New Moon on Thursday

You may recall that in his review, Fosco went all Chris Brown on tween pulp sensation Twilight. Despite his generally harsh reaction to the book, Fosco did admit that he kinda enjoyed it and was willing to give the second book, New Moon, a try. Well, both Fosco and Oz read New Moon this week, and we are pleased to report that it is much better than the first book! In fact, Fosco would be willing to say that he liked this book a lot.

Of course, a number of the deficiencies of Twilight remain unfixed. There's still absolutely nothing approaching sex in the books. In fact, tongue-kissing is still mostly verboten. For lots of vampire fans, that is probably a deal-breaker. And Stephenie Meyer still can't write a climax scene that doesn't feel like a complete letdown. And her prose is still occasionally purpler than one might like. And both Oz and I would still like to see a good fight scene.

However, certain things have improved with this book. Meyer seems to have had a competent editor (finally!). The vampire mythos has been filled out in several important ways. Things that seemed like loose ends in the first book have been picked up and developed. Some of the silly religious stuff has been toned down. Or maybe I'm just becoming inured to some of the bad stuff.

But even beyond these improvements, there is some stuff in this book that is actually quite good. The werewolf plot is really interesting and provides a great conflictual "hook." Bella's depression at being abandoned is really extreme and pathetic, but that's the point, right? Fosco found himself really surprisingly affected by the "hole in her chest"--losing someone you love is actually a lot like Meyer describes. The emotions in this book are a lot more explicable to Fosco than the ones in the first book.

And best of all, Meyer finally provides us (and Bella) with an opportunity to take sides. Vampire or werewolf? Should Bella choose her soulmate, the brooding and unreliable Edward (vampire)? Or should she choose the loyal and handsome Jacob who wants nothing other than to make her happy and keep her safe (werewolf)? (N.B.: Oz votes Edward, Fosco votes Jacob.)

Which means, of course, that Fosco and Oz are moving on to Book 3 with much eagerness! Stay tuned.