One of the most anticipated titles of 2020 was Midnight Sun. Be it for good reasons or all the wrong reasons: I read it for my sins! Let’s be real, I was just nosey and wanted to figure out if Midnight Sun was written any better than Twilight was! Look at it this way, dear readers, I read it so you don’t have to or I read it and from my review you may just be influenced to read it yourself!
If you live under a non Twilight rock, you maybe asking yourself what is Midnight Sun? Midnight Sun is the latest installment in the Twilight World but, unlike most of the series, it is from Edward’s point of view. I’m not going to lie, I went into the challenge of reading all 658 pages with extremely low expectations just so I couldn’t be disappointed by this book! I would also like to say that I have always preferred the side characters in the Twilight Series; Alice, Emmett, Paul, Leah and Seth mainly. Bare this in mind when going through the review as a whole.
Midnight Sun is described as a companion to the Twilight book. Where Twilight is from Bella’s point of view, Midnight Sun is from Edward’s. The first few chapters of Midnight Sun leaked onto the internet back in 2008 and personally I think Stephanie should have brought it out closer to the Twilight hype but, 12 years later, here we are and many of us have read it! Upon chatting to a work colleague, we figured out we were both reading Midnight Sun and the conclusion we came to can sum up my reading experience for this book “it’s a bit of light reading. Nothing too topical. You don’t put it down and contemplate life and world issues from it!” aka the best type of night time reading during 2020 in my opinion! So, with that being said, let’s dive into the key moments and comparisons for me.
To help with my thoughts on the book as a whole I have divided my review out into eight sub headings. Grab the popcorn and que Niamh’s blunt honesty because there is no holding back when it comes to this edition of the Twilight Saga! Let’s begin shall we?
The potential
Let’s begin with highlighting the potential this book had leading up to its release! Midnight Sun felt like the missing piece of the puzzle. Firstly, I was looking forward to diving into more of the Vampire lore and backstories of the Cullen family. Secondly, to get Edward’s take on things because the burning question during Twilight for me was ‘Is Edward as much of an angsty teenager as Bella?’ Spoiler: He is worse in my opinion! Primarily because you have the continuous inner battle of wanting to drain her blood due to her smell. The story itself adds to making the romance more believable but it also adds to its creepy factor!
One aspect of Edward’s character that we see for the first time in Midnight Sun is his common decency of wanting to help out characters such as Angela for just being a nice person with kind thoughts! He spends some time searching through Angela’s thoughts trying to figure out what material thing she wants but can’t afford etc. Eventually, he finds out she has a crush. How does he help with this? By persuading Emmett to have a conversation about himself being turned down by Angela because she fancies a guy called Eric; all while they are sitting in front of Eric in class. This ends with Eric asking Angela out. This addition was a nice touch and, personally, I would have liked to have seen more of these little acts throughout the book with characters that are not his family members.
The ‘appeal’
Not going to lie, my favourite thing about Edward and Bella’s dynamic was at the beginning of the book. Edward was seeing Bella’s face in everyone’s mind and feeling like the male population were over rating her, “picturing themselves already in love with her”. The comparison to a shiny new toy is an accurate description to how Edward felt about Bella being in Forks and it made me cackle. I could literally feel his eye rolls from the pages in front of me.
But, as much as this indifference would have been funny to continue for more than its allocated few pages, all fun moments must come to an end and we are faced with the first draw of Twilight: ‘the appeal’. The moment is famous; let’s pretend, for a moment, that we are Bella. You’ve seen the most handsome person in your entire life at lunchtime and then you walk into your next class to find out you are going to be sitting beside him! Score!
To fully understand Edward’s turmoil with Bella’s scent, you need to read this from Edward’s point of view. The use of descriptive language is perfect in this scene and diving into the in depth inner discussion on how to not turn into a monster is shown. The comparison to a monster continues throughout the book from this point.
One important thing to note about this attraction/appeal Edward feels towards Bella: Meyer has said that Edward’s inner monologue describes himself as creepy and unable to control himself! The biggest character admittance of this flaw can be seen when Edward is watching Bella sleep. He admits to being “no better than a peeping Tom.” At least Edward can list his issues to himself and out loud to Bella!
Edward’s Power
My second favourite aspect of this book was the moments where Edward’s power comes to the forefront of the chapters. The moment where we get glimpses of what is happening alongside the main story plotline for many of the sub characters that add to the bigger picture of the storyline. It also adds a comedic factor to the book as you can have a laugh along with Edward when he hears something he shouldn’t know and goes out of his way to surprise people in the story.
We also get to see Charlie and Bella’s friends from Edward’s point of view and from their thoughts too. I can never look at Jessica and Mike the same way again though! As for Charlie, I like the fact that Edward can only get fragments of Charlie’s thoughts.
Another aspect of Edward’s powers helps with us seeing a lot more interaction and understanding between Edward and his family. Up until this point you were relying on Bella’s take on their interactions and the portrayal by the actors and actresses in the movie. It is nice to see my expectations and views on the book versions of these characters seem spot on!
Port Angeles
This scene was made a 100 times better from Edward’s point of view. Between tracking down Bella, Alice’s warning phone calls being ignored and the feeling of righteousness after we find out that those men really were scumbags and were aiming to rape Bella! I always felt in Twilight it was only suggested as Bella did not understand 100% the seriousness of the situation but, from Edward’s point of view, we got all the gory details of the past and the present involving Bella. I also rather enjoyed the restaurant scene; that’s where the real love story begins for Bella and Edward in my opinion. The additional commentary of the waitresses adds to the comedic factor!
Biology Class Movie Time
The scene that begins to show that their relationship is more than just an extreme thirst for blood. To enjoy the full extent of the teenage hormones, read the chapter alongside the same chapter in Twilight.
The Meadow Scene
It took reading Midnight Sun to fully understand the appeal of this scene. I always felt Twilight was missing more than just half of the descriptive narrative of this scene! Although some other readers are complaining about 9 pages of finding out each other’s likes and dislikes. I enjoyed this chapter for what it was in the moment. To get full satisfaction and to humor yourself, read this chapter in Midnight Sun and Twilight simultaneously. Reason being, you get a fuller picture and you can laugh at ‘the moment’ she goes for the kiss!
Baseball Scene
100 times better from Edward’s point of view in my opinion. Is it the same story and dialogue as in Twilight? Yes! But, there is less of the whole feeling of Oh my god why is this happening? – that Meyer describes with Bella.
Best Scenes Are Without Bella!
The above statement is my personal feelings on the entire book! I know that is extremely controversial but hear me out. We get 1) Edward running away to get away from Bella’s scent and spends time with Tanya and her clan. 2) The Cullen sibling dynamic that I could only imagine in my head when reading Twilight. 3) The background history from close enough to the side characters point of view! And 4) the urge to want to kill people for their thoughts and us (the reader) hearing ALL of the thoughts along with Edward.
Emmett and Alice win hands down…
Out of all the characters in the Twilight series, I have always had the biggest soft spot for Emmett and Alice. In Midnight Sun, we see a lot more glimpses of their personality shine through as we witness their interactions with Edward and the rest of their family from Edward’s point of view. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book. Two scenes really stood out for me 1. Edward and Emmett discuss Angela in front of her crush to help Angela get a date with the guy she likes. 2. Alice shows Edward the different end scenarios for him and Bella and talks them through with him. As Alice believes it is down to Edward and his choice to do the right thing that will make their paths clearer.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the book can be described as being a few chapter extensions of Twilight as Meyer used primarily the same scenes and dialogue from Edward’s point of view. Although this was the primary function of this book, Meyer has described the scene without Bella/not in Twilight as her favourite to write as she had more freedom. Personally, they are my favourite too. Going forward if Meyer brings out Edward’s take on the rest of the series I’d read them just for the scenes away from Bella and the primary storyline focus because I am curious! Also, I’d be hoping to see a lot more of the side characters that I adore. Personally, I preferred Midnight Sun over Twilight if I were to choose between which telling of the same story I prefer.
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