Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Midnight Sun

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I'm not sure how much of my pure enjoyment of the book is because of the nostalgic aspects of it, but does it matter?

The things I liked about this book:

Edward's inner monologue and the general tone of the book match his age. The long-winded sentences and em-dashes and the occasional use of words that have fallen out of fashion match the time period he grew up in, which was a very nice touch.
He's actually quite scary. Seeing Edward from inside his brain instead of from inside Bella's cotton-candy brain shows him as the monster he really is.
He's super stupid.
There was a lot more added lore and background for vampires and side characters (the Cullens, and also others).
Seeing Bella through his eyes made Bella have more of a personality than she ever did before.

The things I didn't like about this book:

It was a little too long. Towards the end I got a tiny bit bored.
Rosalie was fucked over. Just come right out and say you hate feminine women, smeyer.

Obviously, it's nowhere near a perfect book. Most of the ethical problems with the first books still apply, but to be honest I don't gaf. I didn't read this book to read high-class literature.

Content Warnings

directorpurry's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

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.

Content Warnings

unloveliest's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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

1.0

Content Warnings

ashleyvharris's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

God. This book ruined me. I knew that reading from Edward’s perspective was going to be mentally taxing, but this was almost painful at times. His constant inner turmoil over his romantic feelings and bloodlust for Bella was like a tidal wave that refuses to let you come up for air; every time he had a gentle, pure thought, it was marred by his agony.

Although his narration lines up closely with what I’d imagined of Edward during the original saga, it confirms that his mind is an unbearable place to be.

For all the depression, angst, and agony, there were some truly sweet moments that were worth reading from his perspective. His description of the joy he felt after confessing everything to Bella was so sweet and endearing. Not to mention his humor surrounding Bella and her “suitors”.

And look, I know he can’t read her mind like everyone else, but he is so dumb for a vampire. He was confused by every thought Bella ever had. How has this man been alive over a century and he doesn’t understand the physical cues of human attraction?

My absolute favorite thing about this book was the new scenes of the Cullen family and their perspective on events from Twilight. The way that Emmett was so immediately protective of Bella despite Rosalie’s anger toward her? Heartwarming. The way Jasper wanted to be around Edward and Bella because of how strong and enjoyable their emotions were? Adorable.

If you’re wondering what scene ruined me most thoroughly? Edward’s internal explanation for taking her to prom. Destroyed me. Highly recommend if you’re a masochist :)

Content Warnings

ailish's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I was a huge Twihard as a teenager, this is definitely a must read for the fans. The reason I gave it 3 stars was because upon reading this I realised how possessive Edward was! I feel like the book was a bit long too, I was really looking forward to reading it to re-live my Twilight phase but it dragged on a bit personally :/

Content Warnings