Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

12 reviews

sav_22's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

I actually had so much fun with this lol. I found it loads more entertaining than the actual original novels. I doubt this was the intention of Meyers, but this made Edward even more deranged, weird, creepy, which as a result makes him actually more interesting than he ever was before. It’s very fun, especially if you don’t take it seriously and are coming from a place of love-hate for the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Bullying, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Medical content

robertjspradlin's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Violence, Body horror, Torture, Stalking, Murder, Kidnapping, and Blood

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

bashsbooks's review against another edition

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

2.25

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.

1. 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.
2. The deeper depiction and explanations of Alice and Jasper's abilties were cool. 
3. 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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Blood, Stalking, and Violence

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Gore, Racism, and Murder

Minor: Cursing, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Rape, and Drug use

-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).

cptnstphy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

Reading about how Jasper handled James absolutely delighted me. Not only are his talents much more complex and powerful than Bella had ever known (cloaking himself in “boredom” as a disguise until the final moment) (cool as fuck), he was just so necessary for Edward’s sanity as they drove to the ballet studio. The way he forced calm on Edward via gentle touch to the back of the neck felt so caring and brotherly to me. So special. Jasper’s my new favourite, so underrated. Really cool to hear Alice’s planning too, how she thinks ahead and rearranges everything perfectly in her mind and props before it takes place. I also loved hearing right from the source how Edward’s life changed and how he felt happiness for the first time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Toxic relationship, Torture, Stalking, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Medical content, Abandonment, Car accident, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Alcoholism

Minor: Drug abuse, Rape, Vomit, Kidnapping, Addiction, and Cursing

megselyane's review against another edition

challenging 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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Blood, Sexism, Stalking, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Animal death, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Cultural appropriation, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Racism, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Minor: Bullying, Fatphobia, Suicide attempt, Ableism, and Addiction

reclusivebookslug's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

Okay, I get it. The Twilight Saga is not among the world's greatest literature, nor is it the most unproblematic of franchises. But I believe that people can enjoy things while recognizing their faults. I grew up on this series, first the movies, then the books, and it has become nostalgic for me. And sue me, I find them very entertaining to this day.

This retelling from Edward's POV was nowhere near as good as the original Twilight book. This is probably because I find Edward very boring as a character. I love Bella, Charlie, and the rest of the Cullens, and I don't dislike Edward, but he's a bit dull for me. Another minus for me is the ending. In Twilight, there is some semblance of a happy ending, even though things are uncertain, but this ends with Edward dreading the moment he plans to leave Bella in New Moon.

But there are some positives and for them, I'm glad I read this. I appreciated the extra insight into both the vampire lore and the Cullen family. Edward's mind-reading abilities allowed me to connect more with secondary characters. Charlie has become one of my favorite characters.

There are some little details here and there that change how creepy Edward's behavior is to me, most of them for the better in my opinion. 

For example, Edward doesn't watch her sleep just because he's obsessed with her, but because he is anxious over her safety and wants to acclimate himself to being in her presence. It is confirmed that vampires' minds, as well as their bodies, are frozen at the time they were turned, making him still mentally her same age. He makes an effort not to intrude on people's thoughts in private moments, like if they are showering or changing clothes. On the other hand, it is also clear that he doesn't believe Bella is capable of making the best decisions for her own wellbeing, which sucks. He believes that he knows what is best for her better than she does about herself.

 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Torture, Blood, and Kidnapping

CWs are mostly for when James lures Bella into her old dance studio.

unloveliest's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Toxic relationship, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Kidnapping, Sexism, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Car accident

Moderate: Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Child abuse, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Grief, Cursing, and Confinement

chloevienna's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

tagged warning stuff that was even barely mentioned in passing - everyone has dark backstories so i wanted to be thorough!!

rcj0sta's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

2.5

Edward is so annoyingly verbose 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Kidnapping, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

nxclx's review against another edition

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

1.0

Honestly, I feel bad giving this book 1 star, but honestly, that's what it got. This is a whole mess, and I wouldn't have finished it if it hadn't been for it being a retelling of twilight. Just... sad. And I would have rather read about Alice's story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Torture

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Sexual content, and Stalking