New Moon - Stephenie Meyer

I devoured Twilight as a teenage girl might have done - I found the concepts fascinating, although the first couple of chapters seemed a little long winded. I came away from the book energised, eager to read the next installment.

New Moon is number two in the Twilight saga - unfortunately it may be the last I read. I found the first 3/4 of the novel to be nothing more than a template of Twilight - and felt that Ms Meyer had simply filled in the blanks with new names. There are far too many similarities in the two - a young girl always getting into trouble to gain the attention of the opposite sex, not only the opposite sex, but ones with extras - vampires or werewolves. Not just any young girl, a rather pathetic one at that, who needs constant protection from herself and other hazards, I'm left wondering if this is what Ms Meyer herself was like as a teen? A rogue vampire chasing her down, putting herself and her father Charlie in danger feature in both novels. Where is the originality? Has the author felt the need to stick with a safe plot - one that sold previously therefore lets go with it again?

Jacob became an interesting character, however, he featured far too much, taking up the first 400 or so pages. My reading revved up once Alice returned with the Cullens.

The one piece of writing that I will applaud, that had a great effect on me was the scene in which Bella is left in the forest once Edward leaves - very moving. But I was left cold from there on, almost quitting on the whole book as it became so depressing after that scene. I carried on with encouragement from others who had read it. I will give the other books in the series a wide berth for some time, although I am assured that they are better and that New Moon is the least entertaining read. 2.5/5