in stone.

Everything works out in the end. We know that it has to for no other reason than there are two more books to read and if Bella and Edward weren't together, we wouldn't get our happily ever after. This is a love story and all fairy tales are set up the same way. The Prince always gets his princess. The poor girl always becomes the princess. We know that Bella will become a vampire and will be joined forever with Edward.

The issue I had with this novel is how Bella doesn't really change as a character. There needs to be some maturity, some revelation, but there isn't. She simply realizes that although at first she was living for Edward, now she can live for Jacob. The situations are different, but in the end, the relationship is the same. She is influenced by the friendships and romances that she has.

Once again, the writing is simplistic and childlike. The characters pull the story line along, not the other way around. Situations occur simply because there is an end that is needed. The author herself admitted that she wrote scenes of the novel that she wanted to write and then pieced them together. It is evident that this is the case.

It is not so much a poorly written novel as it is not a great novel. It is a young adult novel that will never be recognized as a great novel. It is the current fad and once the obsession with vampires and werewolves wears off, so will the author's name fade into the darkness

The end of the novel is really just a beginning to the third novel. We are given another vampire fight, this time with the head vampires that live in Italy. One important revelation is that at some point Bella will be turned into a vampire. This twist in the story line propels the reader to continue with the next book. It's an interesting marketing ploy. We always wanted Bella to become a vampire and live in eternity with her true love. The fact it has been stated gives us hope.