The latest news to sweep the book world (at least I think, I’m probably a little behind) is that Stephenie Meyer announced that she is finally releasing Midnight Sun, which tells the story of the original Twilight book from Edward’s point of view and was leaked partially online in 2008. I have currently seen two different reactions to this book being announced: excitement (which is valid) and people saying that it’s the same book once again.
I’m not sure where I stand on this book so I decided to have a ramble about it. Is this post a mess? Probably!
Pro: new book! Yay!
New books are never a bad thing. We all love new books!
Con: it’s the same story again
I’m personally not a fan of remakes in any form other than video games because I’d much rather see something new instead of the same thing again. Plus, with Midnight Sun, we now have three versions of the original Twilight book. We have Twilight from Bella’s point of view, Life and Death which is gender-swapped and has a different ending, and now Midnight Sun which is Edward’s point of view.
Although I haven’t been a Stephenie Meyer fan for a very long time now, I will admit that when I saw that announcement countdown on Penguin’s Instagram story, a small part of me hoped that it was the sequel to The Host (which I didn’t even finish but still think it sucks that fans of that are still waiting for the rest of the series), while a larger part of me hoped for something completely brand new. Authors can do whatever they want, but if I was a prolific author making a huge comeback, I’d release something completely brand new, rather than revisiting an old series by retelling an older story.
Pro: but we get to see it from a different perspective!
I will admit that the most interesting part of Midnight Sun is that it’s told from Edward’s point of view (although I find Edward to be as interesting as drywall). Imagine if we got to see The Hunger Games from Peeta’s point of view, that would be incredible! I have a complicated relationship with books that have multiple POVs because unfortunately there are authors out there who don’t make the distinction between characters other than putting their names at the beginning of the chapters and maybe making one swear more than the other (especially if the sweary character is male).
Con: it feels like a quick way to make money, IMO.
Nostalgia is always a huge thing but recently people have been extremely nostalgic for the 2000s. And what’s the best way to make money off of nostalgia? Remakes! Remember in the 2000s when there were a bunch of remakes of movies from the 1980s? I feel like that’s happening with 2000s media now.
This is the cynical part of me talking, and I really do hope that Meyer deciding to finally finish the manuscript and publish Midnight Sun isn’t for money and is because she wanted people to finally read this book.
talk to me!
How do you feel about Midnight Sun? Will you read it when it comes out or have you left the Twilight series in the past?
I agree with you here! Like- sure books are great and it’s probably exciting for fans, but I am definitely here for a Host sequel! And, it DOES feel a little “easy”. Not to minimize that writing a book is hard but like… clearly you don’t have to come up with a plot, a story, characters, etc. So it does take away a lot of the hard stuff! I don’t think I’d read a whole book from a different character’s POV, just seems too redundant!
Author
It really does feel too redundant. If I was still a diehard Twilight fan I would have rather have read a prequel book from Edward’s point of view that shows his transformation into a vampire rather than him meeting Bella because I’ve already read that. I’d rather have something new and different!
Well… Rachel Joyce did this with her two books “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” with Harold Fry telling his story while walking the length of England to see his old friend and colleague Queenie Hennessy before she died, and then she wrote “The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy” where she has Queenie tell her story before Harold gets there. They were both marvelous books. I guess if the author can figure out how to make each one unique, it can work.
Author
I haven’t heard of those books, but I do like how the two different perspectives take place before Harold gets to see Queenie. Midnight Sun doesn’t sound like it’s going to be like that to me because Bell and Edward are pretty much joined at the hip all the way through the series.
I agree that a big con is that it’s the same book again. I know fans will likely enjoy seeing events from a different perspective, but my hope with something like this is that for the new book to focus more on happenings and insights that the original protagonist didn’t provide. (So less repeat of old events and more showing the in-between.)
Author
That’s my hope too. If it’s going to be largely the same story as Twilight, I’ll be pretty disappointed.
I have no intentions of reading Midnight Sun when it comes out. I thoroughly enjoyed the Twilight series growing up, and I stand by that love, but at this point I’m just not interested.
Like you mentioned, I feel as if it’s a bit of a money grab. Unless there’s a reason that you need to see the story from a different perspective, I’m not interested in reading the exact same story over again. And this doesn’t just apply to Stephanie Meyer. I just don’t appreciate retold stories from a different perspective!
Author
I enjoyed the original Twilight series when I was a teenager too, but the love that I had for it has definitely waned over time so I’m not going to read Midnight Sun either. I agree with you on not being interested in retold stories, and the thing that sours the whole thing for me is that Stephenie Meyer wasn’t inspired to pick it up again until EL James released a book that was 50 Shades from Christian’s perspective.
I was never a huge fan of these alternate perspective books when they were popular, and I doubt this one will change my mind. But I can see why a lot of people are excited about it.
Author
I feel the same way. I was interested back in 2008 but now I’m just not interested at all.