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A review by kyarabereading
Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
2.75
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, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pedophilia and Rape