New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Pages (Hardcover): 608 pages

Publisher: Little, Brown Books

Released: May 31, 2008

Quick Thoughts: After being one the last few people who didn't read Twilight, I decided to read this series and see what the hype was all about. I enjoyed Twilight, for the most part. So when my friend offered me her copy of New Moon to read, I decided to pick it up and continue the series.

Review: Everything should be perfect for Bella Swan, well almost everything. At the end of the last book, Bella and Edward were happy in love and Bella wanted to solidify their relationship. By having Edward turn her into a vampire so they could be young forever. Edward refuses, because he sees himself as a monster, but Bella wants nothing more than to be with Edward for all of eternity.

When her birthday passes and she finds herself getting older than Edward, her need to be turned into a vampire intensifies. Edward, however, decides to leave her after his brother, Jasper, almost attacks Bella over a paper cut.

Bella is heartbroken and is in a comatose like state for the many months the two are separated. So Bella decides to spend more time with Jacob, leading him on in the process, she decides to do dangerous things because when her life is in danger she sees Edward. She is hunted by another vampire. Werewolves come into the picture and Edward tries to kill himself in Italy.

Final Thoughts: What on earth happened here? I liked Twilight, I did, but New Moon is just bad. I mean, really bad. My friends tell me this is the worse book in the series, which is true, but still. After reading something like Twilight and then seeing this. It's disappointing.

I didn't like Bella in Twilight, she ditched her friends as soon as Edward came into the picture, but even then it was slightly forgivable due to her falling for Edward. She wasn't a really good friend to them, but it was still realistic. In New Moon, once Edward leaves Bella goes into a comatose state and becomes an even worse friend. There is a scene with Jessica that made me shake my head. Then Bella wonders why Jessica doesn't like her very much and I wanted to tell her that it was her fault.

I did like the werewolves though, they are interesting and Jacob seems like a good kid. It's clear that Bella is using him to fill the void that Edward left, but he just seems to be happy that she's there.

I'll still read Eclipse, but I'm hoping that it isn't as disappointing as New Moon.

Grade: 4 out of 10

Read the short version of this review at 5 Line Reviews

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Pages (Paperback): 619 pages

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Released: May 6, 2008

Quick Thoughts: I've owned this book for awhile now, but didn't read it. I'm not sure why, perhaps it was the page count that always made me look at another book. Then I read Twilight, soon after I read the rest of the books in the series. After I finished them, I decided that I need to read The Host.

Review: Meet the Wanderer, an alien being that travels the planets, never settling for one place or another. Her race, called Souls, have survived by becoming parasite like creatures that take over their host's body. Now on earth, the Wanderer is placed inside a human named Melanie.

Normally, the souls completely take over, but when the Wanderer hears Melanie's thoughts, she knows something isn't right. The two can't stand each other and rightfully so. Melanie wants her mind and body back and the Wanderer wants her body to be free of it's former host.

That all changes when the Wanderer sees Melanie's life and realizes she can't inform her companions of Melanie's family. Despite herself, she's loves Melanie's brother, Jamie, and Melanie's love interest, Jared. So the two hatch a plan to leave the compound and seek them out.

Their arrival to the humans isn't a smooth one and it isn't easy for both of them to witness the brutality of their 'family.' But the more the Wanderer, now dubbed Wanda by the humans, stays with her new friends, the more she can't help but want to be a part of them. But will the two species be able to cohabitate together? Or will the war between them continue?

Final Thoughts: When I first started to read The Host, it reminded me of the manga, Parasyte by Iwaaki Hitoshi. Both have very simple ideas, but take it to a whole other level. Both stories deal with parasite like creatures invading their hosts, but messing up, causing the the human and alien to join forces. Parasyte is more about the psychological aspect of this, while The Host is more about the journey one alien takes to find themselves.

Wanderer is a fantastic character, completely different from Bella, Wanda is sympathetic, caring, and yet completely aware of herself. She knows she won't be accepted very easily and despite this, she continues trucking along so that others can acknowledge that she means no harm.

The love triangle, or should I say square? Was actually quite interesting to read. I personally dislike the use of love triangles in a story, because more often than not, the girl will string along both guys and be stupid about it. Plus, there is always cheating involved and I find it hard to respect a character like that. However with The Host, it made sense. Melanie is in love with Jared. Wanda loves Jared, due to Melanie's thoughts, but finds herself falling for Ian. It's not really a love triangle/square in the tradition sense, but it ends up being that way due to Wanda and Melanie sharing the same body.

The writing style was what blew me away though. It's the same, but completely different from how Meyer's wrote the Twilight series. I've read that she was targeting adults with this book and I guess that somehow made her novel jump out more. Her writing suits this kind of story and themes than it did with vampires. It's a shame though, because I want to read more of Meyer's adult novels now.

This is a real treat and I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading this. I need more Stephenie Meyer! :p

Grade: 10 out of 10

ps. Pick up Parasyte by Iwaaki Hitoshi, tis a fantastic manga and one that will make you think.

Was this a little too much, if so check out the smaller review at 5 Line Reviews

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Pages (Paperback): 544 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Released: November 1, 2008

Quick Thoughts: My friends have been asking me to read Twilight for awhile now, but I'm always wary when it comes to popular books. It's always a hit or miss and I'm always disappointed when it's a miss. Then one day, I won Twilight and decided that I had no choice now, I have to read it.

Review: The plot is fairly simplistic, girl moves in with her dad, girl meets boy, boy wants to kill her and taste her sweet sweet boy, boy stalks girl, boy watches girl when she's sleeping, girl doesn't start to sleep with a bat next to her bed, instead girl finds this amazing, girl and boy fall in love, girl finds out that boy is a vampire, girl wants to be a vampire, boy says no, bad guy comes into the picture and tries to kill girl, he doesn't and they live happily ever after.

Like I said, it's a fairly simplistic plot.

I've read that Bella is a Mary Sue and that may be the case, but what I disliked about her character was her lack of friendliness towards her friends. And once Edward shows up, it's almost as if she didn't have friends to begin with. It just didn't sit well with me. That being said, I felt like she was written well enough and sounded like a teen in love.

Edward is a creepy character, only because he admits that he watched Bella while she slept (this is before they went out), yet this is what I found fascinating about him. He's in between wanting to kill her and love her, it's interesting and he's clearly tortured about the entire ordeal. The other characters were interesting in their own right, but the book is mostly about Bella and Edward.

Final Thoughts: This surprised me and made me want to read the rest of the series. The story follows a simple plot line and it works well, the journey for Bella and Edward is an interesting one and they have me wondering what will happen next with them.

Grade: 8 out of 10

Twilight is book One in the Twilight Saga and is available in bookstores and Amazon

If you'd like to read the shorter version of this review, visit 5 Line Reviews