After many years of waiting, and a few books and stories that no one asked for, Stephenie Meyer finally gave all Twilight fans the gift they’d been waiting for: the story of Twilight from Edward’s perspective. To people who are not fans of this series, this may not seem very interesting. However, from the perspective of a fan, this is everything. Not only do we get to see how the romance between Bella and Edward unfolded from Edward’s perspective, but, also, Edward has the unique ability to read minds, thus enhancing the story immensely.
This series is a little bit of a tough one for me to talk about because I very much understand the MANY criticisms of the series. However, that does not change the fact that these were the first books that I read of my own volition and got me into reading and romance books. Because of that, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for this series, but will ruthlessly point out its flaws.
First off, I want to say that I feel like you will only enjoy this if you were a die-hard Twilight fan in the past. I feel like this book is everything I would have ever wanted in sixth grade and I absolutely adored the feeling of nostalgia I had the entire time I was reading this book. The same feelings I had at the time of reading — wanting to fall in love with a mysterious bad boy only to find out that he is a vampire — still apply all these years later. Midnight Sun very much maintains the atmosphere and ambiance of the original series, which really brought me back to being 11 again.
That being said, this new installment made me realize many of the problematic elements of the love story in this first book, and the series as a whole, that I did not completely understand at the time. Don’t get me wrong, back then I did hear many of the arguments but had mostly just brushed them off, thinking it probably wasn’t actually that bad. Well, I mean, I have to hand it to them; it was that bad.
I always heard the criticism that Edward and Bella fell in love way too quickly, but don’t think I fully understood it until reading this book. I can somewhat suspend my disbelief to understand that Edward falls in love with Bella so quickly due to some fantastical vampire reason; however, it makes no sense why Bella falls for Edward so quickly. Bella absolutely should be afraid of Edward, especially after all the things we learn in this book. He is exceedingly overprotective, and not in a cute way.
Additionally, this book was way too long. Oh my lord, this got tedious. I think I made a mistake in listening to the audio book — not because it was bad — but because it just felt like I was listening to this for so long. This book is really just every single thought Edward has ever had. Because Edward can hear thoughts, a large chunk of the book is Edward listening to other people. While this makes his internal monologue interesting, the book does become very lengthy. This added a whole new element to the story, which was interesting, but there was just way too much unnecessary information and answers to questions that no one was asking. I was loving the first half of this book, but I just feel like 100 pages could have been cut out of this book pretty easily.
Overall, did I enjoy this? I mean, kinda? I really liked the feeling of nostalgia and what this book set out to do, but it made me realize a lot about one of my childhood favorites. Will I read the next one if Stephenie Meyer decides to write a New Moon from Edward’s perspective? Yeah, probably. The nostalgia and curiosity will definitely get the best of me.
Also, it is incredibly important to note that the real Quileute Tribe hasn’t received any compensation from either Stephenie Meyer or the movie franchise, despite their culture being horribly misappropriated in the books. Currently, the Tribe is trying to move some of their buildings to higher ground because they are in a tsunami zone. Here’s a link to understand more and donate!
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