Midnight Sun
The Tea:
Midnight Sun By Stephanie Meyer
Blog Written By: Ciestiel
Twilight. It’s one of those fandoms that has an either love it or hate it attitude. I admit I’ve read the whole series back in high school but it’s by no means been one of my favorite vampire series. And after the first two it started to really lose me. But I did enjoy some of the characters even if the supernatural elements fell really flat for me. For example, Carlisle and Alice were two of my favorites from Twilight.
So, when I heard Midnight Sun was finally going to be published I was definitely curious. Midnight Sun was Twilight but from Edward’s perspective. Which was much more appealing to me, as Bella was not a well written character in my opinion.
A little bit about the novel:
Edward and his vampire family reside in Forks, Washington when new student Bella Swan moves to town. She is the sheriff’s daughter, very pale, very clumsy, and at first a large pain in Edward’s butt. Her blood is extremely tempting to him and he can’t read her mind which makes him curious about her. Edward makes the choice not to kill her which leads to a rollercoaster of a romance between the two.
Overall, I thought the writing in Midnight Sun was better and more polished. The readers were able to see more of the cast of characters being from Edward’s POV. Not just because we see more of the other Cullens, but we also see a little bit of everyone’s thoughts thanks to Edward’s telepathy. For example, we can get a small glimpse into Charlie Swan and a large look at the other students. Being from Edward’s POV gives us a lot more of the world than it did from Bella’s POV and that’s something I really enjoyed.
As most of my reviews go, I’ll start with what didn’t work for me. As this is just a retelling of Twilight, I still am not a fan of the supernatural lore. Vampires that sparkle as a lure for humans just does not work for me. I don’t feel like it’s a successful romanticizing of vampires. The lack of pointy fangs also bothers me. That’s like the iconic symbol of a vampire. Let’s not forget that just about every vampire gets a special ability of some kind. That didn’t work for me as it leads to this more and more overpowered character rabbit hole. Maybe I’m a little bit of vampire purist. The werewolves have their own issues but as they aren’t talked about much in the first novel I won’t go on about them. But let’s just say for those that have read the whole series, imprinting? Really? No.
Bella still does not work for me as a character. I still don’t understand what Edward sees in her even from hearing the story from his perspective. It seems most of his interest truly comes from him being unable to read Bella’s mind and her extremely tempting blood. Not genuine love. It’s like he has no choice but to love her. As if vampire’s have their own imprinting, because they do not feel like an authentic couple. He uses her to escape the constant noise he always hears and she uses him to gain that sweet sweet immortality.
Specifically back to Bella, she has intelligence, she’s proven to be pretty smart, but as a protagonist she just can’t seem to stand on her own. Her entire existence seems dependent on other people, and as the reader, I’m not sure I know who she actually is. While it’s perfectly okay to have a character that struggles with who they are or just have a lot of internal struggles, I do need more or some sense of their character or of progression. And Bella gives me none of that. She’s essentially, my existence sucks, I don’t fit in, I need to be a vampire. Like that will solve everything that she feels is wrong, no matter the consequences. When reading the original series from Bella’s POV, it was often a struggle. Edward was a much better perspective to read from, in my opinion.
That brings us to Bella and Edward as a couple. I find it hard to believe them as authentic, as I said above. It doesn’t feel as if they really love each other, rather they love what the other can do for them. Both using the other as an escape. Edward, to escape the constant barrage of thoughts. Bella, to escape what she seems to think is a pointless human existence. It’s just not a good love story. However, I’d say none of the relationships in the series make for a good love story either, so it’s not just Bella and Edward.
Now, enough negatives and onto some positives. I loved seeing what exactly Edward was thinking when he was learning to control his murderous impulses around Bella. In Twilight we didn’t get a good grasp of just how much it was torturing Edward, and it made him seem more like a jerk than a suffering vampire. But now we see Edward’s thoughts and it turns out he wasn’t just a jerk after all, ha. Those struggles aren’t limited to just his bloodlust either. I enjoyed getting to see how his telepathy effects his relationships with his family, and how he struggles with it at school or out on the town. Perhaps my favorite struggle, just how much and why he hates that Bella wants to give up her humanity. Bella may not appreciate being human but after losing his humanity, Edward can. Bella only sees the “positives” of being a vampire. She romanticizes it heavily because she so desperately wants it. But Edward shows us the negatives like bloodlust, the murder, having to move around constantly from not aging. And the worst part to Edward, and most of the others, not being able to enjoy a human life, having human experiences. While Bella doesn’t seem to care about them, every vampire around her does. Because they lost those chances. They can never experience human things again.
Seeing way more of the other Cullens was also a huge positive, as they were my favorites. Character’s like Emmett were given more time on the page. We actually get a better look into his character and he became one of my favorites in Midnight Sun where in Twilight he was not even in my top ten. And Carlisle for days. He was my favorite in the books and films, though the latter may be because of Peter Facinelli. There is so much more conversation between Carlisle and Edward. And I was reminded of fun facts like Carlisle is actually British but hasn’t lived there for a long time. I also love how Edward talks to his family often by them thinking at him and he responds with facial expression. He does that often with Carlisle and Emmett. And Alice he has weirder and more fun telepathic conversations.
Midnight Sun also gives us a better look at how Edward’s telepathy works. I was surprised to learn that Bella’s parents likely are why she is immune to Edward’s telepathy. Charlie, her father, is also hard for Edward to read. Her mother projects and influences, so the combined genetics left Bella unreadable. I’d love more backstory for Bella’s family. There were also little things that pleased my soul. One such thing was Bella enjoying the books of Anne McCaffrey, who is one of my favorite authors. Another was that Jacob had a restful mind to listen to, according to Edward.
Midnight Sun, overall, I definitely prefer to Twilight. And if you’re someone like me who maybe didn’t quite enjoy Twilight because it was hard to connect with Bella, this may be more enjoyable. Edward’s perspective is more immersive, both with the world and characters. The lore still bothers me, but Edward makes this a much more bearable story and the readers really get a lot more.
7/10 Biscuits
And That’s The Tea
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Bonus thought:
When Edward was daydreaming about how he could kill Bella and everyone in the room, part of me wished he did. Then the story could have been a murder mystery/supernatural crime drama and the werewolves could have led the investigation with Charlie. The story could maybe be then about Edward and Jacob. And it would be a vampire vs werewolf for at least the first couple books. Then perhaps Cullen’s and werewolves vs Volturi.
