Midnight Sun

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: Midnight Sun

Midnight Sun was a difficult book for me to read. The beginning is filled with Edward second-guessing himself and overanalyzing situations. While I know being over cautious is necessary for him when he first meets Bella, it still felt like filler. I almost gave up, until it was suggested I switch over to the audiobook. Jake Abel was the perfect narrator for Midnight Sun, and his take on Edward brought me back into the fold.

Once Edward and Bella began to know one another, the plot picked up the pace. The story was less about Edward overanalyzing and more about relationship development and building up the characters. It's been a while since I read Twilight, but I remember wanting to see more involvement from Edward's family. Midnight Sun provided all I needed to know about the rest of the Forks coven. Readers will experience an in depth look at their powers and motivations as Stephenie Meyer reveals their family dynamics and relationships.

Readers will also have the opportunity to learn more about Edward's past. I enjoyed learning about Edward and his faults through his history versus the constant back and forth inside his mind. Granted, in any new relationship, there is a sense of doubt that clouds judgment, but it was taken to an extreme with Edward. Yes, I know he is a vampire and things can turn on a dime, but it could have scaled back and still provided the sense of danger that was required.

Even though this was a struggle, I still recommend Midnight Sun to fans of Twilight. I'm one of those people who loves to see all angles of a situation to better understand it, and Midnight Sun gave me this opportunity.

DNF @ 2%

Chalk this up to yet another instance of 2020 sucking swamp water through a molded candy straw. Wasted money, wasted time, and a book I find excruciatingly boring to the point I never finished the first chapter. And you know what? I'm never going back.

Ages ago, I remember being interested in the rough draft yet also bitter over the way Meyer acted about it. That attitude she exhibited - punishing all fans by dangling a carrot and then scolding over the actions of a small few individuals, like the crappy teacher who ruins recess for everyone because one student wouldn't shut up - soured me to the idea of actually reading the draft. So I never did, and then I eventually forgot it existed. Out of sight, out of mind... until one of the many weird developments of 2020 revealed itself to be the full version of Midnight Sun.

In a fit of nostalgia for the guilty pleasure the Twilight Saga has been for me since I was a teen, I decided to get this book. I tried to read it. And then I stalled out before the first chapter was even finished.

I can't do this. It has no nostalgia to drive me through it and Edward's narrative voice is so insufferably self-important that it runs the risk of souring the good emotions I feel for all the crappy times in my life the original Twilight books helped me escape.

For my younger self, part of the fantasy of a vampire like Edward was the eternal youth. The way I avoided a skeeve-factor was with the way he presented, looked, and behaved like a teenager - albeit one from a different timeframe. The implication was that, for the most part, he saw Bella as a peer and not someone far younger than him (even though she very much technically was). In this book, however, that veneer of lacking creepiness is blown away entirely. Edward constantly thinks of his schoolmates and Bella as children. And, as if to drive home the point, adult teachers tend to have extremely creepy sexual interest in him - as if he's closer to being their colleague than Bella's. Or as if the universe really doesn't wish to let me forget the gross-out factor.

Either way, this clearly isn't the book for me. I don't have the mental energy or give-a-shit required to make it through 600+ pages of this dry, pompous, creepy POV. I'll just keep my cozy, nostalgic, and somehow ever-so-slightly less problematic attachments to the original series, instead.

i finished it! all 26 hours.
this book, or rather, diving back into the twilight franchise after a little over a decade was a whole bunch of fun. I definitely got the most enjoyment out of the first movie, and this book was a nice accompaniment to that.
I think this would be a great buddy read for those who enjoyed the original books. Whether you still think they have literary merit now, or you don't really care and just want a good time.
There are many many effed up things about the twilight series and i'm not going to go into them now, i'm definitely not the right person to discuss them – but they're valid and should be given the appropriate thoughts. Many other reviewers here and elsewhere will have put it much better than I. I will say that many authors write many effed up things in books and don't get nearly as much hate for it. While Bella deserved SO much better, and Edward is an absolute freak, I support Bella's rights to be a dumb ass monster fucker. I too remember the intensity of my relationships and stupid choices made at her age, I'd probably think its cute if a sexy vampire man watched me sleep too.

This book really showed Edward's frightening side well. It was brilliantly read by the narrator - Jake Abel. I'll have to look out for other books read by him. He delivered the lines with such emotion, and I was genuinely taken back when he would gutturally growl Edward's scary lines. He didn't butcher the women's voices either, which was a welcome change. It was a very immersive listen. It was interesting to see Edward's side of things, and get more time spent with the Cullen family. This book was definitely, far, far too long. So many things were happening (which were all quite slice of lifey) but about 30% in I couldn't believe how much story was left to go. As mentioned, I haven't read the first book in at least 13 years, maybe longer. So I didn't really get the little nods to the crazy shit Edward was doing while Bella was watching him and just thinking ‘WTF'. I do remember Edward randomly laughing out loud frequently, so it was cute to see it from his perspective.

I loved the characterisation we got in this book, I definitely had a sunnier view of Bella. I don't remember too much of my feelings about her back in the day but I would say it's only improved from then. Mostly, I really fell in love with Emmett's character in this story, what a sweetheart.

While I don't think this book is necessarily ‘good' I enjoyed reading it, it was a fun ride. If Meyer releases the rest of the series from Edward's perspective, i'd almost definitely put myself through this again. Especially if it's narrated by Jake Abel. It'd be cool if she did it from another Cullen's perspective, or to go with the obvious choice for New Moon - Jacob.