Book Review: The Water Wars

So, as you can see, we've had a long hiatus here at ArtisticallySpeaking, but hopefully this will end it. In the time we've been gone, JP has dropped out of the project, but I'm pleased to announce the arrival of new team member Taylor. We're close friends, and hopefully with her, we'll be able to increase the output of book reviews on the site. In the following weeks, I'm going to see if I can add even more team members to ArtisticallySpeaking.

But, enough with the announcements. Today's review is for The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher (Dinner with Dad, Double Billing). As usual *SPOILER ALERT*

 

6.5 stars out of 10

In The Water Wars, Cameron Stracher creates a post-apocalyptic world where governments hoard the last remaining fresh water on earth, and the rest is desalinated from the oceans or sucked out of clouds. Borders have been redrawn and countries eliminated from the map. The citizens of the earth live off the water the government rations them and what other they can afford. When Vera, a citizen of the new Republic of Illinowa (an area that encompasses the former-day midwest of the United States), watches Kai, dump water into the dusty remains of the ground, she's astounded. But, when Kai tells her that he knows a secret source of fresh water that nobody has to pay for, Vera and her brother Will befriend the boy. When Kai disappears, kidnapped by a greedy desalination corporation bent on controlling all the water of the earth, Vera and Will must team up with water pirates, fight hypocritical environmental agencies, and venture across the North American continent to not only save Kai, but to gain fresh water for the entire world.

Stracher creates a wonderful premise in this young adult novel, but, to me, the book seemed to be lacking something. The character development was not done very well, and although each character could have been very interesting, the quickly-paced book never seemed to have time to explain why characters acted in their ways. Some information was revealed about each of the characters, but not enough to make me really understand what they were going through.

Also, the back story of the entire Water Wars was never completely explained. To my knowledge, water is a renewable resource, so what happened to the abundant flow of fresh water to cause this worldwide drought? Stracher comments on wars of the past and a time called "The Great Panic" but never explained what happened to all the drinkable water. Did pollution ruin it? Did global warming cause it to evaporate? We may never know.

Despite its flaws, The Water Wars, is a wonderfully paced novel. From the opening paragraph to the closing words, you will not want to put this book down. Stracher constantly engages the reader, but never overwhelms them, bringing you to new locations and introducing new characters throughout the entire novel. Be assured that you'll want to know what happens to Kai, Vera, and Will, and will not want to stop until you read the ending.

Very much in the style of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, Stracher's book earned a 6.5/10 stars in my opinion.

Book Review: The Book of Lost Things

No, I haven't abandoned the blog! I know we only have 3 followers as of yet, but hopefully the word spreads (especially now that I'm back on). Anyway, I've read a couple of books since the last time I posted, and reviews for them will be up shortly.

Today's review is for The Book of Lost Things by: John Connolly.
As usual *SPOILER ALERT*

Overall Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

In The Book of Lost Things, 12-year-old David, while trying to cope with the death of his mother, the new woman his father married, and his hatred for his new step-brother Georgie, accidently steps into a fantasy world filled with fairy tale characters. Drawn by wonder, and the promise that the king of this world will help him get back to his own, David travels through this fairy-tale world, guided by Roland (from Robert Browning's poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came). On his way he meets fairy tale characters we're used to (i.e. Snow White), and some that we aren't (i.e. The Goose Girl). But David realizes that not everything he knew about fairy tales is true in this world, and soon uncovers a dark plot that the king himself is involved in.

I give this book an 8 out of 10 stars. Although Connolly's prose can sometimes be boring, it overall flows very well, even imitating that of a fairy tale. Some of the fairy tales allusions can be difficult to understand, as Connolly changes them and uses some less common tales, but the version shown above (with the red cover) has an appendix devoted to explaining the references, and containing the actual tales themselves. It's not a particularly fast read, but you don't want it to be fast. Connolly stirs up emotions so well, that you truthfully never want the story to end.

On a side note, if you've never read Robert Browning's Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, I highly suggest it. It's a great poem, and serves as the inspiration to Stephen King's Dark Tower series, which are some of my favorite books.

As always, I hope this review was helpful! Happy reading!

Book Review: Breaking Dawn

Review by Cassie, a.k.a. awesomely cool Twi-fan (but that’s an oxymoron, so… :P )

8.4 out of 10 stars

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT, although if you’re reading these reviews you’ve probably read the book anyway.

After the disappointment that was Eclipse, it’s nice to read something with a little more substance. Meyer’s last installment of the Twilight Saga may not have the action that the other books have, but it’s a nice ending to what is arguably the most popular teen series ever. Yes, I said ever.

Basic outline- Bella and Edward get married, Jacob doesn’t like it (especially since Bella plans on having sex with her husband who can easily snap her spine in half), Bella gets pregnant (didn’t see that one coming), names her daughter Renesmee (which is easily the worst name I’ve ever heard in my life), and Jacob imprints on this tiny half vampire creature thing. Bella is turned into a vampire. I like this so far. There’s not really a major conflict yet, but it’s enough to sink my teeth into for now.

After all this, the real conflict arrives. Renesmee is spotted by a vampire from another clan, who thinks she is a child the Cullens bit so they could play house forever (or something like that). Making child vampires is against the vampire code, so the Volturi are immediately alerted. Now the Volturi are on their way to Forks to destroy the child who has been dubbed “Nessie”, because Renesmee is a terrible name. Jasper and Alice skip out on the Cullens (or so we think), but leave clues for Bella to follow so Nessie and Jacob can run away from the Volturi and be safe. The Cullens, knowing that the Volturi have been misinformed, start to gather friends from across the world to make a stand against them. Their friends add a lot to the story, mostly because they break up the monotony of having the same characters throughout the series.

And THEN, after all that, the Volturi arrive looking for a fight, but decide to talk about their problems with the Cullens instead. Oh, and Bella can now shield anyone in the vicinity from mind attacks, which upsets Jane and Alec, whose powers affect opponents’ minds. After talking for a while, when everyone is about to fight… JASPER AND ALICE TO THE RESCUE! Along with another guy. This other guy is half vampire, half human, and convinces the Volturi to leave Nessie and her family alone, because once these half breeds reach adulthood, they’re fine. No big deal.

So after hundreds of pages of preparing for a fight, the Volturi leave, never to bother the Cullens again. Well, until they have some other reason to destroy them. And the Cullens, plus Jacob, live happily ever after.

But wait, hold on a sec! Werewolves aren’t undead, are they? Actually, if you remember correctly, one of the early chief werewolves lived three human lives before he imprinted on a woman, and only then did he give up his furry ways to grow old with his imprint-ee. Seeing as Nessie is undead, Jacob won’t ever age, either.

I’m getting exhausted just outlining the plot! But let’s look at the actual writing. It’s undeniable that Meyer has matured exponentially since writing Twilight. The story actually flows together seamlessly, without the gaping holes in plot and character development found in the first book. Meyer’s writing got progressively smoother and more grown-up as the series continued. Like almost every other author on the market, Meyer needed a few years to really get a good sense of who she was as a writer. I believe that after two books, she really blossomed as a novelist. The writing in Eclipse and Breaking Dawn is on a completely different level than Twilight and New Moon. Her adult novel, the Host, which was written somewhere between Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, only furthers my point. The Host is the best example of Meyer’s skill as an author, I believe. Maybe I’ll do a review of that one next.

Besides the obvious growth and maturity of Meyer throughout the process, The Twilight Saga has a good message. Between the fluff and sometimes annoyingly extreme characters, the whole point of the books is that Bella follows her heart and loves with everything she has. Yes, there’s conflicting feelings and yes, her love starts out as simple infatuation, but at the end of it all, nothing can come between her and the love she has not only for Edward, but for Nessie, Jacob, and the rest of her family. It’s true that the books don’t teach a whole lot about values or morality, but the overriding factor is the incredible amount of love Bella possesses for the people in her life. It’s a message worth writing about.

They’re not the greatest works of literature, nor do they stimulate the mind like other books do, but Stephenie Meyer has created a cultural phenomenon that will not soon be forgotten. As a fan of the books before the movies came out, I can easily say that I truly enjoyed reading all four books in the Twilight Saga. I look forward to whatever Meyer comes up with next, and I hope we can continue to enjoy her writing for years to come.

David’s Review


3 out of 10 stars



Well, it’s finally been done. I’ve pushed my way through all four of the Twilight books. Now, if I’m correct, you’ve just gasped at the rating I’ve given this book for one of two reasons:

1. You’ve just realized that Cassie and I have a 5.4 star rating difference in our reviews

OR

2. You’ve just realized that I’ve rated Breaking Dawn the highest of all of the four books in the series.

Cassie outlined the plot in the above review well enough, so I’ll go ahead and start my complaining as usual. The beginning of the book starts with Bella (still) worrying about getting married. Edward gave her a nice new shiny car that we never hear about ever again. The two get married at a beautiful ceremony put together all by Alice-the only vampire worth liking. Finally, the two go on vacation to an island that was purchased by Carlisle (Edward’s vampire-daddy) for Esme (Carlisle’s mate (yes, I say “mate” not wife, as vampires aren’t considered human)). Here we learn that Bella is the stereotypical male in a relationship while Edward is a stereotypical woman. Bella’s sex-crazy, while Edward just wants to please her.

Not surprisingly Bella gets pregnant.

Here, we go into a whole new section of the book, focused on our furry-friend Jacob. Truthfully, I enjoyed this section (which means a lot, coming from me, the biggest Twi-hater there is). We live through Jacob’s eyes as he learns that he can stand up for what he wants, and finally imprints on Renesmee, Bella’s half-vampire half-human daughter. Lovely. In fact, I believe this would be the perfect ending to the entire series. Everybody gets what they want, Bella’s a vampire, and Jacob found his true love. Unfortunately, we’re only halfway through Breaking Dawn.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love some good fantasy- in fact, fantasy is probably my favorite genre- and I would have accepted the vampire-human that is Renesmee. The problem is, it seems like Meyer couldn’t accept her, and decide to take the scientific approach to explaining the baby’s existence. This is her theory (expressed through Carlisle):

1. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes. (This is absolutely true)

2. Werewolves have 24 pairs of chromosomes. (Explaining their difference to humans)

3. Vampires have 25 pairs of chromosomes. (Also explaining their difference)

Here’s the issue though: if you have 23 pairs of chromosomes, you can only mate with something that also has 23 pairs. Therefore, Renesmee is physically impossible. And, if we’re taking a scientific approach, the werewolves should have died out with the first generation, as they wouldn’t be able to breed with humans anyway. Also, Edward shouldn’t be able to mate with Bella, as you need blood running through your veins to perform said task.

Anyway, the Volturi, the law-keepers in the vampire world mistake Renesmee (we’ll call her Nessie, like Jacob) as an immortal child, or a child that was bitten by a vampire. It’s against vamp-law to do this, and they want to kill the Cullens. The Cullens then team together to gather a vast variety of other vampires to try to tell the Volturi otherwise. They prepare to fight the Volturi, in case they aren’t willing to listen. The werewolves promise to help too.

(At this points my thoughts were something along the lines of: Sweet! Epic vampire/werewolf battle!)

Unfortunately, Meyer once again disappoints. The battle scene begins, and the Volturi talk with the Cullens and their friends. Suddenly Alice and Jasper come back from their mysterious disappearance with another human-vampire mix, and the battle’s over, as the Volturi see that Nessie is the same. No epic battle scene. A cliché happy ending. How…Twilight-esque.

Here’s a list of many of my complaints:

1. Hair kissing/smelling is super gross, and I’ve been sick of it since book one. Seriously, Stephenie, stop it.

2. Bella, about sex says, “…I can’t imagine life gets any better than that.” Setting a great example for the millions upon millions of Twi-hards.

3. The Cullens can cook quite well for a family that eats off of raw animal flesh and blood.

4. Edward wants to use Bella, for example: “Sex was the key all along?...I could have saved myself a lot of arguments…”

5. Bella says she connects with Jacob on a level that she can’t with Edward. Wait…why exactly didn’t she marry Jacob then?

6. If I’m correct, Bella says “I love you” at least twice to Jacob before uttering it once to Edward.

7. Meyer seems to be unable to hinder her use of the word “masochist”, she must be one herself.

8. Edward wants Bella to get over Jacob. Seriously, even he realizes she still likes him. Why did she marry Edward?

9. Bella swears she doesn’t still love Jacob, yet she wants to name her baby after him, if it’s a boy.

10. Until this book, I didn’t think Meyer’s descriptions of Edward could become more annoying…they can.

11. Bella never achieves anything…seriously, the Cullens hand her everything (a car, a cell phone, a house).

12. Bella: “Our time on the island had been the epitome of my human life”-Bella lived for sex. That’s a great example, is it not?

13. Bella is upset that her 18 year-old friend fell in love with her newborn daughter by magic, but not that a 150 year-old vampire fell in love with her by chance? Ah…I see

14. Why would Meyer want to make Jacob a persisting issue? It’s too hard to make problems in plots…it’s far easier to make him imprint on Renesmee.

15. Of course, Meyer, skip the battle scene. They’ll just have a calm debate and the Volturi will leave.

16. No joke, Meyer describes the clothing of the characters. I still have no idea what many of the characters look like physically, just that they wear button downs, or sweaters.

17. Breaking Dawn is definitely a Twilight book…a build up to an anticlimactic ending. How wonderful.

18. Seriously, in four books, Meyer never writes ONE battle scene.

19. Leah's problem of being the only female werewolf is never once solved. Why is she the only one to have ever existed? Is it a genetic problem? Did the large amount of vampires spark it? Meyer could have referenced here to many problems today of sexism and sexuality, yet instead left a gaping hole.

I have to end this, or this review is going to be crazy long. So, here we go: as in the last book, I took a tally. The two tallies this time are the “Barf tally” for anything extremely gross/overly romantic, and the “Adjective tally” for the times that Meyer overly describes Edward as perfect. The total for the barf tally is 11%! Yes, that’s right, 11% of this book makes David barf! The total for the adjective tally is 5.84%, meaning that 1/20 of this book is describing Edward.

Certainly, this obsession isn’t going to leave anytime soon, but in my opinion it’s quite possible the worst obsession there is. The books are highly overrated, and really, have nothing much to be praised about. My average rating for the series is 2 stars, and nothing anybody says can make my mind change that.

Book Review: Eclipse

*SPOILER ALERT*

David’s Review


2 out of 10 stars

If, like me, you have pushed through the first three books of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series, I commend you greatly. You my friend have conquered complete boredom, plot-less-ness, and completely clichéd romance scenes. Also, I’m sorry that you were unfortunate enough to read the first three books. But, this review isn’t about the other three books in the series. It’s about Eclipse, the third book.

It’s hard even to find a place to start this review. Do I start at the age level it’s aimed for and its appropriateness for that level? Or do I start at the cheesiness? Maybe the boredom I experienced while reading it? Yes, that seems like a good place to start.

In pattern with the other three books, Eclipse starts plot-less. Yes, it does seem that the first chapter may be meaningful to the plot, but really, that’s not the main part of the plot, and could be used without. Instead, once again, we’re forced to sit through chapters of bad romance (rah rah ah ah ah!), and Bella complaining more about (what else?) a party. But now, it’s a graduation party! Way to change it up there, Mrs. Meyer. I will admit one thing that I actually liked about the book was the use of intercalary chapters for use of exposition. It really is interesting to learn the background stories of many of the minor and major characters. Unfortunately, these chapters come in sudden succession, and, instead of giving each story a chapter, Meyer uses dialogue to portray these stories, and it causes slight boredom, as not much imagery can be used through dialogue.

Here’s the basic run-down of the plot (WARNING: PG-13 RATING FOR ADULT THEMES):

Jacob’s still angry with Bella. Bella, with the help of her amazingly awesome, perfect, beautiful, boyfriend (I’m sorry Stephanie, I know that wasn’t nearly as many adjectives as you used to describe him), has finally been accepted into a college, in Alaska, so, when she’s a vampire she won’t sparkle in the sun. Edward wants Bella to marry him. She says not until we have sex. He says too bad. INTERCALARY CHAPTERS. Newborn vampires, under the control of Victoria are trying to kill Bella. GRADUATION PARTY. The werewolves and vampires team up to fight the newborns. INTERCALARY CHAPTERS. Edward and Bella fight more about sex and marriage. The battle starts. After convincing Edward to stay with her, Bella once again fights with him about having sex. CLIMACTIC SCENE (which is slightly less anticlimactic than the climaxes in the other books). More arguing between Edward and Bella. She agrees to marry him, though still wants to have sex. THE END.

I don’t know if the rest of you realize this, but Bella wants to have SEX with Edward! I know fourth-graders who are reading this book! Let me repeat that, FOURTH-GRADERS, and this book is aimed toward that age group! So, Meyer, do you really think that’s appropriate?

Not only does that make it age-inappropriate, it adds a new (or should I say, the first) level to the conflict. Bella thinks that getting married to the person she’s madly in love with, is like, totally 1987! And, Edward, thinking the opposite, decides to USE Bella’s lust against her. Yes, I did just use the word use, Edward USES Bella, and yet, she remains in love with him. He tells her, “There is only [the marriage] that I want to speed up…your impatient human hormones are my most powerful ally at this point.” He uses her, so she’ll marry him, and she doesn’t even want to! On marriage she says, “It’s not really my idea…but yet. It means a lot to him. I figure, why not?” Isn’t this book so romantic, and not sexist?

All this while, our lovely, extremely talented author (HA!), throws in many, many make-out scenes that make no sense. Apparently, while your boyfriends lips are on your neck, and yours are in his hair, you can have deep intellectual conversation, or, at least, that’s what Meyer believes. Since the other two were what I call “barf-tastic” I decided that I would tally the number of times the romance got out of control and clichéd. My number: 102. With simple math, using the formula barf-moments/page numbers, I figured that 16.2% of this book was dedicated to making me barf. Yes, almost a fifth of this book made me barf.

As usual, there’s much, much more I could say about this book, but I’ll try to keep the review as short as possible. My recommendation is on par with the other two novels. If you haven’t read it already, there’s nothing spectacular you’re missing.

Cassie's Review:
6 stars on a good day, 5.5 stars on a bad day (out of 10, of course)


Although Eclipse was a necessary element in the Twilight Saga, it makes no impression on the literary world, good or otherwise. The lack of substance is deplorable, and although it flows better than both Twilight and New Moon, there’s nothing for the reader to grasp.

The story is predictable. Edward and Jacob are now at odds because they’re both in love with Bella, Bella is stupid and wishy washy as usual, and something about an army of newborn vampires (I can’t really recall exactly what). Basically, you get a few hundred pages of fluff, with some good vocabulary thrown in (impending mania, anyone?). And then, get this, Bella realizes she’s In love with both Edward and Jacob, she just loves Edward more. Someone get her a reality check, please.

So far I’ve been pretty negative (although not nearly as bad as my co-reviewer, I’m sure). I’ll throw in a good note. Meyers ties up the whole Victoria problem nicely and with some action, and if you’re Team Jacob, like me, you realize that Bella is ridiculous and Jacob is the obvious choice for anyone. Edward is a little too altruistic to be considered realistic in any way. Edward seriously needs to put up a fight for the person he says he loves so much. And no, it’s not the “if you really love them, you’ll let them go” argument. Edward’s selflessness has now become too annoying to bear, while Jacob seems more like a real person who might actually exist (werevolfishnesss aside). And, above all, the secondary characters are really what makes the book worth reading. We find out about the vampires’ backgrounds, the wolf pack history, and readers get a better sense of the world that Bella lives in.

Although I can’t say it was a great book, the necessity of it is really what makes it a decent read (for those who like the series, anyway). However, if you didn’t like the first two, you’ll hate Eclipse that much more. I apologize for the lack of substance. Breaking Dawn makes up for it, so just stick around for one more book.

Again, if you don’t like the Twilight Saga but want to give Meyer a try, read The Host. It’s got substance, that’s for sure.

Have a good summer, and read a good book.

Movie Review: Monster Starring Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci

This is Artistically Speaking's first ever movie review, so kindly thank JP, would you?

A prostitute, a lover, and a series of murders. This is a biographical-drama that really makes your stomach turn. Based on the true stories of a 1980's prostitute named Aileen(Theron) who was raped at a young age and finds true love, a outcast trying to be accepted for who she is, Selby(Ricci). The two meet when Aileen walks into a gay/lesbian bar in hopes of getting a drink. Selby makes a move in, and the paranoid Aileen is in attack mode. The two fall in love after a intense cinematic moment where the two confirm the attraction with a passionate kiss to the song, "Don't Stop Believing."

In the ambition to meet up later, Aileen needs money to take her on a date, and when trying to make the money, a man beats Aileen and rapes her. This reawakes Aileen's past of her childhood where she was first raped at the age of six, and was beaten by her own father for accusing his friend. Aileen escapes, and kills the man shooting him with a full round of a pistol. She then steals his clothes, and takes Selby to a hotel where the two try to live together in love, and try to make it. The two are dirt poor, and Selby eventually gets suicidal about her life on how she threw away a future for herself, and convinces herself the only way the two can make it is if Aileen goes back to hooking. In high hopes she does, and murders almost all of the people she is picked up by. Eventually it catches up with her in the end, where she kills an ex cop, and is found later. She takes all the blame and leaves Selby innocent, and is taken into prison for twelve years.
I really appreciated the acting in this movie for the first part because I really loved how intense it would get. There was emotional breakdowns that really pulled at my gut. Also, along the same note of great acting, the scenes of them all being in the car, and the first move would be made, in a disrespectful notion, you could see the heart wrench in Aileen's eyes. There is also a very uncomfortable scene of a pity sexual act, and nude scenes.
I disliked how it looked a Lifetime film, but this totally was not. The graphic actions in this was enough to earn this to never be played on TV. Other than that I'd say it was a good film.
One symbol I really liked was the song, "Don't Stop Believing" was really all there was in the song. The ambition to become something that the two always wanted....love.
I'd recommend this film for people who are very open to films, and comfortable to see some graphic sex scenes. If you are not able to handle cussing, blood, crude actions and homosexuality, this film isnt for you.

I'd give it 7/10.

I know the film is old, but I really enjoyed it.

Summer Reading List

Hello all! I know I haven't posted much lately, but I promise, the next book review (Eclipse By: Stephanie Meyer) will be up shortly. Until then I thought I'd post what I'd like to try to read this summer:
Breaking Dawn-Stephanie Meyer
The Book of Dave-Will Self
The City of Ember-Jeanne DePrau
The People of Sparks-Jeanne DePrau
The Prophet of Yonwood-Jeanne DePrau
Voices From the Stree-Phillip K. Dick
The Butt-Will Self
The Book of Lost Things-John Connolly
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime-Mark Haddon
'Salem's Lot-Stephen King
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil-John Berendt
Interview With the Vampire-Anne Rice
The Talisman-Stephen King and Peter Straub
Black House-Stephen King and Peter Straub
Eragon-Christopher Paolini
Eldest-Christopher Paolini
Brisngr-Christopher Paolini
The Keys to the Kingdom Series-Garth Nix
The Life od Pi-Yann Martel
The Phantom Tollbooth-Norton Juster
The Tale of Despereaux-Kate DiCamillo
The Schwa was Here-Neal Shusterman
The End of Mr. Y-Scarlett Thomas
Lisey's Story-Stephen King
The Giver-Lois Lowry
Gathering Blue-Lois Lowry
Messenger-Lois Lowry
A Series of Unfortunate Events-Lemony Snicket
The Chronicles of Narnia-C.S. Lewis
A Fine Dark line-Joe R. Lansdale
Gone-Michael Grant


Now, I know that this list alone looks excesive, but you also have to figure in that I didn't put the "series" books in. The Keys to the Kingdom consists of seven books, as does The Chronicles of Narnia. A Series of Unfortunate Events is comprised of thirteen. So, my list is 54 books long. I've also sorted them (on a seperate piece of paper) into what's top priority and what's not, because many of these books, I would just like to re-read.
If you've read any of these books, tell me your opinion of them int the comments below. Thanks!

Book Review: New Moon

Once again, Cassie and I team up to write a review. This time, we review the sequel to Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, New Moon. Since, my review was first last time, Cassie's will be first this time. As usual SPOILER ALERT!

Cassie's Review:

New Moon- 8 out of 10 stars

She’s done it again. Stephenie Meyer has spawned yet another cultural phenomenon in the form of New Moon. How does she do it? Meyer’s second novel, coupled with its wildly successful movie, fueled the Twi-mania that has taken the country’s teenage population by storm. There’s even been a rise in the number of werewolf novels on the Teen shelves at bookstores. It seems that New Moon has taken the popularity of the Twilight Saga to new heights (it also happens to be my personal favorite book of the series). Why? Let’s look.

I try not to spoil here, but let’s be real, most everyone in the English-speaking world knows what’s up. Edward breaks up with Bella in the beginning of the novel; Bella had been nearly slaughtered at her birthday party by Jasper when she got a paper cut, so the family moves away for her sake (but she thinks Edward stopped loving her, so she doesn’t know the full extent of it). After screaming fits, tantrums, nightmares, and a general apathetic view of life, Charlie threatens to send Bella back to her mom. Bella goes to a movie with a friend to appease Charlie, and through an encounter with a few creepers at a bar, Bella realizes she hears Edward’s voice when she’s in danger. So Bella obtains a couple motorcycles and turns to Jacob Black for assistance repairing them. Its obvious Jacob has a crush on Bella, and they really are best friends, but then Jacob gets “sick” and tries to cut ties, which sends Bella on a downward path toward depression for the second time. Bella tries to make amends, is shaken off by Jacob, and can’t make heads or tails, all the while having strange dreams about wolves and Edward. She figures out, after a little help from a midnight visit from Jacob, that Jacob is a werewolf. Why can’t Bella be monster-free? It would seem she’s a walking supernatural magnet.

Here’s the secondary conflict: Weird deaths have been happening in Forks, and the police think it’s some kind of wild animal. It’s actually Victoria, the sadist vampire mate of James, who Edward killed in a life or death kerfuffle in Twilight. Victoria is looking for Bella; the way she sees it, she has to kill Bella to get back at Edward for killing James. The werewolves are trying to find her, but she keeps evading them. An intriguing secondary storyline, if you ask me. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

After a few chapters of this werewolf versus vampire deal, Alice shows up at Bella’s house. Through yet another unlikely set of circumstances, Edward thinks Bella committed suicide, and is going to the Volturi clan in Italy so they can kill him (vampires have very few options as far as ending their own life, you see). Bella and Alice go to stop him, and stop him they do. I won’t spoil the ending, but I’ll say that it kind of unexpected.

Meyer has obviously improved her writing since Twilight. The plot ambles along with fewer bumps and better quality character development, especially for Jacob. He goes from an eager teenager with a crush on Bella to a mature, responsible young man with an even bigger crush on Bella. The absence of Edward gives readers a better understanding of Bella’s character. We all know she’s still irrational, love-crazed, and ignorant, but we see her in moments of elation, moments of compassion, and in moments of extreme despair. Also, Bella’s struggle with her “failed” relationship with Edward, though very difficult to relate to, is described by Meyer in a way that helps the reader feel compassion for Bella and her plight. In addition, Bella’s mixed feelings about her relationship with Jacob make her seem more human and less fictional, in my opinion; her extreme reaction to Edward’s absence is heartbreaking. Anyone with a heart will feel sympathy for Bella (although I suppose my fellow reviewer won’t share my views on this subject). Meyer’s writing in New Moon is more advanced and less frustrating than Twilight. Props to her, but she still has room for improvement.

Even the most outspoken opposition of this series can’t deny one simple, irrefutable fact: Stephenie Meyer has created a figurative tidal wave in the world of literature. It’s gone as far as to divide readers into two distinct categories (although there are a few fans that are on outlier teams): Team Edward and Team Jacob. However you put it, New Moon has heightened Meyer’s status as one of the most prominent writers of our generation, and the best is yet to come.


David's Review:
1 out of 10 stars


Upon reading the first book in this series, Twilight, I thought it impossible that I would ever read a book worse then it. Unfortunately, after reading New Moon, I was proven wrong. Personally, I believe this book should have been called Twilight 2.0 Now With Werewolves, because, that’s all it was, the same exact plot line (or lack of) as the original, but now with new monsters.

Like in the original book, I must bring up the fact of plot. In the beginning, I thought that there might actually be one, what with Edward leaving, but then it vanishes into thin air, not to return until almost halfway through the book. But, even worse, it disappears at the end, causing a perfect set-up for Meyer to (unfortunately) write a third book. So, let’s examine our plot, and the irrational actions of our characters (mainly Bella).

It starts with Bella’s eighteenth birthday, and the Cullen’s, the family of vampires Bella has grown close to because of her dating Edward, throwing her a party. Somehow, Bella manages to cut herself on a piece of tape (don’t ask me how, because I’m pretty sure nobody can actually do this). This causes Jasper, the most recent addition to the Cullen clan, to go crazy over the scent of her blood. Edward then pushes her back into a table with a cake and glass plates on it (I’m not sure why they have glass plates around Bella, because she’s admittedly clumsy), causing Bella to receive multiple more injuries, and almost all the Cullens to leave to stop themselves from eating her, which, in my opinion, would have made the book better. After this whole ordeal, Edward decides it’s best to leave Bella, to keep her safe, and tells her not to do stupid things (which after Twilight, is a little bit of a joke).

The plot then fades to nothing as Bella goes through a time of what appears to be Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which really makes me wonder. Raise your hand if any of you, after dating somebody for around a year would begin having night terrors about them, and not be able to function regularly for months. Wait, none of you put your hands up! Oh yeah, I just remembered, nobody acts like that. I mean, seriously Stephanie Meyer, I understand it’s a fictional work involving vampires and werewolves, but everybody still has to act rationally, otherwise the story will be even more unbelievable.

The only person Bella finds solace in is her Native American friend, Jacob Black. She then finds out that when she’s reckless and stupid, as Edward told her not to be, she hears this perfect voice (here we go with the whole perfection thing every time Edwards around). Bella now begins to use Jacob so she can have crazy adrenaline rushes and hear Edward’s voice again. But, over time, Bella begins to fall for Jacob, and eventually, can’t tell if she loves him or Edward.

This again brings up the argument of love or infatuation. Does Bella love Jacob, or does she love Edward? Has she ever actually loved either of them? Does she love both of them? Personally, I think Bella wants to have a masculine figure by her side at all times, which once again ruins Meyer’s premise, because Bella’s dad is a police officer, one of the best suited people to protect her.

Bella decides she loves Edward and continues using Jacob. Fast forward, because it gets pretty boring. Jacob avoids Bella. Fast forward. Bella meets the vampire Laurent, an enemy from Twilight, and is saved by five giant wolves. Fast forward. Jacob’s a werewolf, meant to protect the people of La Push (the reservation) and Forks from vampires. The werewolves vow to protect Bella from Victoria, who’s out to kill her after Edward killed her vampire mate, James.

So finally, after a lot of boring things, Jacob promises Bella that they will go cliff diving. But, on the day they want to cliff dive, the wolves think they can catch Victoria. Bella decides that she’ll jump off the tallest cliff all by herself. She nearly drowns, which, once again, would have been a better ending. Seeing that Bella jumped off a cliff, and thinking she died, Alice comes to Forks to console Charlie. Lo and behold though, Bella’s alright. So the two of them catch a plane to Italy to stop Edward from killing himself (he can’t live if Bella doesn’t). In another anticlimactic ending, that is only slightly more thrilling than the ending in Twilight, Bella stops Edward. The end.

I gave this book one out of ten stars for many reasons. The plot is completely unoriginal, as it’s basically the same series of events that happened in the first book, only with werewolves instead of vampires. The writing is just as bad, if not worse than the original, which is odd because you think Meyer would get better as she wrote, but I guess some people just aren’t talented, right? The clichés are over the top and just horrible. The ending when Bella learns that Edward left because he loved her, made me, and probably anybody with a drop of testosterone in them, want to barf, a lot. Overall, this was just a terrible book, and I wouldn’t recommend it even as punishment for criminals.