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emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Midnight Sun was an interesting read in a lot of ways. I loved learning more about the Cullen family and seeing Edward’s relationship with them. I loved learning more about how Edward felt during his time with Bella and what he was doing when he wasn’t with her. I loved learning more about the Cullens’ pasts and seeing how their abilities work (especially seeing how they use them to work as a team). And I definitely loved psycho-analyzing Meyer through this book and the obvious grip Mormonism had on her while writing this series, despite her many attempts to make parts of this feel super feminist-girl-boss-y. What an interesting individual
However, although this is only the second book I’ve read from this series, I can already tell it’s my least favorite one. This book drags and could have honestly been like 200 pages shorter. Meyer has a tendency to repeat the same things over and over again - especially when it comes to Edward’s extraordinary abilities and his feelings for Bella. Here is everything she could have cut down a bit more so this book wouldn’t end up being over 600 pages long:
- 90% of the use of the word “conspicuous”
- Any part where Edward goes unnecessarily into great detail about how powerful his mind is. I didn’t need to know he counted every bug in that damn field.
- Any part where Edward goes unnecessarily into great detail about how cool and amazing his family is. I didn’t need to hear how fashionable he thought Alice was 5 different times on the same page.
- Any part where Edward goes unnecessarily into great detail about how amazing of a person Bella is, how selfless she is. Like we got it the first 400 times bro.
- His main conflict, his main reason for his mental anguish: “I’ll stay with Bella as long as she wants me around…as long as she isn’t scared of me…Wait, did I finally do something that will make her scared of me? Will she finally leave me?….Oh, no…she’s not scared of me because she loves me too much…It shouldn’t but…that makes me feel relieved…but also breaks my heart” like omg !!!! we GET IT BRO !!!!
There are so many other thinge I felt drew out this book, but those were the main ones. I’m genuinely not kidding when I say this book could have been so much shorter, and unfortunately, I have to say that’s a sign of bad writing - which is insane considering this book is by someone who has been writing for nearly 2 decades. As I previously mentioned, there were a lot of things I did genuinely love about this book and what we got to learn about Meyer’s world of vampires, but those things are completely overshadowed by how annoyed and bored I felt through most of it.
I also kept having this feeling that Meyer possibly wrote this “Edward’s POV” book for the same reason I think Anna Todd started writing parts of the After series from Harry/Hardin’s POV: Because when you only see the girl’s POV, the relationship looks concerningly toxic. I truly feel like she wrote this book so we could see what was going through his head, how much he truly loved her, how he truly felt about the possibility of taking her away from the life she knew. If we saw this, then we would see that this isn’t an unbalanced relationship. But what I couldn’t get past is the fact that for the beginning part of the book, Edward genuinely sounds like a deranged serial killer set on murdering her ??? I’m supposed to find their romance endearing knowing that he wanted to kill her and Bella was like “I really don’t give a fuck, Edward ❤️” But whatevs, that’s just my theory.
I also had issues with a big plot point in the book that literally sets up the whole series: Alice’s vision of Bella turning into a vampire and living with Edward forever. Though I think Alice’s abilities are cool and it was interesting seeing how Edward and Alice worked together with their abilities, I hate that so much of the series depends on this vision, this prophecy. What excitement is there in them having chosen to love each other if Edward already knew he’d be in love with her? What mystery is there in their future if Edward already knows she could turn into a vampire? Additionally, how can Alice even see Bella’s future if Bella is supposed to have a shield over her mind? If I were Meyer, I would have made it impossible for Alice to see Bella’s future and I think that would have made for a more interesting conflict. The lack of knowledge of what’s to come, the ways they’d have to work around this blindspot…it all could have been so interesting and would have been more consistent with the lore Meyer herself created. But again whatevs, that’s just my idea!
Also, I lowkey started disliking Edward and Bella a little bit through Edward’s POV. They’re cringe as hell as it is but somehow it’s so much more amplified through Edward’s eyes that I almost couldn’t handle it. I also hated how much Edward judged the people around him simply because he could read their minds. It was like he himself was the sole decider on which humans were worthy of respect and admiration, and it’s really interesting the ones he chose. It was so clear so much of it was coming from Meyer’s own biases. She wanted to set certain characters up to be perfect angels (Bella, Angela, Jacob) by making everyone else bitchy, catty, rude, overly horny (Mike, Jessica). I feel like it would have been more believable, more human to give characters like Mike and Jessica thoughts past “Damn, Bella fine as hell, I’m tryna tap that” (Mike) and “What does Bella have that I don’t?” (Jessica) Like you’re telling me they have no other inner thoughts? Just the ones that make the characters Meyer wants us to like look better in comparison? Ok then
I’m still looking forward to reading the rest of this series, of course, but it’s just insane that this book was not more exciting than I was hoping. You would think reading Edward’s POV would be this incredible, mindblowing opportunity, but honestly, it just made me miss Bella’s narration more. Anyhoo, if you actually read this long ass review, you’re stronger than me because I wouldn’t have
However, although this is only the second book I’ve read from this series, I can already tell it’s my least favorite one. This book drags and could have honestly been like 200 pages shorter. Meyer has a tendency to repeat the same things over and over again - especially when it comes to Edward’s extraordinary abilities and his feelings for Bella. Here is everything she could have cut down a bit more so this book wouldn’t end up being over 600 pages long:
- Any part where Edward goes unnecessarily into great detail about how powerful his mind is. I didn’t need to know he counted every bug in that damn field.
- Any part where Edward goes unnecessarily into great detail about how cool and amazing his family is. I didn’t need to hear how fashionable he thought Alice was 5 different times on the same page.
- Any part where Edward goes unnecessarily into great detail about how amazing of a person Bella is, how selfless she is. Like we got it the first 400 times bro.
- His main conflict, his main reason for his mental anguish: “I’ll stay with Bella as long as she wants me around…as long as she isn’t scared of me…Wait, did I finally do something that will make her scared of me? Will she finally leave me?….Oh, no…she’s not scared of me because she loves me too much…It shouldn’t but…that makes me feel relieved…but also breaks my heart” like omg !!!! we GET IT BRO !!!!
There are so many other thinge I felt drew out this book, but those were the main ones. I’m genuinely not kidding when I say this book could have been so much shorter, and unfortunately, I have to say that’s a sign of bad writing - which is insane considering this book is by someone who has been writing for nearly 2 decades. As I previously mentioned, there were a lot of things I did genuinely love about this book and what we got to learn about Meyer’s world of vampires, but those things are completely overshadowed by how annoyed and bored I felt through most of it.
I also kept having this feeling that Meyer possibly wrote this “Edward’s POV” book for the same reason I think Anna Todd started writing parts of the After series from Harry/Hardin’s POV: Because when you only see the girl’s POV, the relationship looks concerningly toxic. I truly feel like she wrote this book so we could see what was going through his head, how much he truly loved her, how he truly felt about the possibility of taking her away from the life she knew. If we saw this, then we would see that this isn’t an unbalanced relationship. But what I couldn’t get past is the fact that for the beginning part of the book,
I also had issues with a big plot point in the book that literally sets up the whole series:
Also, I lowkey started disliking Edward and Bella a little bit through Edward’s POV. They’re cringe as hell as it is but somehow it’s so much more amplified through Edward’s eyes that I almost couldn’t handle it. I also hated how much Edward judged the people around him simply because he could read their minds. It was like he himself was the sole decider on which humans were worthy of respect and admiration, and it’s really interesting the ones he chose. It was so clear so much of it was coming from Meyer’s own biases.
I’m still looking forward to reading the rest of this series, of course, but it’s just insane that this book was not more exciting than I was hoping. You would think reading Edward’s POV would be this incredible, mindblowing opportunity, but honestly, it just made me miss Bella’s narration more. Anyhoo, if you actually read this long ass review, you’re stronger than me because I wouldn’t have
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Gore, Medical content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pedophilia, Rape
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wish I could say something about this book that fits the grandeur of all of Edward's thoughts. But I can't. True, there are some parts - a thoughtful sentence here and there, and then the last chapter, which evokes feelings of longing and loss - that made me rate this book above just 1 star. But that's about it.
I try to hold myself back, but really, this is just going to be a rant on how badly I want my money and time back. This book was not worth either of them. Here we go!
Why is Edward so straight-up horrible? I don't remember Twilight being this awful, even though that was written from the point of view of a self-insert. He just appears to think himself superior to everyone around him, just because he can hear their thoughts and judge them based on that. But does he ever hear himself? Why is he so snarky and judgmental? He's either criticising people for thinking a certain way, or beating himself up for merely existing. I almost pity the other members of his family, who have to put up with such a mood-dampener on a daily basis, for eternity. And I wish he would either stop thinking about leaving, or just pluck up the courage and actually do it. I know that's the point of the book, but it's just so irritating - you'd think he'd have something else to think about!
And then let's talk about him as a boyfriend. He treats Bella like a fragile infant who isn't old enough to make her decisions. He dismisses her requests and believes that he knows what's good for her, better than she does herself - just like an adult with a child. I know he's technically over a hundred years old, so he should know better than someone who's seventeen - but he's stuck at seventeen, too! His brain is just as immature as hers - what gives him the right to make her decisions for her? It's not even about objective things like food or shelter - he refuses to accept the future she wants because of his misguided religious beliefs, as if he's the only one who's allowed to be right on such a subjective topic.
He's a poor excuse for a boyfriend on all counts. Even during the climax, he does nothing but shout at Alice when she's trying to help, or sob. He never actually helps anyone, even Bella. Here's the most ludicrous example of that: "No longer racing, we moved slowly, Alice pushing Bella in her wheelchair so that I could walk beside her, holding her hand." Notice how the actual responsibilities are shoved off onto Alice or whoever else is around to help, while Edward gets to play the romantic love interest. You'd think if he actually cared for her, he wouldn't let anyone else but himself push her wheelchair!
I try to hold myself back, but really, this is just going to be a rant on how badly I want my money and time back. This book was not worth either of them. Here we go!
Why is Edward so straight-up horrible? I don't remember Twilight being this awful, even though that was written from the point of view of a self-insert. He just appears to think himself superior to everyone around him, just because he can hear their thoughts and judge them based on that. But does he ever hear himself? Why is he so snarky and judgmental? He's either criticising people for thinking a certain way, or beating himself up for merely existing. I almost pity the other members of his family, who have to put up with such a mood-dampener on a daily basis, for eternity. And I wish he would either stop thinking about leaving, or just pluck up the courage and actually do it. I know that's the point of the book, but it's just so irritating - you'd think he'd have something else to think about!
And then let's talk about him as a boyfriend. He treats Bella like a fragile infant who isn't old enough to make her decisions. He dismisses her requests and believes that he knows what's good for her, better than she does herself - just like an adult with a child. I know he's technically over a hundred years old, so he should know better than someone who's seventeen - but he's stuck at seventeen, too! His brain is just as immature as hers - what gives him the right to make her decisions for her? It's not even about objective things like food or shelter - he refuses to accept the future she wants because of his misguided religious beliefs, as if he's the only one who's allowed to be right on such a subjective topic.
I won't even talk about how boring or irritating Bella is. Edward even comes close to admitting, although not deliberately (Stephenie Meyer wouldn't dream of writing that!), that he's only drawn to her for her scent and the mystery of her thoughts. But here's an idea: maybe Edward can't read her thoughts because she hasn't got any!
Apart from a few luckily written phrases, the book also suffers from extremely poor writing. For instance, here's an actual sentence from the book:
He ran and I ran.
It can't really get much worse than this.
I could go on, but I'll end this tirade here. This has to be one of the trashiest books I own. I'm so glad I survived the ordeal of reading it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Torture, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Animal death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault
Minor: Addiction, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Midnight Sun is not what I would call a great book, but it is a fascinating one. If you can get past all of Edward's self-loathing and inability to do anything right (which is extremely hard), there are a few interesting tidbits to mull over. I think one of my main gripes with the Twilight saga in general is that every now and then Meyer touches on something compelling and then zooms right past it for the angsty romance factors.
- Edward's relationship to Rosalie is so strange and captivating. He loathes her, but he thinks about her the most out of all his family members. Obviously, Rosalie was Bella's foil in the main series, but I never gave much thought to how that impacted Edward's perspective of her.
- The deeper depiction and explanations of Alice and Jasper's abilties were cool.
- I despise the way Edward's mind-reading is depicted. I think it falls into many of the pitfalls that make me dislike most mind-reading characters. The apathy, the loathing for what people think in the privacy of their own heads, the lack of any personal ethics, the fact that he is not impacted at all beyond annoyance... that's a little too flat and Christian for my mind-reading opinions. That said, there is a great moment where Edward uses Emmett and Jasper's minds as his rearview mirrors. This is the ONLY good thing Meyer wrote about Edward's mind-reading.
But those things aside, this book is a slog. Edward's angst is overwrought and hard to read. Add in the Cullens' holier-than-thou vibes and it's just. none of the fun that vampires usually are.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Racism, Murder, Cultural appropriation
Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Pedophilia, Rape, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury
-Racism & cultural appropriation tags are more about how fucked up Meyer's portrayal of the Quileute Tribe than anything that happens in-book (though Edward is hostile toward them).
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
CW: suicidal ideations, attempted rape/assault, (mentioned) rape, (mentioned) pedophilia, gore, surgery, discussion of blood + internal organs, stalking
A note: the star rating of this book has absolutely nothing to do with whatever quality of writing may or may not be found within its covers and literally everything to do with how I feel about finally reading this BOOK.
Also, this cover? Atrocious. But, like, in a very enjoyable way. Definitely makes me feel those nostalgic late-2000s vibe.
Strap in for a long review, kids...
I have literally been waiting for this book for 12 years. 1 2 y e a r s.
In 2008, I was, in fact, one of those rabid little Twilight fan girls. I was worse - I was one of those Midnight Sun crusaders.
For those who don't know, the short story is, SM wrote the first third-ish of Midnight Sun and then shared it with several alpha readers. One of them leaked the story and, after a struggle, SM eventually decided to post what she had online and leave the project alone for a while (or possibly forever, we thought).
I continued to read the draft long after I stopped being a Twilight fan (although this whole... adventure has perhaps reconverted me in a very interesting new way), even reading it most recently in spring 2019 - peep my 2019 Reading Challenge to see that OG draft! - months before the release announcement. So, coming in, I knew the first chunk of the story extraordinarily well. Well enough, in fact, that I know what was changed from first draft to publication, which says an awful lot about my middle school reading habits, unfortunately.
Lightning round critique before I get into my biggest commentary:
-Very unhealthy
-0/10 do not recommend this romantic relationship, 12/10 for angst level
-Edward is a Dumb Dumb Idiot Boy and Bella is obsessive
-Edward's emo phase could single-handedly keep Hot Topic in business
There's an attempted thematic metaphor about Persephone and pomegranates, but, honestly, it really didn't hit home in my opinion. It was a bit too forced and it felt quite repetitive after a while.
Also, that church scene towards the end? That ain't it, chief. It reminded me a little of some of those Christian murder mystery books you often find free on Kindle, where the main character just stops doing everything for five pages to pray to God. When your main character gets free ebook vibes, you know you're on the wrong track.
I have a feeling I'm going to be treating that the same way I treat all the God/Jesus bits in Jane Eyre... Just very gently skip over them and pretend they're not there, lol.
My feelings about most of the main cast remained the same in the transition from the original quartet to Midnight Sun.
Bella, as always, is fine. I've heard several people say they really disliked her after this book, but I thought she was fine. The relationship with both her parents is unhealthy to the extreme, but at least Edward is aware of that particular flaw.
I found it interesting that we absolutely learn more about Bella than we do in Twilight. The questions conversation that she breezes through in the original book is here almost in entirety. Unfortunately, Edward spends a lot of time making a list about Bella's personality, and he does a lot of telling, rather than letting her actions speak for herself. He tells us all sorts of things about her personality that are barely apparent to legitimately nonexistent in the original books.
Alice's characterization was unfortunately lacking, for being Edward's closest sibling. About halfway through the book, Edward describes their first meeting - Spoilerwhen he and Emmett come home, Alice throws herself into his arms and thinks about all the possible futures they have together. Rather than questioning this, getting to know her, he immediately accepts it. This interaction colors quite a bit of their interactions through the rest of the story. SM relies too heavily on the implication that Edward, and likely the reader, already loves or really likes Alice from pervious books, so she doesn't spend much time developing her. A big disappointment.
I also wish Emmett had gotten more characterization. To be fair, he's pretty straightforward, though, and I adore him. He is Best Boi™ hands down.
However, I was thrilled by all the Jasper page time. He got some awesome moments, and the much extended use of his powers was absolutely excellent. If you're a Jasper fan, honestly read this just for his page time. So good.
With Rosalie... I tried. I really did.
I've never particularly liked Rosalie - her personal beliefs diverge sharply from my own, but we'll get to that in a minute. But one of my friends tried really hard to convince me she wasn't that bad just as I started reading, so I tried really hard to have an open mind. But I, in fact, hated her even more than I did in Breaking Dawn which is really saying something. She's so antithetical to my own personal values - she's vain, she's jealous, she loves attention... she hates being a vampire.
I think she failed so spectacularly for me in this volume simply because SM does a terrible job of convincing me it's bad to be a vampire. Being a vampire sounds cool. You're smarter, faster, stronger... So what if you can't go out in sunlight? I barely do that already. Don't sleep? Time to read more books and watch every movie I've been meaning to watch! Can't have kids? Oh, thank God, now I won't have to make that choice later in life...
Going to Hell? Well, I was raised Jewish and am an agnostic, so SM and I have very different opinions on the concept of souls and Hell. I think I'll take my chances.
So, even if I despise Rosalie, she definitely inspires feelings.
Unfortunately, this brings me to Esme and Carlisle.
Esme is literally the most boring vampire ever. This woman is made of cardboard. Similarly to Alice, I feel like we're supposed to love her purely because we're supposed to love her. All she does is think things at Edward and ineffectually mother him and then look at Carlisle. When someone says the word "Help Meet," I think of Esme and that is not a compliment.
Carlisle's criminal lack of character exploration was not necessarily as personally offensive as it was about Alice. He's a father figure, so I suppose keeping him at arm's length can be appropriate at times. But I really felt he was underutilized throughout the series, so it wasn't that big of a change.
Hands down, I thought the use of vampire powers was the best part of this book. Not only did it explore Edward more fully, there were some genuinely fantastic scenes about Alice's future-telling. (Especially towards the end. I feel like in the driving scene in Phoenix might be off-putting to some readers, but I was completely enraptured.)
And don't even get me started on how cool Jasper's powers are.
But I'm a slut for magic systems, so this exploration was completely welcomed.
Having written this plot once before, SM was able to really dig deep and explain all the little parts we missed originally. Whether she knew what happened at the time or thought it up later, I don't think it really matters, because it genuinely worked for me. From all the little vampire moments and thought conversations to the choreography of the chase and the fight with James, they finally fit together. SpoilerAnd we finally got an explanation for whether Edward's eyes turned red or not! I was literally discussing that two days ago, so I'm glad I got my answer.
SM and I disagree on several extremely significant issues that come up in Twilight, but mostly child-bearing and fertility. It frustrates me to no end that both Esme and Rosalie see the ability to bear a child as the pinnacle of femininity, the peak of their entire lives. That they want to foist their own insecurities on Bella, who is 17-years-old and still in high school, is particularly appalling to me. While motherhood is obviously important to many women, it is not and should never be the end-all-be-all of your life as a woman. Although it wasn't really touched on here, previously in these books, SM has made some unpleasant commentary about being infertile making a specific character feel like "less" of a woman and I still think about that a lot...
It's difficult to call something like this a "flaw" when it's really just an expression of her sincerely held beliefs. But they run opposite to my own, and many other people's, so it's important to question the role this mentality plays throughout the series.
Despite ALL (or any) of that, I love this book. I had the absolute best time reading this. I've started rereading the rest of the series, too. Even with all my griping and moaning, I adore this. I know what's wrong with Edward but I don't care. I love him and I love how stupid he is, and this is the most fun I've had in months.
I am absolutely overjoyed to own a copy of this book and I guarantee you will see me rereading it within the next 12 months.
A note: the star rating of this book has absolutely nothing to do with whatever quality of writing may or may not be found within its covers and literally everything to do with how I feel about finally reading this BOOK.
Also, this cover? Atrocious. But, like, in a very enjoyable way. Definitely makes me feel those nostalgic late-2000s vibe.
Strap in for a long review, kids...
I have literally been waiting for this book for 12 years. 1 2 y e a r s.
In 2008, I was, in fact, one of those rabid little Twilight fan girls. I was worse - I was one of those Midnight Sun crusaders.
For those who don't know, the short story is, SM wrote the first third-ish of Midnight Sun and then shared it with several alpha readers. One of them leaked the story and, after a struggle, SM eventually decided to post what she had online and leave the project alone for a while (or possibly forever, we thought).
I continued to read the draft long after I stopped being a Twilight fan (although this whole... adventure has perhaps reconverted me in a very interesting new way), even reading it most recently in spring 2019 - peep my 2019 Reading Challenge to see that OG draft! - months before the release announcement. So, coming in, I knew the first chunk of the story extraordinarily well. Well enough, in fact, that I know what was changed from first draft to publication, which says an awful lot about my middle school reading habits, unfortunately.
Lightning round critique before I get into my biggest commentary:
-Very unhealthy
-0/10 do not recommend this romantic relationship, 12/10 for angst level
-Edward is a Dumb Dumb Idiot Boy and Bella is obsessive
-Edward's emo phase could single-handedly keep Hot Topic in business
There's an attempted thematic metaphor about Persephone and pomegranates, but, honestly, it really didn't hit home in my opinion. It was a bit too forced and it felt quite repetitive after a while.
Also, that church scene towards the end? That ain't it, chief. It reminded me a little of some of those Christian murder mystery books you often find free on Kindle, where the main character just stops doing everything for five pages to pray to God. When your main character gets free ebook vibes, you know you're on the wrong track.
I have a feeling I'm going to be treating that the same way I treat all the God/Jesus bits in Jane Eyre... Just very gently skip over them and pretend they're not there, lol.
My feelings about most of the main cast remained the same in the transition from the original quartet to Midnight Sun.
Bella, as always, is fine. I've heard several people say they really disliked her after this book, but I thought she was fine. The relationship with both her parents is unhealthy to the extreme, but at least Edward is aware of that particular flaw.
I found it interesting that we absolutely learn more about Bella than we do in Twilight. The questions conversation that she breezes through in the original book is here almost in entirety. Unfortunately, Edward spends a lot of time making a list about Bella's personality, and he does a lot of telling, rather than letting her actions speak for herself. He tells us all sorts of things about her personality that are barely apparent to legitimately nonexistent in the original books.
Alice's characterization was unfortunately lacking, for being Edward's closest sibling. About halfway through the book, Edward describes their first meeting - Spoilerwhen he and Emmett come home, Alice throws herself into his arms and thinks about all the possible futures they have together. Rather than questioning this, getting to know her, he immediately accepts it. This interaction colors quite a bit of their interactions through the rest of the story. SM relies too heavily on the implication that Edward, and likely the reader, already loves or really likes Alice from pervious books, so she doesn't spend much time developing her. A big disappointment.
I also wish Emmett had gotten more characterization. To be fair, he's pretty straightforward, though, and I adore him. He is Best Boi™ hands down.
However, I was thrilled by all the Jasper page time. He got some awesome moments, and the much extended use of his powers was absolutely excellent. If you're a Jasper fan, honestly read this just for his page time. So good.
With Rosalie... I tried. I really did.
I've never particularly liked Rosalie - her personal beliefs diverge sharply from my own, but we'll get to that in a minute. But one of my friends tried really hard to convince me she wasn't that bad just as I started reading, so I tried really hard to have an open mind. But I, in fact, hated her even more than I did in Breaking Dawn which is really saying something. She's so antithetical to my own personal values - she's vain, she's jealous, she loves attention... she hates being a vampire.
I think she failed so spectacularly for me in this volume simply because SM does a terrible job of convincing me it's bad to be a vampire. Being a vampire sounds cool. You're smarter, faster, stronger... So what if you can't go out in sunlight? I barely do that already. Don't sleep? Time to read more books and watch every movie I've been meaning to watch! Can't have kids? Oh, thank God, now I won't have to make that choice later in life...
Going to Hell? Well, I was raised Jewish and am an agnostic, so SM and I have very different opinions on the concept of souls and Hell. I think I'll take my chances.
So, even if I despise Rosalie, she definitely inspires feelings.
Unfortunately, this brings me to Esme and Carlisle.
Esme is literally the most boring vampire ever. This woman is made of cardboard. Similarly to Alice, I feel like we're supposed to love her purely because we're supposed to love her. All she does is think things at Edward and ineffectually mother him and then look at Carlisle. When someone says the word "Help Meet," I think of Esme and that is not a compliment.
Carlisle's criminal lack of character exploration was not necessarily as personally offensive as it was about Alice. He's a father figure, so I suppose keeping him at arm's length can be appropriate at times. But I really felt he was underutilized throughout the series, so it wasn't that big of a change.
Hands down, I thought the use of vampire powers was the best part of this book. Not only did it explore Edward more fully, there were some genuinely fantastic scenes about Alice's future-telling. (Especially towards the end. I feel like in the driving scene in Phoenix might be off-putting to some readers, but I was completely enraptured.)
And don't even get me started on how cool Jasper's powers are.
But I'm a slut for magic systems, so this exploration was completely welcomed.
Having written this plot once before, SM was able to really dig deep and explain all the little parts we missed originally. Whether she knew what happened at the time or thought it up later, I don't think it really matters, because it genuinely worked for me. From all the little vampire moments and thought conversations to the choreography of the chase and the fight with James, they finally fit together. SpoilerAnd we finally got an explanation for whether Edward's eyes turned red or not! I was literally discussing that two days ago, so I'm glad I got my answer.
SM and I disagree on several extremely significant issues that come up in Twilight, but mostly child-bearing and fertility. It frustrates me to no end that both Esme and Rosalie see the ability to bear a child as the pinnacle of femininity, the peak of their entire lives. That they want to foist their own insecurities on Bella, who is 17-years-old and still in high school, is particularly appalling to me. While motherhood is obviously important to many women, it is not and should never be the end-all-be-all of your life as a woman. Although it wasn't really touched on here, previously in these books, SM has made some unpleasant commentary about being infertile making a specific character feel like "less" of a woman and I still think about that a lot...
It's difficult to call something like this a "flaw" when it's really just an expression of her sincerely held beliefs. But they run opposite to my own, and many other people's, so it's important to question the role this mentality plays throughout the series.
Despite ALL (or any) of that, I love this book. I had the absolute best time reading this. I've started rereading the rest of the series, too. Even with all my griping and moaning, I adore this. I know what's wrong with Edward but I don't care. I love him and I love how stupid he is, and this is the most fun I've had in months.
I am absolutely overjoyed to own a copy of this book and I guarantee you will see me rereading it within the next 12 months.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment
Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault
challenging
dark
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Car accident, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship
Minor: Ableism, Confinement, Pedophilia, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content
Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture
Minor: Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts