Review: New Moon (The Twilight Saga #2) by Stephenie Meyer
Print Length: 563 pages
Publisher: Little Brown & Company (September 6, 2006)
From Goodreads.com: I knew we were both in mortal danger. Still, in that instant, I felt well. Whole. I could feel my heart racing in my chest, the blood pulsing hot and fast through my veins again. My lungs filled deep with the sweet scent that came off his skin. It was like there had never been any hole in my chest. I was perfect - not healed, but as if there had never been a wound in the first place.
I FELT LIKE I WAS TRAPPED IN ONE OF THOSE TERRIFYING NIGHTMARES, the one where you have to run, run till your lungs burst, but you can't make your body move fast enough.... But this was no dream, and, unlike the nightmare, I wasn't running for my life; I was racing to save something infinitely more precious. My own life meant little to me today.
FOR BELLA SWAN THERE IS ONE THING more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella could ever have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realize their troubles may be just beginning....
*******************
My Rating: 1 star out of 5
The blurb sums it up rather perfectly. Bella loves Edward more than life itself. And if that isn't a dangerous obsession, I don't know what it is.
I have never liked this book. Not even when I first read it, and I was a fan of the series. What is there to like about a main character who mopes around because a boy breaks up with her? What is there to like about said character when they then spend the rest of the book not only leading on someone who does genuinely also care about them, but also engaging in incredibly stupid and reckless behaviors because they think they can "hear" said boys voice in their head?
And all of this over a papercut and an overreaction. Seriously. Neither of which would have happened, if Edward's family had just honored Bella's wishes and not thrown a party for her. But that seems to be a growing theme with these novels. Bella has a want or a wish, and they overlook it in favor of what they want. Tell me again how any of this is romantic?
Also, I guess I'm just supposed to overlook the GLARING plot hole in which ALICE CAN SEE THE FUTURE. Shouldn't she have, oh I don't know, SEEN that Bella was going to get a tiny little papercut, Jasper was going to overreact, and Edward was going to throw Bella into the table that is filled with (wait for it) glass plates? Anyone?
Poor Jake. He genuinely likes Bella for reasons that escape me, and all she does is use him to make herself feel better. Not only does she mention that she's doing it repeatedly, but she also at one point admits that she KNOWS Jake is better, healthier, for her than Edward, but she still can't move on. Not even when she sees how well Jake can protect her without putting her in danger the same way her association with the Cullen's did.
But of course, Bella is still stupid and reckless and I'm going to say it delusional. How else are you supposed to explain the fact that she "hears" Edward's voice throughout the entire novel when she's doing something she knows he wouldn't approve of? This isn't me saying that she should "take orders" from anyone, but for heaven's sake she ends up in the EMERGENCY ROOM TWICE riding motorcycles with Jacob and then she gets the insanely stupid idea to go cliff diving BY HERSELF as .... wait for it. A STORM IS MOVING IN.
She's suicidal. There is no other explanation. No one else is that mind-numbingly brainless.
Except for Bella obviously, and of course because how else is she going to potentially get the boy back, because how else can you explain the fact the Alice just then conveniently sees her "death" setting in motion a whole new set of unrealistic consequences. Harry dies at just the right moment so that when Edward calls Jacob can nastily tell him that Charlie is preparing a funeral? Are we all going to pretend like Jacob didn't know exactly who he was talking to? And Edward? Killing yourself over a girl you just met when you have an eternity ahead of you? Romeo and Juliet, you two are not. I'd maybe settle for Dumb and Dumber?
Especially when she starts "answering" the voice that she already knows is in her head. Case in point.
"Don't do this" the voice in her head pleaded.
"You wanted me to be human, well watch me"
"Please. For Me." the voice in her head pleaded again.
"You won't stay with me any other way"
Uhh Bella you do realize he's not really staying with you when you're hearing his voice in your head right? Perhaps she should have taken this for what it really was. A psychiatric break. A desperate plea from her subconscious to get the help she so obviously needs. Or maybe, just a not so gentle reminder that not only was Edward was an overbearing asshole, but she had been putting her life (human or otherwise) on the back burner for far too long in an attempt to be with him.
And I'm getting off track. So anyway, Edward goes to kill himself, (conveniently just as Bella decides to try and be happy with Jacob), and Bella manages to miraculously save him at the last second (and in doing so puts an even bigger target on her back). Then she forgives him for putting her through almost an entire year of torment? Of leaving her without a backward glance? We come to understand he's been living away from the rest of his "family" and yet none of them go against his wishes to keep an eye on Bella? To make sure she's okay? Alice may not have been able to see Bella when she's with Jake, but she had to have seen/known just how zombie-like Bella had been from the time they left until the time she started hanging out in La Push.
Of course not. Because it's Edward. And he can do no wrong.
*insert rolling my eyes so hard I nearly lose them here* At least having finished this book, I'm at the halfway point of the series. And having a lot of trouble trying to recall what I found so fascinating about these books when they first came out.
The blurb sums it up rather perfectly. Bella loves Edward more than life itself. And if that isn't a dangerous obsession, I don't know what it is.
I have never liked this book. Not even when I first read it, and I was a fan of the series. What is there to like about a main character who mopes around because a boy breaks up with her? What is there to like about said character when they then spend the rest of the book not only leading on someone who does genuinely also care about them, but also engaging in incredibly stupid and reckless behaviors because they think they can "hear" said boys voice in their head?
And all of this over a papercut and an overreaction. Seriously. Neither of which would have happened, if Edward's family had just honored Bella's wishes and not thrown a party for her. But that seems to be a growing theme with these novels. Bella has a want or a wish, and they overlook it in favor of what they want. Tell me again how any of this is romantic?
Also, I guess I'm just supposed to overlook the GLARING plot hole in which ALICE CAN SEE THE FUTURE. Shouldn't she have, oh I don't know, SEEN that Bella was going to get a tiny little papercut, Jasper was going to overreact, and Edward was going to throw Bella into the table that is filled with (wait for it) glass plates? Anyone?
Poor Jake. He genuinely likes Bella for reasons that escape me, and all she does is use him to make herself feel better. Not only does she mention that she's doing it repeatedly, but she also at one point admits that she KNOWS Jake is better, healthier, for her than Edward, but she still can't move on. Not even when she sees how well Jake can protect her without putting her in danger the same way her association with the Cullen's did.
But of course, Bella is still stupid and reckless and I'm going to say it delusional. How else are you supposed to explain the fact that she "hears" Edward's voice throughout the entire novel when she's doing something she knows he wouldn't approve of? This isn't me saying that she should "take orders" from anyone, but for heaven's sake she ends up in the EMERGENCY ROOM TWICE riding motorcycles with Jacob and then she gets the insanely stupid idea to go cliff diving BY HERSELF as .... wait for it. A STORM IS MOVING IN.
She's suicidal. There is no other explanation. No one else is that mind-numbingly brainless.
Except for Bella obviously, and of course because how else is she going to potentially get the boy back, because how else can you explain the fact the Alice just then conveniently sees her "death" setting in motion a whole new set of unrealistic consequences. Harry dies at just the right moment so that when Edward calls Jacob can nastily tell him that Charlie is preparing a funeral? Are we all going to pretend like Jacob didn't know exactly who he was talking to? And Edward? Killing yourself over a girl you just met when you have an eternity ahead of you? Romeo and Juliet, you two are not. I'd maybe settle for Dumb and Dumber?
Especially when she starts "answering" the voice that she already knows is in her head. Case in point.
"Don't do this" the voice in her head pleaded.
"You wanted me to be human, well watch me"
"Please. For Me." the voice in her head pleaded again.
"You won't stay with me any other way"
Uhh Bella you do realize he's not really staying with you when you're hearing his voice in your head right? Perhaps she should have taken this for what it really was. A psychiatric break. A desperate plea from her subconscious to get the help she so obviously needs. Or maybe, just a not so gentle reminder that not only was Edward was an overbearing asshole, but she had been putting her life (human or otherwise) on the back burner for far too long in an attempt to be with him.
And I'm getting off track. So anyway, Edward goes to kill himself, (conveniently just as Bella decides to try and be happy with Jacob), and Bella manages to miraculously save him at the last second (and in doing so puts an even bigger target on her back). Then she forgives him for putting her through almost an entire year of torment? Of leaving her without a backward glance? We come to understand he's been living away from the rest of his "family" and yet none of them go against his wishes to keep an eye on Bella? To make sure she's okay? Alice may not have been able to see Bella when she's with Jake, but she had to have seen/known just how zombie-like Bella had been from the time they left until the time she started hanging out in La Push.
Of course not. Because it's Edward. And he can do no wrong.
*insert rolling my eyes so hard I nearly lose them here* At least having finished this book, I'm at the halfway point of the series. And having a lot of trouble trying to recall what I found so fascinating about these books when they first came out.
*******************
New Moon is available from Amazon.com
 by Stephenie Meyer){kind=link}
Post a Comment
0 Comments