Midnight Sun by Stephanie Meyer

Star rating ** (two)

Right. Here we go. If someone had told me last year that I would be sitting in front of my computer screen writing a review on a Twilight book aged 23 I would have laughed. Over a decade ago, I was obsessed with the Twilight saga. I would eat, sleep, and breathe the Cullens and I once even powerwashed “I love Twilight” into the dirt of our dilapidated garage. Yes, that really happened.

Team Edward? Team Jacob? Nope, I was the weird girl in the corner who wanted to date the “blond one who always looks like he’s in pain”. That’s Jasper for anyone who didn’t watch the films every night for two years.

Then, as I got older, I realised that Twilight was riddled with flaws. I grew to loathe the characters, especially Edward, and the books remained hidden on my shelf. That was until a couple of months ago when Stephanie Meyer crawled out of the woodwork to proclaim that she was finally, finally, releasing Midnight Sun, the much-anticipated point of view switch.

I remember reading the leaked PDF version of Midnight Sun during my years of Twilight obsession and being heartbroken to learn that she would never finish it.

So, owing it to my younger self, it was time to revisit Forks.

Midnight Sun, where do I even begin?

We all know the plot of Twilight. Bella—a plain and meek mannered girl—moves to live with her father in a small American town where she soon garners the affection of Edward Cullen. Of course, she finds out that this obnoxiously gorgeous 17-year-old is a vampire. It just so happens that her blood calls to him more than anyone can imagine. Cue the strange and slightly twisted romance that spans four novels, a novella, and a strange gender bend.

Midnight Sun is the first novel of the Twilight saga but from Edward’s point of view and, oh boy, I hated it. Don’t get me wrong, the nostalgia was amazing. The novel…not so much. I would have thought that this book would be less Bella-centric, instead focusing on the scenes we would have never experienced before, but, alas, no. The scenes with Bella drag on for chapters yet the ones with his family span half a page. This book also has a tendency to drop bombs on the reader that were never even so much as hinted at in the original saga. Charlie and Renee’s thought patterns being my biggest question mark moment.

Interestingly, Bella was so much more likeable in this. Through Edward’s eyes, she seems so much more rational and intelligent and there’s more personality that shines through her mild exterior. I’ve put this down to the fact we can’t hear all of the stupid things she’s thinking or, maybe, just maybe, next to the idiocy of Edward, she just seems better.

This brings me to Edward. Oh Edward, you utterly annoying, melodramatic, and downright ridiculous character. I can’t help it. I hated him. His ability to turn a page of dialogue into a chapter through his incessant rambling just made me angry. Getting into his head just left me with more questions. Why, if he’s so in love with her, does he have an obsession with keeping her human? Blah blah, human soul, blah blah. Though, I will say that when he’s with Bella he’s more likeable. You know how in Friends everyone hates Ross but thinks he turns into a better person whenever he dates Rachel? It’s like that.

The secondary and tertiary characters are interesting. It was refreshing to get more backstory of his adopted siblings, especially as Edward can hear their thoughts. I always had a big love of Alice and that still stands. She’s just a ray of sunshine which you really need when you’re stuck in Edward’s depressing head. Plus, you get more Jasper and my younger self would have been ecstatic. This book also gave me a new love of Emmett. He was always painted as a scary yet goofy character but through his thoughts you hear that he’s so much more. We learn that he’s very loving, so I thank Meyer for giving us that. Rosalie, on the other hand, was done dirty. Edward mostly only sees her as a shallow, mean, and vindictive woman.

I also can’t write this review without dedicating a section to the grammar.  Em dash hyphens (— these little guys) are meant to be used sparingly because they’re a strong element of punctuation. They’re often said to be stronger than a comma but weaker than a period or semicolon. Stephanie Meyer used seven on a single page. SEVEN!!! If someone has the e-book, please tell me how many are in the entire novel because I’m desperate to know. On a side note, I went back and looked in the rest of the saga and I counted ten on a single page in New Moon (followed by two, three, four, three, four, two, three, three, four, three). Someone needs to get in touch with her editors.

I guess, when all is said and done, I’m glad I got to read it. No matter how much I disliked it, if Stephanie Meyer released the other books from his point of view then I would be the first to pre-order.

I would also like to apologise. This can hardly be called a review. This piece of writing turned into a stream of consciousness which I suppose is fitting considering that’s pretty much what Midnight Sun is.