Twilight (2) - New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
And now to thrilling part two of the series about a vampire and a human falling in love - New Moon (in French Tentation, in German Bis(s) zur Mittagsstunde). I read its 563 pages in English. Originally published 2006.
Bella's eighteen now - and doesn't want to get older. She wants to be young forever, with Edward. But unfortunately, he has other plans: Telling her he couldn't be with her any more, he leaves. Just like that. Not for a week, or for a month, or even a year, but for all eternity. Bella falls into a depression, only functioning for her parents. But then, she does something reckless, dangerous - and hears HIS voice... Desperate to keep the memory alive, she begins to mess with motorcycles - with help of her favourite mechanic, Jacob Black. Well, the vehicle is not the only thing Jake fixes... Until, suddenly, she's all alone once more. And the vampires return to Forks: the kind of vampires that want to kill Bella. And all of the sudden, the second part of the legends come true just before her eyes.
This is my absolute favourite part of the Twilight-Series. The characters are wonderful, the plot and the ideas are gorgeous and it is so emotional, tense and breath-taking I never wanted to stop reading it. I feel so sorry for Bella when I read this, but I'm also kinda impressed. She's really strong to be able to halfway cope with all of this. True, she doesn't do it perfectly well, but at least she hasn't given up fighting. Not for her, but for her family, and, later on, Jake. And I think this is really cool.
Jacob himself is a wonderful, warm person. I totally understand why she wanted to give him a chance, even though she knew she'd never love him like Edward. This, actually, is explained here. Not like in the movie. You know, Bella isn't actually a cold-hearted whore: She loves Jake in her own way. And she knows that Edward will never ever ever come back (okay, this is actually wrong, but shoot it). These two things as well as her guilty conscience – because Jake did so much for her – made her nearly kiss him. Like I said, she really loves him. This book really makes you feel sorry for Jake. If I didn't know the ending... I don't know.
However, I don't like that Edward just got away with what he's done – without being yelled at, I mean. He completely overruled her explicit decision. She knew what she was asking! He told her about the risks and everything – more than once. She knew what it means to be eternal and see everyone wither and die around her. She still made this decision. He shouldn't have overruled her like this. I mean, I understand why he was doing it, but you just can't take a decision like that away from someone. That's really really disrespectful. But, in the end, I'm glad they're together again. Like I said, they are the perfect match.
But I'm sorry for Charlie. He's not happy with Edward for Bella – understandable. First, they have a date and she comes back, yelling she leaves Forks and never ever wants to come home; then he leaves her and she breaks. And then he's back again and both pretend it never happened – at least this is what it looks like for him.
The pack is wonderful. Especially Emily. I like her very, very much.
The Voluturi on the other hand are not so wonderful – but fascinating, really. I like Aro and what he created with his “brothers” I'm so sorry for these poor people, but it makes sense. You couldn't have so many civilized vegetarian vampires.
Okay, stars for plot, ideas, characters, style and, last but not least, for the emotionality of this book, for the gorgeous way of telling how Bella keeps on fighting, even though she knows there is nothing to be won. It's great.