Stephenie Meyer is the creator of sparkling vampires, CGI babies, and at times cringey portrayal of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan’s relationship. Meyer completely changed and took over the book-to-movie universe from the time it was released in 2008, completely changing the industry from then to now.
I am strong and willing enough to admit that I am a Twilight fan, a Twi-Hard as some would call it. I encountered the movies in the eight grade, and looking back on it, I’m mad at myself for not getting into it sooner. Meyer’s world of Mormon influenced vampires and werewolves left a big imprint (pun intended) on my early teens and most definitely future life.
Then, the sweet sweet day came in the horrible year of 2020. Midnight Sun, the sixth installation of the Twilight series, resurrected fans across the world. All four main books, excluding one portion of the final book, Breaking Dawn, are all from Bella’s perspective. Midnight Sun follows the plot of the first book, Twilight, but completely from Edward’s perspective.
The main physical difference of the books is the sheer size. Twilight has a page count of 498, while Midnight sun comes to a total of 658 pages. The main reason for this size change is one, Edward does not sleep, so he has both day and night to cover. The second reason is that Edward has vampire siblings with more dialogue and banter that readers had previously only gotten a small view of.
The book itself is absolutely fantastic in my opinion. Edward’s perspective is so interesting to say the least. He flip flops back and forth with logic and emotion, which is very relatable. There are tons of new scenes, and the ones that are repeated from Twilight have a completely different light shed onto them. Along with new information, Edward notices and processes so much more than Bella because he is a vampire.
Fans were so attracted to the elusive and unknown lifestyle that the Cullens lived. How they interact was always entertaining in the book and on screen. A part of the reason that I love this book so much is because of the amount of dialogue. It’s practically like getting to know new characters in the book because people like Rosalie, Jasper, and Emmet have so much more time in the spotlight.
Freshness aside, the new perspective of Edward, a new look into the Cullen household, and most importantly the difference between Edward’s and Bella’s perspective of their relationship amount to a memorable and great book. Definitely the best read and release of 2020. As a TwiHard, this is probably my favorite book of the series now, because of all the new refreshing Twilight material, and the fact that Edward’s perspective is so different and much more interesting.