Author: Sarah Malik

Remember Twilight? Yeah, we never got a chance to forget about it.

Which, in some ways, is good; it’s distracted us from the current conditions of the world, and honestly, anything that distracts us seems like a win to me. Whether you see Twilight as a teen romance or a comedy, let’s be real: it’s entertained us all. Some of us have been in the Twilight world since the release of the first movie in 2008, and others have gotten sucked in somewhere along the way, and while we may all have our independent opinions on how good the movies are compared to the books, and whether we’re Team Jacob or Team Edward, one thing is true for all of us: we are seriously invested. It’s been over 10 years since the first movie came out, yet here we are in 2020, still talking about it.

Stephenie Meyer, the author of the series, has been a tremendous help throughout the years, engaging in conversations about the books and movies on her social media accounts. She finally released the companion book to Twilight in which Edward narrates his experiences as a vampire, meeting Bella, and falling in love with her despite their…differences. Releasing Midnight Sun just last month has revived the Twilight fandom, but it’s also created a disparity between readers, and the reviews have come in.

Scrolling through reviews for books before reading them can always be a little tricky because all readers experience differently and a certain book might not be everybody’s cup of tea, so it’s best not to fully rely on the things you read online. It’s more ideal to make your own judgments about it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to look through the reviews. Articles upon articles have been written about this wildly anticipated book; however, not all of the reviews have been great. There’s a saying that any press is good press, but I don’t think that that applies to Midnight Sun.

The Guardian’s Elle Hunt reviewed the book and stated, “Unfortunately, Midnight Sun does not make for gripping reading, nor significantly expand Meyer’s vampiric lore, an obvious missed opportunity when writing from Edward’s perspective.”

The Independent’s Annie Lord hilariously wrote, “In the Twilight Universe, vampires don’t burn under the sun, they gleam like diamonds. I wish they did set alight, though: that way I might not have to hear Edward’s inner monologue as his lips rest on Bella’s neck ever again.”

Elle’s Lauren Puckett wrote, “But this is still Twilight: It’s still Edward and Bella’s story. If that’s what you signed up for, then good—you’ll be pleased. But if you were hoping for breathtaking new insight into the immortal mind of your first love, you won’t find anything here but a tired man and a tired tale.

So… maybe the book wasn’t that good after all. I decided to check it out myself anyway and see what all the discussions were about. I figured if I didn’t like the book, at least I’d get a good chuckle out of it, and if I did like it, then that was a win. 

The first thing I noticed was that Edward went into a lot more detail than Bella ever did. The infamous biology class scene itself went on for pages and pages with Edward recalling every single minor detail; however, instead of growing annoyed at that, I actually appreciated the effort since I got the picture of the turmoil Edward was going through more vividly. Stephenie Meyer made sure there were no questions of gray areas in the book, thoroughly explaining exactly what was happening in those few short seconds, from the frantic grip on the table when Bella entered the room (“My hand crushed through the strut and came away with a palmful of splintered pulp, leaving the shape of my fingers carved into the remaining wood.”), to the way he explained how her scent impacted him (“Her scent hit me like a battering ram, like an exploding grenade. There was no image violent enough to encompass the force of what happened to me in that moment.”). The language, however, was more graphic than I thought it would be considering Edward is extremely conservative and barely says anything out of the ordinary, thinking carefully over his words. Peering into his head made that dynamic shift because suddenly he was this frantic, imperfect character who overanalyzed everything and spent his time overthinking. Once more, I appreciated Meyer expanding on Edward’s character considering before the release of this book, he was always regarded as the more rational half of the relationship.

The book doesn’t read as a comedy or romance from Edward’s point of view, but there are hints of guilt and lust that show how flawed he is. Now just like any other book, there were some parts that were a little odd, like how Carlisle was always just so at ease, even during the scene at the end where Bella was bleeding out. He was described as “calm” about four times in one page! Edward’s thoughts also turned immensely violent sometimes, which irked me because he really just needed to chill out. And if we’re mentioning the iffy parts of the book, we should probably mention Edward watching Bella sleep and how angry he seemed to get when she disagreed with him on minor decisions. Overall, not a very healthy relationship. Kind of a weird and awkward atmosphere. I finished the book thinking I didn’t feel like a different person at all, like how you do when you’ve just finished a book that was the best thing you’ve ever read in your life.

Reading reviews about books, as I mentioned before, is a great way to familiarize yourself with the content of the book, but if you really want to make your own judgments, read it yourself and think about what it means to you. If I were to rate Midnight Sun, it would receive a 6 out of 10.

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