Book Review - Midnight Sun

I was one of the many Twilight fans who suddenly rose back from the ashes when Stephenie Meyer announced that she would, after 12 years, publish Edward’s version of the events taking place in Twilight (the original saga was published between 2005 and 2008). Midnight Sun was hitting the shelves last month, and before I knew what was happening, I was buying a copy. A lot of ink has already been spilled over the Twilight Saga, but I couldn’t resist adding my own by sharing my thoughts on this book. Hope you enjoy.

​I want to start by saying that I was, and still am, a massive Twilight fan. There you go, I’ve said it – I am not ashamed of it. This saga got an incredible amount of media attention over the years, for various reasons, but when you peel off all these layers, you end up with a series of books that will make you travel. That’s what I love about this collection. I love the feel of it; the rainy small town, the dark strangers, the badass Quileute tribe… There’s just something about these books that feels airy and comforting to me. When I first heard, many years ago, that Stephenie Meyer was planning on republishing the story from Edward Cullen’s perspective, I was stoked. However, as we all know, the book got leaked and the author announced that she would not be publishing the full novel after all, and I think at that point we all put Twilight on our book shelves and kissed it goodbye. I don’t know what pushed Meyer to change her mind and finally release the long-awaited book, but I’m glad she did. 

​I consider Midnight Sun to be a treat, like that piece of hard candy that you get after eating at a restaurant. We didn’t need it, but it’s there, so might as well enjoy it. Stephenie Meyer has been profusely critiqued for her writing style, but I must admit that I, for the most part, don’t mind it. I’ve definitely read worse, and I think it shouldn’t be enough to stop anyone from enjoying her work. I’ve read a few other of Meyer’s novels in the past few years, and some of them hold a very special place in my heart, despite the scamped writing.

I would warn you that this review may contain spoilers, but unless you’ve been living under a rock or are extremely late on your To Be Read list, you shouldn’t learn anything new about the story here. It’s the same as it’s always been; Bella arrives in the small town of Forks and ends up tangled up in a very complicated and combusting love story with a vampire. In this book, you can see how Edward fell in love with Bella and how he fights against every single one of his natural instincts to keep her safe. I have to admit that I was expecting a little bit of novelty in this version, even though it’s technically the same story as the very first book. I thought we might get extra scenes regarding things that Edward saw or things that he did while he wasn’t with Bella. Instead, Edward focuses on exactly the same things as Bella did in Twilight, with little to no added details. 

​Which brings me to my next point; I was really looking forward to reading more about the Cullens and getting insights in their daily lives. But Edward is so entirely focused on Bella that everything else ceased to exist the moment he laid eyes on her for the first time. The rest of the Cullens are barely in the book, no more than they were in Bella’s version. Edward is pretty close with Emmett, so I enjoyed reading the few extra conversations that he had with him, but on the other hand, I hated how Rosalie was portrayed. She comes off as pigheaded and spoiled, instead of someone who just isn’t agreeing with Edward’s decisions. Additionally, none of the vampires seem to agree on anything, which makes the whole Cullen clan look like a random bunch of strangers who are just tolerating each other and are incapable of getting along. The warmth and the accompliceship between them that was so enjoyable in the first books is completely gone in Midnight Sun.

​When the Twilight movies came out, a lot of people were criticizing Robert Pattinson (who played Edward) for his scowls and his perpetually tortured expression. I don’t know if Meyer had given him a version of Midnight Sun to fully understand his character or if she wrote the book based on Pattinson’s acting, but it is spot on. Edward’s mind is suffering, it is dark and constantly wavering, to the point of getting frustrating to read sometimes. At many points, I just wanted to yell “Let loose! Just kiss her already!”. I suspect that if this book is so long, it’s because Edward is a massive overthinker. In comparison, Bella’s version of the exact same events only has 498 pages. Midnight sun has 658. On top of that, it isn’t long until you find out that Edward’s mind is actually… quite boring. Edward has no quirks, no real humor and is ruminating rather than pondering. 

Prior to diving into this novel, I had read a couple reviews and some of them were warning readers that Edward was a bit of a jerk. That piqued my curiosity, because I did not get that impression from any of the original books (or movies, for that matter). At any rate, it pains me to say that I have to agree. Not a massive jerk, not like pull-the-chair-from-under-you jerk, but he definitely has some very strong narcissistic traits that make him seem rather rude. He sometimes dismisses people around him, including Bella and his own family.  Also, certain things are only briefly explained - if they are mentioned at all - like entire conversations with Alice, or the reasoning behind certain actions. To me, that comes off as a bit of lazy writing from Stephenie Meyer, but then again, it could be done on purpose to illustrate how Edward doesn’t give a *&%$!. 

One thing that I love about Midnight Sun was the part where Bella gets tracked by James, who is trying to kill her. All the Cullens come together to help protect her, and since Bella and Edward are apart for the majority of that time, this is where you get all those extra scenes and additional insights. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Edward’s reckless driving to get to his beloved and Alice’s plan to fake Bella’s fall through the hotel window. That’s where Stephenie Meyer had the freedom to write whatever she wanted, and she nailed it. Lastly, I enjoyed hearing Edward’s thoughts about the Quileutes and the state of mind that he was in at the end of the book. The fact that he’s seriously thinking of leaving is a great opening on New Moon that unfortunately got lost in the first book, since Bella wasn’t even considering the possibility of Edward and her being apart.

​All in all, this is a good story, but it’s already been told and I’m not sure we needed to hear it again. I think you would enjoy this book if you’re a mega fan of Twilight and you just want to dive in that dimension again. Because of Edward’s sloppy way of recounting certain events, people who haven’t read the first book probably wouldn’t be able to understand this version very well. And let’s be honest: comparing Midnight Sun to Twilight is half the fun. But then again, if’ you’ve read Twilight, you don’t really need to read Midnight Sun…

​I’m sure that this book brought closure to a lot of Twilight fans, but it did just to opposite for me. Despite all the hiccups, Midnight Sun has reignited my love for this story, and I will absolutely be reading what comes next, just because I can’t get enough of these characters. I feel like the main flaws of this book can be attributed to Edward and the way his mind operates. Having said that, Stephenie Meyer has stayed vague about possible sequels, saying that it might follow other characters instead and that it certainly wouldn’t be published for a while. Personally, I’d love a book about Emmett, or Esme, or even Jacob. I feel like they’d have a lot more to say that we don’t already know. 

​Please feel free to share your thoughts about Midnight Sun down below in the comment section. As for me, I’ll be back in two weeks with a brand new post!

Thank you all for your patience and for reading my blog.
Much love & gratitude,