Stephenie Meyer Finally Releasing 'Midnight Sun'

Published on May 4, 2020

After many, many years of waiting, fans are finally going to get to read Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight prequel, Midnight Sun, on August 4.

The announcement comes after a mysterious countdown appeared on Meyer’s website late last month. Many fans speculated that the countdown was leading to this long-awaited announcement.

In a statement on her website, Meyer said, “I’m happy to announce that Midnight Sun is finally (very close to) ready! And will be in bookstores on August 4th. I hope this announcement doesn’t seem ill-timed; I really considered delaying the release until the world was back to normal. However, 1) who knows when that will be? And 2) you guys have waited long enough. Much longer than long enough, actually.”

Midnight Sun was supposed to be published shortly after the release of Breaking Dawn, the fourth book in the Twilight saga, over a decade ago. Meyer and her publisher put those plans on hold after an early draft of the book was leaked online.

The new book will come from the perspective of Edward Cullen, the main love interest in the original series. The first four books in the series are written from the perspective of Bella Swan and follow her sometimes problematic teenage love affair with brooding vampire Cullen. Midnight Sun is going to be a darker take on the story of Edward and Bella’s meeting.

When the Twilight saga first hit shelves, it took the world by storm. Everyone was reading those books, and they quickly turned the series into movies starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. Given the massive popularity of the original series, and the time elapsed since it is unlikely that this new book would hold the same power as the original series.

This Isn’t the First Time

Between the leaking of the original draft and this announcement, another author has published a very similar book under a very similar premise. E.L. James published Grey as a prequel to her insanely popular Fifty Shades of Grey series.

Fifty Shades of Grey actually started out as an erotic fanfiction of the Twilight series. The prequel, however, was nowhere near as good as the original series, which wasn’t that great to begin with. Grey took the same questionable relationship and skewed views of BDSM culture and retold the exact same story. It’s boring and unnecessary.

I expect Midnight Sun will be much of the same. The same story we’ve read and seen a hundred times. The same iffy teenage love affair, just from a different perspective, thirteen years later. Superfans might be into it, but I suspect many of the rest of us have grown out of our vampire fascination and love of crappy relationships.

Olivia Smith is a Staff Writer at Grit Daily. Based in San Francisco, she covers events, entertainment, fashion, and technology. She also serves as a Voices contributor at PopSugar.

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