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verymom 's review for:
Midnight Sun
by Stephenie Meyer
2022 review: I needed something easy to listen to on a long car ride. I was tired and cranky and reached for something familiar. On this listen, I had a harder time putting up with Bella’s Mary Sue elements, and was a lot more frustrated with Edward for being, well, Edward. I do appreciate the author’s attempt to modernize, soften, and edit Edward via his POV; it is clear the author has matured since first writing Twilight (though Esme’s existence still seems kind of empty and sad).
I can’t ignore my more callused worldview after my husband’s death. I think grief colors everything these days and contributes to a lack of patience… even with fictional characters. I kept wanting to shake everyone involved and plop them into a happy immortal ending where no one is fragile and in constant threat of dying. Grief has, however, given me a bit more patience for the intense ‘I will die without you’ stuff, because hey… loss really can feel that miserable.
Still enjoyed the extra layers to Alice & Jasper’s gifts and how much cooler the shake down in Phoenix is.
I dunno if I’d give this book 5 stars today, but my initial review was written during a happier time—recalling with fondness when my husband and I read the OG series together, waited in lines for new releases, and went to see the movies together. So, nostalgia wins; I’ll let it stand.
2020 review:
I KNOW.
But I enjoyed it. I really did. I felt so much nostalgia for how immersive the original series was and for where I was in my life when those books first came out.
All of Robert Pattinson’s interviews about the Twilight film franchise are amusing, but in one he states that he decided Edward deeply hated himself and that’s how he played him. I kept thinking about that as I read and how true an assessment it was. Reading Twilight from Edward’s perspective answers a lot of questions and better explains his decisions and behaviors. He’s much more well-rounded in this (though yes, absolutely, he’s still problematic).
It started out rough for me. I couldn’t get into it in the beginning and my non-billionaire writer’s brain kept presumptuously editing/fixing, but by the time Edward decided he couldn’t stay away from Bella I was engaged.
It was a lot of fun to see more interaction between the Cullens (especially Alice) and all the wild logistics that went into the climax in Phoenix. Jasper’s gift is way cooler in this version and Alice’s is a lot more detailed/better explained.
I also enjoyed reading about a male falling hard for a female rather than the other way around. It changes the whole feel of the book and it’s pretty refreshing even considering the Mary Sue elements Edward’s adoration amplifies. There’s a sweetness here that we didn’t get from Bella’s POV.
I’d like to read the rest of the series from Edward’s perspective, though his interminable self-loathing would probably get (more) tiresome. (Edited to add: a friend tipped me off to a fanfic called “Dark Side of the Moon.” It’s Edward’s POV for New Moon and it’s really well done. Written before this came out, there are a few missing things, but I recommend.)
Note: I haven’t read the OG series since it came out, so I can’t speak to how repetitive or inconsistent this one might be.
I can’t ignore my more callused worldview after my husband’s death. I think grief colors everything these days and contributes to a lack of patience… even with fictional characters. I kept wanting to shake everyone involved and plop them into a happy immortal ending where no one is fragile and in constant threat of dying. Grief has, however, given me a bit more patience for the intense ‘I will die without you’ stuff, because hey… loss really can feel that miserable.
Still enjoyed the extra layers to Alice & Jasper’s gifts and how much cooler the shake down in Phoenix is.
I dunno if I’d give this book 5 stars today, but my initial review was written during a happier time—recalling with fondness when my husband and I read the OG series together, waited in lines for new releases, and went to see the movies together. So, nostalgia wins; I’ll let it stand.
2020 review:
I KNOW.
But I enjoyed it. I really did. I felt so much nostalgia for how immersive the original series was and for where I was in my life when those books first came out.
All of Robert Pattinson’s interviews about the Twilight film franchise are amusing, but in one he states that he decided Edward deeply hated himself and that’s how he played him. I kept thinking about that as I read and how true an assessment it was. Reading Twilight from Edward’s perspective answers a lot of questions and better explains his decisions and behaviors. He’s much more well-rounded in this (though yes, absolutely, he’s still problematic).
It started out rough for me. I couldn’t get into it in the beginning and my non-billionaire writer’s brain kept presumptuously editing/fixing, but by the time Edward decided he couldn’t stay away from Bella I was engaged.
It was a lot of fun to see more interaction between the Cullens (especially Alice) and all the wild logistics that went into the climax in Phoenix. Jasper’s gift is way cooler in this version and Alice’s is a lot more detailed/better explained.
I also enjoyed reading about a male falling hard for a female rather than the other way around. It changes the whole feel of the book and it’s pretty refreshing even considering the Mary Sue elements Edward’s adoration amplifies. There’s a sweetness here that we didn’t get from Bella’s POV.
I’d like to read the rest of the series from Edward’s perspective, though his interminable self-loathing would probably get (more) tiresome. (Edited to add: a friend tipped me off to a fanfic called “Dark Side of the Moon.” It’s Edward’s POV for New Moon and it’s really well done. Written before this came out, there are a few missing things, but I recommend.)
Note: I haven’t read the OG series since it came out, so I can’t speak to how repetitive or inconsistent this one might be.