Title: Midnight Sun (Twilight, #5)
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Published by: Little, Brown and Company
Published on: August 2020
Pages: 662 pages
"You don't care if I'm a monster? If I'm not human?" "No." I started to wonder if she was entirely stable.
Chapter 10: Theory
Same, Edward. Same.
Sooo, after almost a decade of pure and total bliss, Stephenie Meyer thought that what the world would need in the middle of a global pandemic was a gift. And what better gift than yet another Twilight book starring her beloved vampire lovers?
Enter Edward Cullen.
I̶ ̶s̶e̶r̶i̶o̶u̶s̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶S̶t̶e̶p̶h̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶a̶c̶c̶e̶p̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶a̶c̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶E̶.̶ ̶L̶.̶ ̶J̶a̶m̶e̶s̶,̶ ̶w̶h̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶o̶k̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶b̶a̶s̶i̶c̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶a̶ ̶T̶w̶i̶l̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶f̶a̶n̶f̶i̶c̶,̶ ̶r̶e̶l̶e̶a̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶G̶r̶e̶y̶,̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶b̶a̶s̶i̶c̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶5̶0̶ ̶S̶h̶a̶d̶e̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶G̶r̶e̶y̶ ̶t̶o̶l̶d̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶C̶h̶r̶i̶s̶t̶i̶a̶n̶ ̶G̶r̶e̶y̶'̶s̶ ̶p̶e̶r̶s̶p̶e̶c̶t̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶-̶-̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶c̶e̶p̶t̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶e̶a̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶d̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶g̶i̶n̶n̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶T̶w̶i̶l̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶h̶y̶p̶e̶ ̶-̶-̶ ̶b̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶M̶i̶d̶n̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶S̶u̶n̶.̶ ̶F̶Y̶I̶,̶ ̶M̶i̶d̶n̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶S̶u̶n̶ ̶d̶r̶a̶f̶t̶ ̶g̶o̶t̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶S̶t̶e̶p̶h̶ ̶v̶o̶w̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶p̶u̶b̶l̶i̶s̶h̶ ̶i̶t̶.̶ ̶1̶0̶+̶ ̶y̶e̶a̶r̶s̶ ̶l̶a̶t̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶l̶o̶o̶k̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶w̶e̶ ̶a̶r̶e!̶
Plotwise, Midnight Sun is more or less the same as Twilight, the only difference is through whose eyes we are looking. Edward Cullen, a vampire who'd lived for more than a decade, was bored with his routine. Along with his adoptive vampiric family, he lived in Forks, a quaint little town where it always rains and the sun barely comes out. With his brothers and sisters (Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, Alice), he enrolled in the local high school and everyday was a bore. Purgatory, he claimed.
Until a new student, Bella Swan, daughter of the local chief police, arrived and proved to be a mysterious challenge that piqued his interest and, well, attraction.
EGGLYSIS
This is me, in chronological order, upon finishing the last page of the book:
I used to think that Bella's head was boring. Then I met Edward's inner monologue, and boi was. I. Exhausted.
Twilight has always been problematic, but if we discard New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn, it's actually a decent YA love story, with a bit of fantasy thrown in. We have a clumsy, innocent main protagonist who got entangled in a romance with a 100-ish year old dashing vampire. Star crossed lovers, forbidden love, with a bit of action in the end, not to mention Steph's way with words, encapsulated through the eyes of said teenage girl. It's actually quite charming.
Midnight Sun is not.
Edward is far cry from being innocent. He was experienced and knew the way of the world. He was more than a century's old, for heaven's sake! Seeing the story unfold from his perspective is not charming -- it is, in fact, creepy.
Let's take a look at the scene where Edward watched Bella asleep as an example. It didn't seem right to me then, but Bella's innocence in Twilight managed to make us readers buy it. She was thoroughly smitten by this brooding, gorgeous guy, and he sneaked into her room to watch her sleep. Point is, what teenage girl doesn't become stupid when in love?
*coughs* Women too *coughs coughs*
Through Edward's eyes, this scene becomes a horrifying thriller.
It was past midnight, and Bella's house was dark and quiet. Her truck was parked against the curb, her father's police cruiser in the driveway. There were no conscious thoughts anywhere in the neighborhood. I watched the house from the blackness of the forest that bordered it on the east.
There was no evidence of any kind of danger... aside from myself. [...]
But I felt anxious, unsettled. I couldn't push the dark imaginings from my mind. If I could just see her...
I would take a closer look.
In only half a second, I had crossed the yard and scaled the side of the house. [...] It was her room. I could see her in the one small bed, her covers on the floor and her sheet twisted around her legs. She was perfectly fine, of course, as the rational part of me had already known. [...]
I was repulsed by myself as I watched her toss again. How was I any better than some sick peeping tom? I wasn't any better. I was much, much worse. [...]
Bella talked in her sleep.
Curiosity flared, overpowering self-disgust. So long I'd tried to hear her and failed. The lure of those unprotected, unconsciously spoken thoughts was impossibly tempting.
What were human rules to me, after all? How many did I ignore on a daily basis? [...]
Then why should I feel so guilty over one little misdemeanor? Human laws had never applied to me. And this was hardly my first adventure with breaking and entering.
Chapter 5: Invitations
Add that to the fact that Edward's narration is dull as a dishwater. I sort of blame Steph here because it often reads like exposition. Instead of giving us readers a chance to appreciate Bella's character (which isn't much actually, but let's be fair, one would hope that seeing her through the eyes of the love of her life might enable us to appreciate her at least a little bit, no?), Edward gave us a bunch of adjectives on why Bella should be admired. In the scene where Edward was asking Bella loads of personal questions, he asked her on her favourite books and she responded with loads of classics. The usual Little Women, Jane Eyre, any Austen... yanno, because Bella is so smart. So Edward started comparing her to Elinor Dashwood, Jane Eyre herself, Lucy Pevensie, even Jo March! She was brave, she was kind, she was mature, she was independent, and -- my personal favourite -- she was selfless.
When being asked which Austen novel was her favourite, Bella gave this reply that made me see red:
"...Everything Austen, though I'm not a huge fan of Emma--"
Austen I already knew, having seen her battered anthology the day she read outside, but I wondered at the exclusion.
"Why not?"
"Ugh, she's so full of herself."
Chapter 13: Another Complication
NOBODY INSULT MISS EMMA DASHWOOD IN FRONT OF ME AND GET AWAY WITH IT
The part that gave me the thrill was the chase/the hunt with the vampire, James. See, because in Twilight all we had was Bella, Alice, and Jasper hanging out in a dark hotel room, and this time we get a first hand experience from the guy who did the chasing: Edward. James might be the main antagonist, but I do love how he made fools out of the Cullens. He actually felt dangerous, and that characterisation is a yes for me. As soon as he was out of the picture, I was bummed.
Much like the previous books, Bella and Edward are not engaging enough as main characters. I sincerely hope this would be the first and the last attempt of Steph in reviving her long lost glory. I can't bear another Edward book.
Overall, Midnight Sun...
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