Twenty years ago, Stephenie Meyer released Twilight and threw a bomb into the teen romance scene. Twilight could have been the end of the story, but honestly, there were some unanswered questions that readers needed answered, so less than a year later, she released New Moon and created more questions than answers.
[Warning: My review of New Moon contains some spoilers!]
Danger is everywhere for Bella in New Moon
It’s Bella’s 18th birthday, and she’s not happy. She will now be older than her boyfriend, Edward, forever. And not in the usual “I was born in May, and you were born in November, so I’m older” way. You see, Edward is a vampire, forever frozen at 17. When Bella was still 17 that was fine, but now that she grows older than him every day (not really but explain that to a teenager) she’s seriously depressed. When Edward’s family throws her a birthday party that almost ends with her death, things get worse. As a fragile human hanging out with vampires, she’s always in danger. Bella sees a simple solution to the problem: become a vampire herself. Edward sees a very different solution: leave and never see Bella again. Guess which one he chooses.
When Edward leaves, Bella is thrown into a deep depression. Like catatonic depression. Only the threat of being sent to sunny Florida (somewhere Edward could never be) makes any impression on her. She still is a zombie inside, but she starts to show signs of life to make Charlie (her dad) happy. Then she accidentally discovers that putting herself in danger makes her hallucinate Edward’s voice. Like a junkie fiending for a hit, Bella looks all around Forks for ways to endanger herself. In the process, she renews her friendship with Jacob Black and finds that being around him helps her feel better. Don’t get me wrong, she’s still very messed up, but Jacob just makes it bearable.
Then disaster strikes poor Bella again. Jacob gets mysteriously ill, then starts to ignore her. It’s like her world has imploded all over again. Luckily for her, Jacob finds a way back into her life. He gives her just enough clues for her to figure out that more than just the cold ones from Quileute legends are real, the werewolves are too. And young werewolves, like Jacob has become, are extremely dangerous to be around, accidents can happen all too easily as they learn self-control, that’s why Bella can’t be around him.
Until they learn that there’s something even more dangerous to Bella than young werewolves out there. Victoria, the mate of the vampire that tried to kill Bella last year, is hunting Bella. She wants revenge against Edward for killing James. The irony is that Edward isn’t even around to know it. The only reason she hasn’t gotten her yet is that the werewolves have been chasing her off. And that’s not even the end of Bella’s troubles! At the rate danger is surrounding her, she won’t have to worry about having another birthday; she isn’t going to make it that long.
A love triangle with only two people in this Stephenie Meyer novel
Bella is not really there anymore in New Moon. When Edward breaks up with her, she completely falls apart. A lot of people criticized the way she responded to her loss and felt that Meyers should have made her stronger. But let’s be honest, teenage girls aren’t known for being strong when relationships end. Especially when they fall as hard as Bella did. It’s much more realistic to have Bella completely lose it.
Then there’s the whole Jacob angle. Jacob is obviously very into Bella. Does she use this a little to get what she wants? Yeah. Is it wrong? Honestly, not really. I say this because she’s very upfront with Jacob that she’s broken and that he has no chance; they’re just friends. Jacob acknowledges this and accepts the challenge. At that point, Bella is no longer doing anything wrong. Especially since she tries very hard to keep things in the friend zone with Jacob. She can’t be blamed for Jacob’s feelings nor held accountable for them, especially when she let him know from the beginning how she felt. I feel awful for Jacob, and I wish that Bella could change her heart, but she can’t, and that’s okay. Especially with a relationship that intense, that included trauma bonding, you can’t move on in an instant. It’s a sad situation all around, but it’s well-written and makes absolute sense from a psychological standpoint.
Edwards’s choice in New Moon
I remember when New Moon came out, there was a lot of conversation about Edward refusing to turn Bella into a vampire and choosing to leave her to protect her. I remember people saying that it was wrong, an example of a man trying to control a woman, and completely unacceptable. They would say that Bella had made her choice and Edward should honor it. And I completely understand that. As a young adult myself, I said the same things.
Now that I’m rereading New Moon as an adult (and as a mother of three boys), I acknowledge Bella has a right to make a choice, but I have to ask, doesn’t Edward also get to make a choice? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for female empowerment, but that shouldn’t come at the cost of male self-determination. Bella can choose “I wish to be with you, and I want to be a vampire.” But if Edward is uncomfortable with that decision, he should be able to say no. In a relationship, both people need to be comfortable with the choices made and the compromises reached; otherwise, it’s not a good relationship.
So when Edward chooses to break up with Bella because he doesn’t think the relationship is good for either of them, that’s not him “making the decision for her”, it’s making the decision for himself, which he has every right to do. If the situation were reversed and Bella wanted to end the relationship because it wasn’t safe, and Edward tried to insist they stay together, I think we’d see things differently. Just some food for thought for those who think Edward should have just folded to Bella’s demands.
This second novel in the Twilight Saga is still a great story
I loved New Moon when it came out (although I was rather frustrated with Bella for not falling for Jake). Reading it again after all these years, I still love it. I am still frustrated with Bella for how she feels, I still feel awful for Jake, and I still think Edward should have stayed gone. But I loved revisiting the story. And the new perspective my years give me made the story that much more enjoyable. If you’ve never read Meyer’s Twilight series and you need some romance, I strongly recommend checking the series out before the movies come out later this month. They are good movies, but they don’t do the books justice. If you read the series when you were young, go back and read it again. It’s nice to have a little fantasy in your life.
Rating: 9/10
New Moon is now available to purchase at your retailer of choice.
Learn more about the book at the official website for the title.
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