New Twilight book Midnight Sun gets mixed first reviews
New Twilight book Midnight Sun has received mixed reviews from critics.
The novel by Stephenie Meyer, which was released on August 4, re-tells the story of the fantasy romance saga from vampire Edward Cullen's perspective – centring mostly, of course, on how he met and fell in love with original narrator Bella Swan in the gloomy small town of Forks, Washington.
Boston Globe's Meredith Goldstein, who is a self-proclaimed die-hard fan of the series, argued that much of the instalment feels "repetitive" due to already having "read a lot of the dialogue" between the unlikely star-crossed lovers in 2005's Twilight.
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"The better scenes are when we get to follow Edward without [Bella]," she wrote. "There are adorable moments with Edward and family, specifically Alice, his sister, who has visions of the future. For those who don't know, Edward's vampire superpower is that he can read minds (everyone's but Bella's).
"His conversations with Alice, who can anticipate his every move, are where Meyer's storytelling shines. You can tell she loves to write this family."
Den of Geek's Natalie Zutter claims that Midnight Sun is likely to please those who were fond of the material to begin with, "but even then it's a stretch."
That's not to say it doesn't have it's plus points, though.
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"Where Bella was so oblivious to her own allure, Edward is hyper-aware of everything. While he initially takes for granted his talent for reading people's minds, the discovery that he cannot read Bella's thoughts throws him off-balance" she noted.
"As the Twilight series has drawn ire for often making Bella a passive figure in her own fate, this turning of the tables – of Edward not knowing if she desires or fears him – is appreciated. Let him (figuratively) sweat a little."
Elsewhere, The Telegraph's Ed Power awarded the outing three out of five stars while The Independent's Annie Lord gave it only two. The latter claimed it makes Edward and Bella's blossoming relationship "even more unpalatable now that it's narrated by his desires."
"Midnight Sun brings back the creepy, sublimated, wildly unhealthy eroticism of Twilight." suggested Vox's Constance Grady in her scathing write-up.
"It has the same insistence that stalking and emotional abuse is romantic, the same casual racism toward Indigenous people, and every other fault that made the franchise a general pop culture punching bag when it was at the height of its cultural saturation 10 years ago."
Midnight Sun is out now. The Twilight Saga, which consists of Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn Part 1 and Breaking Dawn Part 2, is currently available to stream on Netflix UK, too.
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