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20tstrauser's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
zdanielle's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
carriedoodledoo's review against another edition
2.0
Yes, I read an 800+ page book and KEPT GOING even when I didn't really love it. Doesn't that violate one of my principal principles of reading? Well, yes, but I WANTED BRAIN CAKE! I wanted fluff, and a blow-by-blow retelling of Twilight fit the bill nicely. Let's just break this down into the good, the bad, and the ugly, shall we? oh, and SPOILERS, if you care.
The Good:
Reading this really reconciled me to the "age" difference between Edward and Bella. Yes, he's technically 104, but he's stuck in the 17-year-old frontal-lobe-deficient overly-dramatic stage for eternity. (Kind of a bummer, when you think about it.) His eternal youth is addressed several times--Esme's concern that maybe he was turned before he was mature enough to want a mate, and Edward's own concerns that he wasn't going to be enough to keep her interested for more than a few years, most notably. He's certainly gone through lifetimes of experience, but that doesn't change his physical and neurological state of being, any more than a child being precocious makes them an adult all of a sudden. Edward is in LURVE. He's an emo in LURVE. Combine that with 90 years of being able to do whatever the heck he wants, with little-to-no fear of repercussions, and you have him creeping on her. Voila. How many of us have creeped on someone's social media and would probably take the chance to be a fly on the wall, if given the chance? Honestly?
The Bad:
As much as we hear about Edward Edward Edward in the Twilight book, we don't get a lot of Bella Bella Bella in Midnight Sun. Yeah, sure, we hear about her creamy skin and how good she smells and how clumsy she is...but where is the adoration of her mind and talents? I was hoping for something to make her be less of an object of desire and more her own person. Instead, it's mostly just him being intrigued and amused by her and intensely, physically attracted. Blah. Although, again, what did I expect from my look into a 17-year-old's mind?
The Ugly:
Ms. Meyer's writing is not objectively fantastic, but she's good at what she did: a soppy paranormal romance. She kinda ruined that with her attempts to clean up her dialogue and add in trendy literary elements. All of a sudden it's not a romp, it's a slog. In a way, it would be easier to mess with passages of the Bible and have them go unnoticed. I was reading this book, expecting the "You're like my own personal brand of heroin" line and it was missing! If I'm misremembering the book, someone correct me, but I'm pretty sure that's not just a bad movie script, given I didn't watch the movies.
Ms. Meyer also makes repetitive references to the Hades/Persephone myth, specifically the pomegranate seeds. I can see where it was a good illustration when it was first introduced, when Bella was eating, but after further comments on it I kept wanting to roll my eyes. Greek mythology and Hades/Persphone are IT right now, hot hot hot. Edward hasn't kept much of his other thoughts to himself, why this one? Because the author hadn't thought of it when she wrote Twilight, and now anything with a pomegranate on it gets big buku bucks. I just found it annoying.
Finally, she made some reference to Jasper being "the Sherpa" for Alice shopping and it made me cringe. Seriously! I'm the conservative "murica" American who uses phrases like "big buku bucks" and I still cringed! She couldn't say "porter"? "pack mule"? Like, even I know a proper noun mean more than an occupation. Sherpa is a whole ethnic group. Yikes. I totally understand how she wrote it, it's probably a colloquialism, but... wOw lol.
This book was 3 stars for enjoyability, 1 star for the dumb characters (seriously, you guys. I like pretty much every single character in that franchise better than Edward and Bella) and 2 stars for the length. 2 stars over all. It was okay, I probably won't read it again, but I put too much effort into it not to review it.
The Good:
Reading this really reconciled me to the "age" difference between Edward and Bella. Yes, he's technically 104, but he's stuck in the 17-year-old frontal-lobe-deficient overly-dramatic stage for eternity. (Kind of a bummer, when you think about it.) His eternal youth is addressed several times--Esme's concern that maybe he was turned before he was mature enough to want a mate, and Edward's own concerns that he wasn't going to be enough to keep her interested for more than a few years, most notably. He's certainly gone through lifetimes of experience, but that doesn't change his physical and neurological state of being, any more than a child being precocious makes them an adult all of a sudden. Edward is in LURVE. He's an emo in LURVE. Combine that with 90 years of being able to do whatever the heck he wants, with little-to-no fear of repercussions, and you have him creeping on her. Voila. How many of us have creeped on someone's social media and would probably take the chance to be a fly on the wall, if given the chance? Honestly?
The Bad:
As much as we hear about Edward Edward Edward in the Twilight book, we don't get a lot of Bella Bella Bella in Midnight Sun. Yeah, sure, we hear about her creamy skin and how good she smells and how clumsy she is...but where is the adoration of her mind and talents? I was hoping for something to make her be less of an object of desire and more her own person. Instead, it's mostly just him being intrigued and amused by her and intensely, physically attracted. Blah. Although, again, what did I expect from my look into a 17-year-old's mind?
The Ugly:
Ms. Meyer's writing is not objectively fantastic, but she's good at what she did: a soppy paranormal romance. She kinda ruined that with her attempts to clean up her dialogue and add in trendy literary elements. All of a sudden it's not a romp, it's a slog. In a way, it would be easier to mess with passages of the Bible and have them go unnoticed. I was reading this book, expecting the "You're like my own personal brand of heroin" line and it was missing! If I'm misremembering the book, someone correct me, but I'm pretty sure that's not just a bad movie script, given I didn't watch the movies.
Ms. Meyer also makes repetitive references to the Hades/Persephone myth, specifically the pomegranate seeds. I can see where it was a good illustration when it was first introduced, when Bella was eating, but after further comments on it I kept wanting to roll my eyes. Greek mythology and Hades/Persphone are IT right now, hot hot hot. Edward hasn't kept much of his other thoughts to himself, why this one? Because the author hadn't thought of it when she wrote Twilight, and now anything with a pomegranate on it gets big buku bucks. I just found it annoying.
Finally, she made some reference to Jasper being "the Sherpa" for Alice shopping and it made me cringe. Seriously! I'm the conservative "murica" American who uses phrases like "big buku bucks" and I still cringed! She couldn't say "porter"? "pack mule"? Like, even I know a proper noun mean more than an occupation. Sherpa is a whole ethnic group. Yikes. I totally understand how she wrote it, it's probably a colloquialism, but... wOw lol.
This book was 3 stars for enjoyability, 1 star for the dumb characters (seriously, you guys. I like pretty much every single character in that franchise better than Edward and Bella) and 2 stars for the length. 2 stars over all. It was okay, I probably won't read it again, but I put too much effort into it not to review it.
ereilly151's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
sage_loves_books's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
leasheyreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
amyrebeccadillon's review against another edition
1.0
TBH, I felt that I owed by teenage-self the chance to read this novel. What can I say? Maybe, my preferences in books have changed over the years. I definitely did not experience the magic I did when I first read Twilight all those years ago. I desperately hope that people enjoyed this book more that I did.
meghen_k's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.5
Makes New Moon so much better!! It is refreshing to see, for once, what is going on in Edward's head. This is probably the best book in the series.
thecounselorofdarkfictionalmen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25