A review by revolverreads
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This December, we took a page out of Edward Cullen’s High School Survival Guide: Bad Breakups 101, or the guide on how to not break up with your underage girlfriend whose self esteem is practically nonexistent. 

In The Twilight Saga, New Moon, Meyer reintroduces us to Bella Swan, however this time around she’s not our decisive, and determined protagonist. Rather, we begin this tale with 17 going on 80 year-old Bella Swan who finds herself devastated when Edward Cullen abruptly leaves her, sending her spiraling into a deep depression. Bella’s emotional turmoil and grief is difficult to digest. Dumped by her vampire boyfriend, Bella is barely making it through the day. She categorizes herself as a “fixer upper”, broken and worthless of not only Edward’s affections, but everyone else’s as well. Meyer delves into the depths of her grief, capturing the rawness of her heartbreak and abandonment. 

That is, until she reconnects with long time family friend (and literal ray of warmth and sunshine)  Jacob Black. Somehow this 16 year old boy is better than a 100 year old vampire at communicating. Jacob is patient, thoughtful, and understanding (at least in this installment), and despite undergoing a very traumatic transformation into a literal wolf, proves himself to be the best friend a traumatized girl can ask for.  After all, as feminists, we support women's rights as well as women's wrongs. And that includes motorcycle rides, and hanging out with supernatural beings that could permanently disfigure you in a moment's notice. That is until Bella finally decides to fling herself off of a cliff and call it cliff diving. 

Bella’s near death experience brings back the only Cullen who had any common sense, Alice. Together they hurry to Italy and into the dangerous grasp of the Volturi, as Bella tries to save Edward from exposing himself to the humans. Despite hundreds of years of living on planet earth, and a plethora of academic distinctions, Edward has the intelligence of a potato. That’s fine, we love a good spud. 

Ultimately, this time around, we found ourselves not team Edward, or team Jacob but rather team Bella. Team Bella needs to go to therapy like Charlie suggested. 

So please, grab your galoshes and your teenage angst and join us as we get into much more detail on our podcast. Check us out at Revolver Reads: A Bookclub Russian Roulette on your podcast platform of choice, or simply @revolverreads on Instagram and let us know what you think. If you’d like to email us any future book suggestions for our roulette wheel, feel free to send them to [email protected].
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