SPOILER ALERT
After reading Twilight, I expected a lot more from the follow-up than what I got. I realize that post-relationship catatonia can be difficult to endure, but it was even more difficult to endure 13 chapters about Bella’s heart-hole. Ugh.

On the plus side, Jacob-love him or hate him-has a lot more character development, this time. His personality matches his fate, obviously a stark and calculated contrast to Edward’s (literally) cold-and-distant routine at the beginning of the book. Charlie was also a more believable parent, in New Moon. He showed genuine concern for his daughter, and faltered in his many attempts to help her. Other characters were incredibly shallow/flawed, though. Jane and Alec were intriguing, as were a few of the other Volturi, but they felt like a teaser for another book. They couldn’t stand on two legs if New Moon were the final installment.

The literary techniques were annoying. Romeo & Juliet, required reading in most high school English classes, makes sense as a reference to Edward, Bella, and familial drama, but it’s too easy to see the end of the book, once things actually start moving. (And seriously, if she intends to ruin Wuthering Heights for me too, I’m going to roll my eyes so far into my skull that they get stuck there.) All-yes, ALL-of the transitions were clunky. They didn’t have me on the edge of my seat, going, “ooh, ahh” at the twists and turns. Rather, they left me muttering, “What?! Where the bleep did that come from?” Jacob’s “illness,” Bella’s cliff diving, the mortality vote…all had some element of foreshadowing before they arrived, but they all felt rushed and more than a little contrived/ridiculous.

Yes, I’m still going to read the other books, and I’m glad to know that a)almost no one that I respect liked New Moon as much as Twilight, and b)those same people assure me that it gets better.