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I read Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer, so you don't have to.
This week's Action/Adventure Newsletter is all about bad writing. Unfortunately.
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Okay, I admit it. I bought myself a copy of Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer. For those of you who are blissfully unaware, Midnight Sun is basically Twilight, retold from Edward’s perspective. I don’t know why I got it, really. Once upon a time a friend of mine sent me Twilight, so it would have been rude not to read it, and my younger sister was into it all, giving me an excuse to eventually complete the series. My sister had zero interest in this retelling. Yet, I got it. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one – in the US alone, a million people have purchased a copy since its release on the 4th of August!
It’s quite a chunky number. 756 pages. Its size was a big factor in my decision to go ahead and buy it; I figured that there would be plenty of new material. After all, there are nearly 300 more pages than in the original. If you are wondering whether or not Midnight Sun is for you, and new material is exactly what you are hoping for… well, there’s some. There is more interaction between Edward and his parents and siblings, and there is some time dedicated to his backstory. Unfortunately, there is not as much as I expected there to be. A lot of space is taken up by Edward’s thoughts and feelings, and those are not as interesting as even the biggest Edward fan might think.
There is a lot of repetition. Pretty much every single page he’ll be breathing in Bella’s scent and you will be reminded that it hurts his throat. You will also be reminded, far more frequently than you’ll find necessary, of how easily her cheeks flush, of the little crease between her eyebrows, that “little v”, of her fluttering heartbeat, and of the monster lurking inside Edward. For part of the story, that monster might as well have been its own character. Edward agonises on and on and on about whether he should stay, or leave, and it gets somewhat tiresome. I feel that a significant portion of his thoughts and this description could have been cut out, or should at least have been rewritten to avoid this terrible tedium.
I don’t think anyone could have accused Twilight of reaching any literary heights. The main attraction is, I believe, the chemistry between the characters. If you have watched the movie rather than read the book this may surprise you, as this did not in any way translate to the screen, but Meyer did a decent job at making the readers feel exactly how drawn Edward and Bella are to the other. If you are hoping for the same in Midnight Sun, I have bad news for you. Not only is Edward’s perspective plain boring, it is also rather gross. A good example is when he listens to her “wet, throbbing heart”. I mean… yuck.
Twilight received a significant amount of well-deserved criticism for being one of those novels that presents an unhealthy relationship as something to aspire to. Targeted mainly at young adults, and especially young women, it holds up as the height of romance a man who is torn between love and the lust for the girl’s blood. A man who lies, who gaslights, who stalks and who climbs into her bedroom at night, uninvited, and watches her sleep. His constant mood swings are difficult to keep up with. He pushes her away, whilst at the same time drawing her back in. One might have expected that this would be addressed in Midnight Sun, but knowing Edward’s thoughts somehow makes it worse. The manipulation, the lengths he will go to get his way… It is really the story of a girl who is lured into a toxic relationship with an abusive, undead creature. Put like that, it’s not that romantic, is it?
Meyer has announced that there are two more books to come in the Twilight universe. As tastes differ, I have no doubt that this will delight some of her readers. Personally, I will give them a miss.
If I had to give a rating to Midnight Sun, I would give it a 2 out of 5. As difficult as it was to get through, it must have been a real chore to write, so the author deserves some credit for the effort. That, however, is the limit to my generosity.
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Action/Adventure: August 19, 2020 Issue [#10327]
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