While Midnight Sun is not particularly a good book or anything, it offers some nostalgic value for ‘Twi-hards’.

This is embarrassing to admit, but I used to be a big fan of the Twilight series.

*ducks for cover*

Wait! Hear me out before you unsubscribe/unfriend me. You have to understand that I was a besotted teenager when I was reading the series. So, my love (again, sorry!) for the series is based on a personal and emotional attachment to the series rather than the quality of the plot or the writing. I’ll be the first to admit that Twilight is corny as hell, but considering my mental state, I lapped it all up. I had even indulgingly rated the first and fourth books 5 stars on Goodreads, much to my brother’s chagrin.

One of the many gripes people had with the Twilight series was Bella’s bland POV, with some even wondering if the series would have been more enjoyable if they didn’t spend time inside Bella’s head so much. Midnight Sun, narrated from Edward’s POV, is definitely an improvement in that regard, considering Edward’s telepathic prowess. The complexity of his inner thoughts, when he is NOT lusting over Bella’s blood, portrays him to be a flawed mess of a person. While some of these new insights into his head are fascinating, I had to skip the countless pages he spends obsessing over Bella’s appetizing and delicious skin, analyzing how rain makes her smell better and how heat sweetens her smell, whatever that means. Honestly, it doesn’t seem to take much to make Edward’s mouth water.

The biggest draw and the only reason I finished the book is Alice. It was really interesting to learn more about her powers. Her dynamic with Edward is great and the way they creatively use their powers in conjunction with each other leads to some interesting moments. There was one lovely example of her seemingly omnipotent power when she predicts a dress which Edward would require for his potential future date with Bella, two years before they even meet Bella. There is another chapter dedicated to her precognition abilities that plays out as a popular trope seen in many time-travel movies. Considering how close she is to Edward, and how close she would be with Bella, she features a lot and actually ends up being the saving grace of the book. The camaraderie between the Cullens is another highlight of the book. I found it particularly hilarious whenever Emmett gets annoyed with Edward and Alice when they communicate in their private non-verbal channel.

At 600+ pages, the book is waaaaay too overlong and it would have been a massive slog had I not skimmed through a lot of non-Alice chapters. Considering the fact that we know how exactly the ending will pan out, the climactic action is neither gripping nor intriguing. Midnight Sun was not a particularly good book or anything, but I still won’t regret picking it since it gave such a nostalgic rush and transported me 10 years back to my undergraduate days.