Midnight Sun by Stephanie Meyer
833 pages • ⭐️⭐️⭐️ • No spice 😒
Did you ever read Twilight and think, “Wow, I’d love to know what Edward was thinking”? Dramatic sigh. Congrats, Stephanie Meyer heard your wish and answered it with 833 pages of pure, uncut, artisanal brooding.
Externally, Edward Cullen’s whole moody marble statue act is occasionally endearing, occasionally irritating. Internally? Hearing the full director’s commentary of his angst in real time is a psychological endurance sport. And for 833 pages? Lord, grant me the sweet release of true death. I genuinely assumed this brick would cover all four books. That would make sense. That’s an appropriate amount of internal torment for an entire saga. But no. It’s ALL for Twilight. All. Of. It. 🙄
I struggled. Not because it’s complex. Because at a certain point you stop caring about his self-loathing, martyr-flavored high-road nonsense. It was exhausting in the original series when we only had to visit his misery. Living inside it feels like being trapped in a Cold Topic on a loop.
Yes, yes, I know: if he’d turned Bella earlier, there’d be no Renesmee. But after that CGI baby in the movies, I’m not convinced that’s a tragedy. (And the Breaking Dawn Part 2 “battle” scene? IYKYK. Cinema crimes were committed.)
To be fair, you do get extra insight into what Edward does when Bella isn’t around: some boy time, hunting, vampire logistics, protective instincts. But mostly it’s him relentlessly auditing his own soul like the world’s thirstiest CPA of despair. Like… buddy. Are you okay? Was your dad an alcoholic? Do we need to get you into Al-Anon? It’s fine, truly, but the perfectionism is going to kill you. (Which, yes, is hilariously ironic. I laughed. Against my will.)
And now I must step onto my soapbox for a quick sermon: I cannot stand the way celebrity authors get praised no matter what they publish. Exhibit A: the glowing pull-quotes from fancy publications that say things like,
“People don’t just want to read Meyer’s books; they want to climb inside them and live there.” (Time) or “A literary phenomenon.” (The New York Times). Notice what’s missing? Actual praise for this book’s writing. It’s less “this is good” and more “the fandom is feral.” It’s like loving Star Wars while fully acknowledging the acting is… let’s say “brave.” (Fight me. 😇)
And that’s why Midnight Sun was a bestseller. Not because it’s great, but because nostalgia has hands and it grabbed us by the childhood. Hell, that’s why I read it. Also: it was on KU, so I didn’t even have to pay for the privilege of suffering. Small mercies.
Bottom line: you can skip this one. If you think Edward broods in Twilight, please understand: this is brooding with surround sound, bonus features, and an intermission where he broods about the fact that he broods. It’s worse than you can possibly imagine.
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