(2006)Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy Romance
Synopsis: Star-crossed lovers Bella and Edward return find themselves facing new obstacles, including a devastating separation, the mysterious appearance of dangerous wolves roaming the forest in Forks, a terrifying threat of revenge from a female vampire, and a deliciously sinister encounter with Italy’s reigning royal family of vampires, the Volturi.
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Review: Can I just note for anyone who didn’t read my Twilight ramble: I’m a shameless fan of this series, the fact that I am about to criticize it relentlessly is due to the fact that, looking at it objectively, Meyer spoiled a fantastic concept by executing it one-dimensionally for superficial teenage girls. This made me bitter, as it means even Anne Rice (Anne Rice!!!) is better, despite Meyer’s wonderful base concepts.
Now, I saved my Jacob discussion for this book because it focuses so much on him. The first 50 pages are paradise with Bella and Edward, but then he has an angst attack and the whole family uproots and takes off overnight. Cue, Jacob. Jacob is a relatively small character in Twilight – he informs Bella about the legends regarding the Cullens being vampires, as endorsed by his tribe, the Quileutes. I even liked him in Twilight. When he comes onto the scene in New Moon, I have to agree with the general consensus in saying that he’s probably the most well developed character in the series. I like vampires, and I’ve never liked werewolves (which was obviously where this was going) and yet, I found myself strangely liking this character I inherently wanted to dislike. So clap clap to Meyer for that one. He starts off as a sweet although cheeky teenage boy, unsettled by the changes going on around him. He ends up being a thoughtless idiot. Obviously, Meyer isn’t hugely keen on werewolves either. Surprisingly, despite devoting several hundred pages to the werewolves, we’re left with a distinctly one-dimensional view of them which never gets developed any further (except that to say in the 4th book that they're not werewolves at all, but shape-shifters. But don't worry! I didn't spoil anything, as someone just casually mentions it in the space of two lines and its dismissed, never to be mentioned again.)
Even more unfortunately, the development of Jacob is marred by Bella’s masochistic tendancies as inspired by her undead lover abandoning her. The basic gist of this book is: ‘Hallucinations are good, even if you have to jump off a cliff to get them, especially considering the implicit trauma which caused them will go away the minute your soulmate returns.’ Fortunately (yes, there is a ‘fortunately’ amidst this disaster) the story DOES pick up when Alice returns to Forks to inform Bella about her suicidal Romeo. Cue fast paced action adventure which doesn’t make up for the previous 400 pages, but which is irrelevant to them so you can just skip them if you like. Of course, don’t get me wrong, this adventure is even more surreal than that in the first book, and has no saving grace except, as per usual, the superb concepts Meyer hints at, but which she doesn't have the talent to develop.
Funnily enough, the first book ended with Bella saying, ‘I want to be a vampire.’ The second book ended with the vampires minus Edward saying ‘we agree.’ …What purpose exactly did that middle 590 pages serve? Meyer could easily have made this series a trilogy – leave out the Romeo and Juliet, focus on Edward in Book 1, Jacob in Book 2, and have the whole thing come to a head in Book 3. I’m sure she could have thrown the Volturi in some other way, since she hardly develops them, either.
What it comes down to is this – in order to follow Jacob’s character you need to read most of this book. If you are a die-hard Jacob fan, you may well enjoy this. If you are not, you’ll be smacking the book off a wall before Edward makes his return, and if you have any sense, you won’t have read Twilight/sacrificed your soul in the first place. This book is a one-read-through, necessary for following the plot - just do it quickly to lessen the pain.
P.S. Watching the movie and seeing Taylor Lautner will make you like Jacob. This has yet to be disproven by just about anyone. Additional clap-clap to Taylor for doing what the author herself was incapable of.
Rating: 3/5
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