New Moon / Stephenie Meyer

New Moon

(category: fantasy, romance)
book 2 of Twilight by

Stephenie Meyer

published by Atom in 2006
Nick read a new book, in March 2010

Nick's rating: 8 out of 10

Nick's opinion:

Another great romance! Okay, I've also labelled it as a fantasy but romance is the main theme: Bella still has to remind herself to breathe when she is kissing Edward. There are hints that this love may be even more; that Bella and Edward are linked at some mystic level of conjoined souls; that there is some physical requirement for proximity, that the two will physically collapse if their love is not requited.

Still, any reader of romances knows that that is all true of any pair of true lovers.

I did feel that New Moon was shading into "horror" but it's a relatively light touch. It is, however, definitely "fantasy". Twilight could almost have been pure romance: tweak here, minor rewrite there, make Edward an innocent member of a Mafia family, the fantasy could have been downplayed even further. New Moon depends on the fantasy element: if Jacob was able to put on a suit and tie and become an FBI agent, the book would just not be the same.

You could almost see these first two Twilight volumes as being chapters one through four of a single novel: first, introduce Bella and Edward, then introduce Jacob and the Volturi. Next volume will -- I hope -- build up the conflict, to be resolved in volume four. I look forward to it!

An aside on the Volturi: They live in a castle, in the walled Italian town of Volterra. Top of a mountain, cramped town with narrow streets, car park outside... Is this the same town that was visited -- at great peril -- by the hero of The Genesis Code? Or is Italy just littered with these closed-in, closed-off towns of mystery...

I was surprised, in New Moon, at how small a role was played by vampires. My mistake: I had understood the books to be about vampires but the fantasy scope is much broader than that. I enjoyed meeting Jacob and his friends; I appreciated the heartbreak of his one-sided love -- with no expectation (for the reader) that Bella would ever love him in return. His brave acceptance that he is suddenly no good for Bella -- then he is dropped, without ceremony, when Edward returns to Bella's life. Ah! young love! Oh! the pain!

New Moon is every bit as good as Twilight. Perhaps even better... I had been wondering just where the author could go with the human/vampire love story. My wondering has been more than satisfied. I look forward to reading books three and four... but not immediately. There is, after all, a limit -- be still, my beating heart! -- to the level of tormented romance which I can handle at any one time.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes & documents, email nick leth at gmail dot com.