WOW, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything new on this blog. I actually finished Midnight Sun a while ago, but it took me forever to get this blog-post done because well, you know, I had (and still have) so much school work on my hands. Since it’s been so long since I’ve finished the book, I don’t have the clearest memory of everything that happened so if there is misinformation about the book’s plot in this post, please let me know in the comments! Anyways, here’s my honest review of Midnight Sun as a Twilight fan:
I don’t know why, but I thought that Midnight Sun would be everything that happened from Twilight to Breaking Dawn in Edward’s perspective, but it was just all Twilight. The story is all very monotonous to me now because I already know what happened in Twilight, and the fact that it’s in the perspective of Edward actually makes it a little worse because he’s so boring! Now, hear me out, I actually bought the book thinking that Edward would be interesting and that his point of view would be insightful in a way, but no. The first half of the book was spent on Edward’s unhealthy obsession with Bella’s blood, then Bella herself, and the latter half of the book was Edward sulking over how he has to leave Bella in order for her to be safe (from him and the vampire world in general). I expected so much from the novel, but got so little of what I wanted. I wanted to get a detailed play-by-play of Edward’s life as a normal human teenager during the 1900’s before he got the Spanish influenza and was bitten by Carlisle (but unfortunately Edward remembers none of that); I wanted to get the scoop on Edward’s thoughts and feelings when he left Bella in New Moon; I wanted to get to know the rest of the Cullens as main characters in Edward’s life rather than mere side characters. There was some new information about the Cullens, specifically Carlisle, which was one of the few interesting moments in the novel, but I wanted much more than that. To be quite honest, Emmett and Jasper, who weren’t mentioned as much as you would think, were a lot more interesting than Edward himself.
Let’s talk about Edward and Bella’s relationship real quick before we dive into the other aspects of the book. Why is no one weirded out by the massive age gap that Edward and Bella have? Come on, although Edward looks like he’s 17 years old, he’s actually 104 years old by the time he meets Bella in 2005—don’t tell me I’m the only person who is absolutely weirded out by this! Pretty much every single Twilight fan gives Jacob a hard time for imprinting on Renesmee (Edward and Bella’s daughter), but why not Edward? It was so odd reading through Edward’s perspective because he’s so much older than Bella (a good 87 years older) and his overly possessive nature over her made me question their relationship. Sorry, Stephenie Meyer, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that Edward and Bella’s relationship was healthy… Honestly, I never really understood why Edward was so interested in Bella when I first read Twilight, because there were so many other girls that he could’ve had at least a slight interest in (not to mention that practically all the girls were lusting over him), but now I realize that the fact that he could read their minds was obviously a turn off. So, is the reason why Edward likes Bella so much because of the fact that he can’t read her mind? Was that the base of their relationship, or more specifically, Edward’s attraction to her? My guess is yes.
Moving onto the actual plot of the novel: it was okay, but it just didn’t have any excitement because, like I mentioned earlier, I already know the story. Very miniscule parts of the book like when Edward brings Bella over for the first time and tells her a little about Carlisle’s background in his study were the only chances to find out some new things. I’ll admit, I don’t remember every little detail in the book because I started and finished it a long time ago, but I have to say that the only memorable parts of the novel all involve people who weren’t Edward or Bella. Yes, I’m talking about Alice and Carlisle’s backstories, James’ odd obsession with hunting, Renee and Jessica’s thoughts and feelings (as perceived by Edward, of course), Billy and Jacob Black’s reaction to Edward, and stuff like that. Seriously, all of those side characters gave me a breath of fresh air and encouraged me to continue reading Midnight Sun. Moving on from the bland plot of the novel, let’s talk about Edward’s character for a quick minute. I initially read this in another review of Midnight Sun (just to make sure that I wasn’t the only person who was disappointed in it), and the reviewer actually mentioned something that I’ve never really thought of—Edward’s narration does not sound like he is the intellectually gifted, century-old, experienced man that Meyer created him to be. None of Edward’s vocabulary was astute in any way; his words and ideas were, at the least, average and most of the time I forgot that he was supposed to be a wise man (or vampire) of 104 years and not just a mere 17 year old kid.
So, in conclusion, do I recommend this book? Sure, but don’t be surprised if you become disapppointed. If you’re a Twilight fan, then I assume that you’re going to want to read it anyways, so give it a read! Reading it in someone else’s perspective was quite exciting, but like I’ve said multiple times in this review, you’re not really going to be reading anything new.
