Reviews with content warning for Stalking - Midnight Sun

Oof, this book. It was definitely a challenging read, but not because it was literary in any sense. I love twilight, but even this was too much for me. I would only recommend this book to die hard, unironic fans of twilight. If you are anything less, spare your eyes from this atrocity of male angst.
I was very intrigued throughout this book with the “monster” inhabiting Edward’s head. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be a metaphor or figurative or if Edward has multiple personalities, which would honestly make sense. I like that this book is basically just a constant stream of consciousness, Edward’s consciousness. It’s funny to be reading all his “I hate myself” “the monster in my head rejoiced” that takes up multiple pages, and compare it with the movie where it’s just a shot of rob Pattinson looking constipated. Basically Edward goes through life (or death, I guess) with an inner dialogue that sounds like someone reading the Bible in KJV (you know his favorite verse would be Psalm 38). Pretty relatable, tbh.
One thing that I actually liked was that it’s basically confirmed at this point that Bella is neurodivergent—the way both Charlie and Renee are described indicates that they are as well so it makes what we know about Bella make a lot more sense.
The rest of my notes are incoherent:
Love the fact that Edward is an incel. I feel like I could take out large chunks of this book and replace it with passages from You and it would be exactly the same.

But also I’m getting the guy from the infamous “three weed smoking girlfriends” vibes as well, and what the heck, it also sounds like it could have come out of my middle school (current) diaries as well. Stephenie’s really doing everything in her power to try to convince you that there was no way Edward could have stayed away from her and that he’s a good person and didn’t have a choice lol. Also the part where Bella’s asking him questions and he’s like “hypothetically, if someone, let’s call him JOE” like HE’S LITERALLY JOE FROM YOU.
The further you get into this book the less Edward is the gentlemanly, “Tom Hiddleston” sort of dude s meyer wants me to think he is (did we ever see him that way, tbh?) and more of an awkward Mormon nice guy in a bowler hat who insists on opening doors for you because of “chivalry”.

Here is a list of some of my favorite quotes:
“All these other HUMAN MALES”

“I stared at my own white hand, so GROTESQUELY inhuman”

“The sun was rising in the middle of my midnight” basically my middle poetry/diary

Nice to know that at least Edward isn’t mentally over a hundred years old, so I guess it’s ok…?
“The sound of my growl shook the frame of my car but did not distract me”
“How many ways I wanted Bella. And which one would end up killing her?”

And now, I give you the WORST line in the entire book:
“I may not be a human, but I am a MAN”

And my favorite line:
Edward is basically like, “Wow, this teen girl and I are alike because we both like somebody” and then the next second he’s like (direct quote), “She was human, and he was human, and the difference that seemed so insurmountable in her head was truly ridiculous compared to my own situation. There was no reason for her broken heart. What a wasteful sorrow,” like damn, Edward. Welcome to his twisted mind, I guess. Peak teenage edgelord shit.

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katiiekhaos's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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chloevienna's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

i know this is a star above average but i am an absolute whore for twilight and always have been

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cdt96's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Though a great addition to the saga, Edwards constant self loathing becomes tedious. Overall though a good read, took some time to gain progress as it's slow to start. Having not read the books since 2010, the return to the twilight universe was nostalgic and warm.

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tantheman's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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ruthiedr89's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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schmitzy_'s review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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midnightbelles's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I absolutely loved the twilight books when I read them years ago so I thought I’d give this one a try. I really struggled to get through this despite my love for twilight, but that could just be because I don’t particularly like reading in first person (I also couldn’t connect with Edward). It generally was a recount of twilight but in his perspective so no complaints there since I enjoyed twilight and it was nice to get some insight into his thoughts and compare them to Bella’s. However some moments I thought were stalkerish/creepy or I just didn’t care about what he was thinking (I wanted to know about everyone else) 😅. I also felt that the story dragged in some instances. Overall it was a decent read although I probably wouldn’t read it again.

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