By: Stephenie Meyer
Where do I begin…. this shall not be like my normal reviews, because well, this is not just a normal series for me.
12 years ago, on Sept 11th, I was diagnosed with a bleeding disorder. One that kept me at home for six months, not allowed to be alone for too long, not allowed to even blow my nose, for fear of bleeding out and dying. I was on so many meds that I couldn’t focus on anything. (Not being able to read, while being at home was torture.) Ozzy would manage, if I sat for a few minutes, to get me to breathe. But focusing was impossible. One of my friends gave my Mom some books, one day, to give to me, promising me they were amazing. Mom brought them home and I studied them.
I had heard a few girls at college talk about this series, but I was never into vampire books. Give me a murder mystery or a nature book, any day of the week. But vampires… whatever. However, I was desperate and I was willing to try anything, just to read again. I fell in love with the series. My boys would curl up with me in the recliner and I could read all day long. It was fantastic. I re-read the series, so many times, those forst few years, I lost count. If I needed a quick fix, I could go to my favorite chapter in Eclipse and just read that. Somehow, someway, bloodsucking vampires intertwined with my mixed-up platelet kind of life.
Fast forward to 2020. I am facing my first September without Ozzy and Midnight Sun is actually, truly, in print. I was too jumbled to read this on Sept 11th. And I didn’t go back and re-read the first four, because I wanted new insight. I started it last Sunday, and I am not going to lie. Those first 250+ pages were rough. My mind does not shut off. It thinks a million thoughts in seconds, and almost always the negative scenarios pop up first. So reading a character with a brain like that was not fun. It was repetitive and tedious. However, I enjoyed seeing things from his side. From little conversations where we thought he was a jerk in Bella’s eyes, to insights on hearing Charlie’s brain.
I trudged through, thinking maybe the author was applying so many details, in case she never continues the series. However, as I continued, I kept thinking of future scenes, both big and small that I wanted to hear from his point of view. I had waited 12 years to hear the meadow scene from Edward’s point-of-view and never in a million years, would have guessed correctly.
The second half of the book flew by… The Hunt was exhilarating and just kept churning my thoughts of other moments in the series that I am anxious now to hear this thoughts. This book does set up the possibility of New Moon being retold, and I truly hope that is the case. I know that even if the next few are well over 1000 pages, I will still happily read them. Today, I finished this book, reading roughly 250 pages in one day. (Something I haven’t done in a long time, and I am grateful.) One day, I will go back and read them all together again, and I do hope to have books 2-4 to compare and contrast as well.
The Harry Potter series was pushed on me by my High School friend, the Twilight series by my friend from work, and the Hunger Games series by my Mom. All three became obsessions for me. All three I treasure dearly. And all three, I never would have chosen myself.
Is there a series that others insisted you read, that you had doubts about, but you truly loved once you gave in?