Is Midnight Sun the Best Twilight Novel?

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be reviewing Midnight Sun, the fifth Twilight that was released last year. 

Due to the fact that this book has been out for 8 months, this review will be filled with spoilers (though since this is Twilight from Edward's perspective, there isn't much to spoil). So, if you haven't read Midnight Sun and you wish to, I'd recommend leaving this post, reading it, and then coming back. 

There are also a couple of spoilers for New Moon and Breaking Dawn, so if you haven't read those, I'd also recommend leaving this post if you're interested.

Around the time of this book's release, I did a spoiler-free review of Midnight Sun on my sister's blog, which I will link here if you wish to check that review out instead: The Real World According to Sam (opens in new window) 

With that being said, let's get into the review!

Let's begin with the background for Midnight Sun. In 2008 (after the release of Breaking Dawn), Stephenie Meyer announced that she was writing Midnight Sun, which is Twilight from Edward's perspective. 

However, not long after this, twelve chapters of her manuscript were leaked on the internet, so she said that due to this, the project had been put on hold indefinitely. Fans of the Twilight Saga were excited about Midnight Sun, and had been waiting for the book since it was announced. Well, it was finally released in August 2020.

It was ironic, because during the beginning of quarantine last year (March), I decided to read Twilight. I started reading it because I was a teenager and it was a popular YA book when my sister was in high school. I wanted to see what all the hype was all about. While I was reading New Moon, it was announced that a fifth Twilight novel, titled Midnight Sun, was going to be released in August. 

My library got an e-book copy that was preordered and showed up on the site a few days before. I immediately put it on hold, and my sister and I read it a couple weeks after its release.

The writing:

The writing was definitely a pleasant surprise. I had been hoping that since Twilight came out 15 years ago, the writing would be better, and Stephenie Meyer didn't disappoint. It still isn't the best writing I've ever read, but it's far better than the other books in this series. The grandiloquent words make more sense in Edward's perspective than Bella's, seeing as he is from an older time. It probably also helps that I enjoyed being in Edward's head more than Bella's.

Overall, I don't have much to say about the writing. It wasn't phenomenal, though I did enjoy Edward's comparisons to Greek mythology, along with the interactions between his family members. These Greek mythological references didn't feel as if they belonged in Bella's perspective, and therefore, made much more sense in Edward's.

I have to say that of the three perspectives we have read throughout the Twilight Saga (Bella, Jacob [Breaking Dawn], and Edward [Midnight Sun]), my favorite by far is Edward's. He is much more personable. His logic makes more sense (save for his stalker-ish tendencies). 

The story:

The plot was pretty much the exact same as Twilight, except instead of seeing Bella's family life, you see Edward's. It was very interesting to read about what Edward was doing while Bella was doing something else. For instance, the hunt and the final battle scenes are told from Edward's perspective.

We get to see how the Cullen family finds Bella, which was really fascinating. We get to see what happens between James being defeated and Bella waking up in the hospital, since in Twilight, Bella was conveniently unconscious for all the events between. 

The plot of Twilight was very basic, sometimes bordering on annoyingly simplistic. Midnight Sun is just as simple, but it didn't feel as basic to me, and was much less annoying. I was only annoyed once, though I can't fully remember why, so it mustn't have been that annoying after all. 

I think it's because Edward's daily life is ten times more interesting than Bella's. His life is less mundane and ordinary, as you would hope since he is supernatural. I found Midnight Sun significantly less boring than Twilight.

It was enjoyable to see more of the Cullen family, which is one of the main reasons why I believe this is by far the best book in the Twilight Saga. I'm going to talk about each of the main characters in the upcoming sub-sections.

The key differences between Midnight Sun and Twilight are that the Cullens actually vaguely know Bella's future just after she meets Edward, due to Alice's visions. A lot of things that happened in Twilight are really explained here, though not to the point of feeling spoon-fed. As an example, Alice foresees Tyler's van skidding and almost striking Bella. Edward sees this vision while reading Alice's mind, and immediately leaps into action to save Bella. 

After the van incident, Jasper is pretty set on killing Bella himself, which I found interesting. He wants to kill Bella because it may put Alice at risk. This is quickly resolved by Alice, who foresees the future and tells Jasper to not kill Bella because she will be Alice's friend. 

Shortly after this, it is revealed that Alice sees Edward falling in love with Bella. Edward refuses to believe it. After Jasper asks Alice what she sees, it is revealed that she only sees two outcomes. One is that Edward kills her, which Alice states would make her very unhappy and two, that Bella becomes one of them, meaning she sees Bella becoming a vampire.

After this revelation, Jasper is fully decided on not killing Bella, knowing how it would affect Alice. Instead, he decides to trust Alice and her visions completely. Edward leaves, unable to handle the thoughts of his family. He decides that he's not going to follow the path Alice's visions have laid before him. He would make his own path. Obviously, if you've read the Twilight Saga, you know this doesn't happen. Bella becomes a vampire, and there's nothing Edward is able to do about it.

Toward the end comes my favorite part of Midnight Sun. After Bella escapes Jasper and Alice, Edward and the rest of the Cullens (Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Carlisle; Esme and Rosalie are back in Forks keeping an eye on Charlie) race to the dance studio where Bella and James are. Edward keeps seeing Alice's visions of Bella in his mind, which causes his focus to waver (he's driving). 

Jasper, sensing Edward's panic and uneasiness, begins projecting his battle focus (which he used to focus newborns when he was in war) on the rest of them. This focus keeps Edward from steering off the road and ultimately is the one thing that keeps Edward focused enough to save Bella. 

It's also made clear that Edward's decision to leave Bella in New Moon wasn't spur of the moment, like it initially seemed. He intended to leave her when she was in the hospital (the second time; after her run-in with James). 

It's also revealed that he was generically suicidal prior to Rosalie telling him that Bella jumped off a cliff in New Moon. He talks about traveling to Italy (which is where the Volturi are located).

They are able to save Bella. They take her to a hospital and the events when she's in the hospital unfold the same as they do in Twilight. 

On a small side note, I vaguely wondered how the doctors were able to believe that Bella fell from some flights of stairs in a hotel in Arizona. The reason they believe the story is that Alice flings herself down a flight of stairs at a hotel, breaking the glass, which shatters onto the pavement below. After this, Alice spills O-positive (Bella's blood type) blood onto the edges of the window and the sidewalk below. 

She calls the hotel front desk, explaining that a visiting friend fell down the stairs. She says that her friend (Bella) was already taken to the hospital, and she tells the woman that the mess should be cleaned up before someone else gets hurt. 

I read this and immediately thought, "Oh, that's how the story was believed so quickly." The plan itself is brilliant. While at the hospital, Alice hands Edward James' camera, which he used to record Bella when they were in the dance studio. Edward watches the footage. The novel ends with Edward and Bella going to prom. 

The characters:

Emmett Cullen
Emmett is a more fleshed out character here than in Twilight. I liked him more. In Twilight, he was just "the tough vampire" with that being his only trait. When I was reading the books from Bella's perspective, Emmett is always hanging out with Jasper, which made it seem as if they were the closest of the three brothers. It kind of paints a picture that Edward is the "odd one out." 

Here in Midnight Sun, you get to see all three of them are really close, and Edward is only the odd one out when it comes to being the only Cullen who's single. This is something Leo Valdez in The Heroes of Olympus would call a "seventh wheel." He's very close to Emmett, Jasper, Alice, and even Rosalie.

It was interesting to read just how much Emmett cared about Bella. I feel like more of his true personality showed more here than in the books from Bella's perspective, just because it's more distant. We got more of each of the Cullens' personalities, mostly due to Edward's ability to hear their thoughts. 

Rosalie Cullen
I was kind of surprised at how close Edward was to Rosalie and Emmett. I already knew he was close to Jasper, Alice, Esme, and Carlisle, but in the Twilight Saga, Rosalie always seems distant when it comes to Edward. It was really interesting to read about the interactions between him and Rosalie. Rosalie was still annoying, however, I understood her perspective much sooner than from Bella's point-of-view. 

I liked the development of familial relationships in this book. It was much more enjoyable to read about the Cullen family unit than how Bella talks about her parents in her mind.

Esme and Carlisle Cullen
We get to see more of Esme and Carlisle in this book. I love how caring Esme and Carlisle are toward their adoptive children. I really like the relationship between Esme and Edward. I love how motherly Esme is.

As far as Carlisle goes, I really like him as a father figure. Carlisle and Esme are actually some of the few parents I've read in YA that either don't annoy me, aren't dead (literally dead; undead doesn't count) or that actually attempt to be a part of their children's lives. I enjoy the two of them as a pair, and I enjoy them as parents.

Jasper Cullen
Where do I begin with Jasper? He was amazing as always. He's still my favorite of all the characters in the Twilight Saga. I especially enjoyed the scenes with him toward the end of the book. 

All in all, Jasper is the best, and as much as I dislike the Twilight Saga, (especially New Moon) my opinion of Jasper will never change. 

I loved that he was one of the key reasons they were able to reach Bella in time. It was also enjoyable to read more about Alice and Jasper's relationship, even if it was from Edward's point-of-view.

Alice Cullen
As much as we see regarding Alice and Edward's relationship in the Twilight Saga, I still enjoy how much more we got to see in this installment. I find it interesting how much they can communicate between each other with such small movements and words. I was really intrigued with just how much her visions told about Bella's future. 

 
Bella Swan
I also liked Bella from Edward's perspective more than from her own. It was much easier to tolerate her from his POV because she actually had a personality. It was also refreshing to read about Edward's flaws and concerns, because in Twilight, Edward is this perfect vampire who can do no wrong, which I found incredibly dull. 

The way Edward views Bella is also more romantic, as he likes everything about her--unlike Bella, who constantly comments on Edward's eyes, voice, and overall attractiveness way too many times in Twilight. Bella's thoughts of Edward are more superficial, whereas Edward's have more substance, and are based more on Bella's character than her looks.

In my opinion, it is much easier to root for Bella and Edward from his perspective than hers, because she actually seems like a decent human being who cares about others, whereas in Twilight, she came across as being relatively selfish. I almost feel as if Bella's good deeds and personality traits were downplayed in Twilight. 

Either that or I didn't care enough about her to notice when she was helping others, which is entirely possible. I don't want a character who constantly mentions how much they help people, but I also don't want a character who tells or shows us nothing about their charity or selflessness if it's supposed to be one of that character's traits. 

Edward Cullen
When I read Twilight, I was really annoyed with Edward eavesdropping on Bella's conversations. I have to admit that in this book it didn't bother me as much. Especially once you read the thoughts of Mike and Jessica. Of the students at Forks that Bella knows (Cullens' excepted), my favorite is Angela.

 
As far as the Twilight Saga goes, I like Edward better than Bella, but there are times where he still annoyed me. Surprisingly, I didn't have as many of these moments in Midnight Sun, and I'm really glad. I don't like being annoyed, especially when I'm reading. I read to get away from annoyances, not to get more. I don't feel as if there's much to say about Edward. He didn't annoy me in this book, but then again, nobody really did, not even Bella, surprisingly.

Overall Thoughts
If I could choose to re-read any Twilight book again, I would most definitely pick Midnight Sun. The writing is much better, the characters have more depth, and it was a more enjoyable read than the other four books in this series.  

Even if I were to never re-read this book, I would still re-read some of the passages, because I did truly enjoy many of them (the majority of the ones with Jasper, especially the scenes toward the end). 

Honestly, Midnight Sun was so much more interesting plot-wise than Twilight. When I initially started it I was wondering, "How different could this book possibly be? It's just Twilight from Edward's POV." It was more interesting than I thought. I wasn't able to predict everything, like I assumed I was going to be able to. It was different enough to feel like a different story.

I think fans of the Twilight Saga will highly enjoy this book, especially if they are on Team Edward. As for Team Jacob, he doesn't really appear much in this book, since it's from Edward's perspective. 

I would really like to see another Twilight book, this time from either Jasper or Alice's point-of-view, because we don't really know anything about Alice's human life. We found out a little about her life in Twilight, but her human life is still a huge question mark. 

Riddle me this, Stephenie Meyer:  Who turned Alice into a vampire? How did she have visions as a child, before she turned into a vampire? Why was James hunting her as a human? What were hers and Jasper's lives like before the Cullens?

These are the questions I want answered, not how russet-colored Jacob's skin is, or how velvety Edward's voice sounds. Tell us more about Alice. I want this puzzle solved. Alice's life is such a large puzzle, even the Riddler can't solve it. 

Overall, I rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars. It isn't on my list of favorites, but I did really enjoy it.

That's it for this review! I hope you enjoyed it! 

Until next time, 

Lexi K🖌