slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I like the concept, but the novel was too long and could have used more editing. I am firmly on Team Edward but I think the only thing that could make me less so is being inside Edward’s head. He is bleak, dismissive, fawning, and a consistent pessimist. The story works much better for me from Bella’s perspective — Twilight is still such a strong, fantastic novel about the mystery and all-consuming nature of first love.  

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funny lighthearted reflective tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It was only switching to the audiobook and listening on a long road trip that helped me finish this book. I didn’t hate it ☝️ but I wasn’t charmed by Edward either. His “woe is me, I’m a monster, etc etc” attitude got old after 100 pages, and the parts that I did enjoy (basically all the new info and scenes about the Cullens we didn’t get in Twilight) weren’t enough to make up for the rest of it. 

His constant internal monologue broke up the flow of conversations in a way that made them hard to follow (especially when something triggered a flashback that would take pages and pages, only to return to the middle of the conversation) as well as the moments when it was clear that Stephenie was trying to change the motivations of some of the weird things he said in Twilight (basically any time in the book when he would be thinking one thing, then go “but i’m going to say this instead” since she had to stick to the Twilight script) made the story… messy. Honestly if Stephenie had instead written a story that was just Edward & the Cullens’ pasts in more detail, I think it would have worked way better. His perspective of the story didn’t add enough that we didn’t already know or could assume. 

Basically what I’m saying is, Stephenie if you want to write more Twilight books, give us new content about the vampires instead of rewriting Twilight for the six thousandth time.

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

After ten years, I finally reentered the Twilight world again after binging the original four books over the summer between my eighth and ninth grade years, and this book was just as entertaining as I remember the others. Midnight Sun is the rewriting of the original Twilight book but from Edward's point of view, and it brought so much insight to the lives of the Cullens and Edward's thoughts as he takes us through the story as the narrator. While it took me forever to get through this book due to my busy schedule, once I sat down to finally finish it I couldn't put it down. I loved reading this book despite knowing what was going to happen because it came from a different perspective that made it feel like I was reading the story for the first time again. Midnight Sun was a great read to cap off my 2024 and kick off my 2025 reading challenge, and it makes me want to relive the four original books all over again sometime in the near future.

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

As a Twilight fan, I loved reading this, it is a 5* book because of how funny it is (my tummy hurt so much listening to Edward!) However, there is a lot of ablism throughout the book. I headcannon Bella as Dyspraxic (I am also Dyspraxic) so I can laugh at the ridiculous ableslim.

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funny informative slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Okay, this book was way too long, there were things that repeated themselves and there were boring moments. But I‘m still happy I‘ve read it, because you find out more about the Cullen‘s past. 

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dark sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

A solid three. Of course, I haven't read the main books of the Twilight Saga since I was a young teenager over a decade ago, but it was still kinda fun to read Twilight from Edward's POV. Nice to see him get some kind of personality even if his personality left a lot to be desired. I've never been a fan of the "tortured brooding soul" guys and oh boy is Edward that trope.

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dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Ed's is the king of the Emo, truly. While it was fascinating to see Twilights events through Ed's perspective and learning more about the Vamps it wasn't my favorite of the saga. 

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Was this totally unnecessary? Like, yeah, probably. But I enjoyed it so much. It’s worth it, just to see Edward’s POV, especially in regard to how he interacts with his family and the extent of what his powers can do. That car chase scene? Epic. If they do make the TV show (I hope they don’t), then they totally need to draw from MIDNIGHT SUN. I’d only recommend this if you’re already a huge TWILIGHT fan.

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Is it a bad book? Yeah. Is Twilight terrible as a whole, more so now than when I was younger? Oh yeah. Was Edward insufferable, angsty, and unintentionally hilarious at times? Definitely. Did I still enjoy it? Absolutely. 

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