Overall good book to read :)

Midnight Sun tells the story of the first book in the Twilight Saga from the perspective of Edward. Clocking in at a whopping 756 pages, I've been putting off reading this book ever since I got it...three years ago. But, after a trip to the Pacific Northwest, in which I stayed in Forks for a couple of days, I was inspired to re-read Twilight and made the brave decision to finally take the leap and pick up Midnight Sun. Surprisingly, I did find myself reaching for it a lot, despite its overwhelming length, and got through it fairly quickly which, for me, is the sign of a good book! Although the core of the narrative is the same as the first book, Midnight Sun gives fans of Twilight a fascinating insight into the Cullen family and their inner workings as a unit; how Edward can watch Alice's visions by reading her mind, what happens when they disappear from Bella's (and in turn the narrator of the first book's) view as well as how they all react to Edward and Bella's relationship. Admittedly, at times, Edward's perspective felt a little stalker-ish, but at least he did acknowledge it from time to time. He was, however, quite a self-loathing character which meant being inside his head all the time sometimes got a little frustrating. Also, at points, Midnight Sun Edward felt very different to Twilight Edward, but I guess I can blame that on perspective. I will say (and then I'll stop with the negatives,) as much as Edward struggled with Bella's scent in the beginning, to the point of almost killing her and everyone in that class, there came a point where it randomly didn't bother him anymore...which...yeah. What? Other than that, it was cool to learn more about the Cullens and Edwards side of the story - his inner turmoil over Bella and why he made the decisions he did. There was also some foreshadowing for what was to come in New Moon etc. which was a nice touch. It was interesting to see Bella from Edward's perspective - to me, she seemed so much more immature than when I read Twilight, but she also seemingly had more personality. I read somewhere a review saying something like "If you loved Twilight you'll like this book, but if you liked Twilight you probably won't enjoy it that much," and I would have to say I agree. Personally, I really enjoyed this book (once I looked past the gripes I've mentioned,) it was full of nostalgia, drama, danger and new information on a world and characters created 20 years ago. I thought about it a lot whilst I wasn't reading it and enjoyed getting lost in Forks again when I did, which for me makes it worth reading.

This book was big. So big I had to pause a few times because I physically couldn't bring it somewhere or hold it open. And it's Twilight it's not the best written thing in the world, but I still liked it (and Edwards moaning and whining is at least more palatable than Jacobs). I did really enjoy the extra insight, particularly at the end and all the clean up and planning, and learning bits about Alice. Overall an enjoyable, albeit long, experience.

The events of Twilight, as told from Edward’s point of view. I loved being back in the world of Twilight with the characters I loved as a teen. Somehow, it hasn’t lost any of it’s magic and made me feel very nostalgic – I will be re-watching the movies again asap! It was interesting to see events from Edward’s point of view. Notably, Bella was much less irritating and their mutual attraction and inability to stay away from each other made a lot more sense when told from his side. It was especially amusing to see how inoffensive he originally found Jacob, and really fun to get more detail on the Cullen’s backgrounds (although the link between Alice and James seemed pretty random and not at all needed). As much as I enjoyed indulging my teenage obsession, I found Midnight Sun to be much too long and detailed. Considering that this is already an unnecessary re-writing of an existing book, the level of detail it goes into is an extravagance that, frankly, no one needs. It’s a good read, but very long and repetitive.

I was so excited to dive back into the world of Twilight through Edward’s point of view. Unfortunately, his introspection and long winded inner monologues really bogged down the story. I ended up speeding the audiobook up to 1.75x speed and despite the quicker pace, the action really fell flat. I was hoping to fall in love with Edward and Bella all over again, and now I’m second guessing my desire to re-read Twilight. Is Bella’s POV any quicker? Is something I loved as a teen just not my taste anymore? It almost felt to me as if Meyer's editors just let her write something without any editing required. There is so much I felt could have been entirely cut. Unfortunately, I have to give this three stars, as it felt like a chore to finish, and that started close to the beginning.