So Very Dark

I spent a good portion of today reading the first 12 chapters of Midnight Sun.  If it weren’t for the fact that Stephanie Meyer had put the project on hold ‘indefinitely’, I would have been happy to wait until she finished it.  I much prefer suspense and eventual full gratification to sneaking peaks of what’s to come.  I’m not a picker at the edges of christmas wrapping paper, never searched closets and cubbyholes before my birthday.  BUT, as the writer does not see herself continuing the project, at least in her currant state of mind, I figured that I might as well read what was available.

Predictably, when the story ended half-way through (Shortly before the week of Edward’s questions and the trip to the meadow) I was left unsatisfied.  On the one hand, it’s the same story as Twilight so I already know what’s going to happen…but on the other hand, a different narrator can make a substantial difference.  Since the novels are written from a first person perspective, all that is available in the series so far is Bella’s take on her burgeoning relationship with Edward.  The reader is in her shoes wondering ‘does he like her?  doesn’t he?  Why is he acting all angry?  Well, that was kind of a jerk move…’  In Midnight Sun, along with seeing events that took place when the two characters were apart, motivations and introspection are readily available.  Some, pure Edward-the-Emo-teen (‘oh I can never deserve her.  I’m a monster and should stay away from her cinnabon smelling human perfection.  She’s just going to hate me when she finds out that I’m EEEVILLLL’) but some a bit more unexpected.

- Edward finds it bloody HILLARIOUS when Bella gets all pissed off.  He thinks she looks like an angry kitten.  When he stops in front of her in the parking lot and gives Tyler the chance to ask her out, her outraged expression keeps him giggling to himself for chapters.  He likes to push her buttons.  And it’s AWESOME.  He also thinks it’s adorable when she talks about doing bodily harm to anyone.

-He really kind of want’s to rip out Mike Newton’s spine.  But he thinks Angela Webber is awesomesauce.

- OMG he DOES have normal male thoughts regarding a love interest – I mean, the series is ever tame and non-explicit, but he’s definitely having a fantasy or two.  Now, I know that this shouldn’t be a shocking revelation, but when seeing the relationship from Bella’s perspective, it’s never entirely clear.  I mean, he TELLS her that he likes her ‘that way’ but he’s kinna interested in her cinnabon-blood first and her fragile human safety second, and every time she tries to jump him, he puts a stop to things.  Okay, he gets a little more into it in Eclipse, and they do get jiggy in Breaking Dawn…but he always holds back.  And he tells her that it’s ’cause she’s all super breakable and he’s like the Hulk of sex, but Bella (and any reader seeing the world through her eyes) can’t help but feel a tad rejected and wonder if he really has naughty sweaty thoughts at all, ’cause he seems always a bit irritated by her crazy teenage girl hormones.  But Midnight Sun confirms:  Edward’s long dead passions ARE awakening!

- Okay, so this isn’t so much an Edward thing, but a plot point that is totally not evidant in the other books:  Alice sees in a vision that she and Bella are going to be BFFs and from there on out, is constantly bugging Edward to let her go play with Bella.  So funny!  “Can I go talk to Bella NOW?”  “Not yet, Alice.  I’m not even friends with her yet.”  “But I want to!  She’s my super secret future BFF and I lurve her!”  “Not YET!”

- Oh yeah, and Edward is a huge creepy stalker and totally knows it.

Anyway, the fact that what’s posted ends just as Edward and Bella are getting over the ‘does he like me?  I’m gonna go cry!’ ‘does she like me?  I’m gonna go emo!’ and actually beginning their relationship is supremely frustrating.  I do understand Meyer’s reason’s for not wanting to work on it right now (It can be very upsetting to have people view unfinished creative endevors that you are not quite happy with) but I sincerely hope she decides to finish the story eventually.  I like Edward as a narrator.  Yeah, he’s a little Louis/Angel/(any other tortured vampire) but he’s also funny and snarky and sarcastic and really kind of fun to read.

Stupid manuscript leak!  Darn you to heck!