Review: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella

By Stephenie Meyer

Publication date: June 5, 2010

My review:

Bree Tanner, a newborn vampire briefly mentioned in Eclipse, takes center stage in this novella. Those who have read Eclipse know Bree's eventual fate. Told over just a few days, we learn what life was like for Bree under the thumb of Riley and Victoria. We are treated to a different view of Bree and we are also given a different perspective of the final battle in Eclipse.

Bree is different from most of the other newborn vampires created by Victoria. She is not motivated solely by her thirst for blood and she isn't that violent. She loves to read and she does her best not to draw attention to herself, usually hiding behind Fred, a vampire with an interesting special talent. Bree forms an unlikely friendship with Diego, an intelligent vampire who is a little older than the other newborn vampires. The story revolves around this new relationship and their efforts to figure out the truth. Unfortunately in this format we only get to know the characters a very little bit. Even though we don't get to see much character development for Bree and Diego in the brief span of the novella, their story is still kind of entertaining to read about.

I had very low expectations for this book but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I kind of liked it. While it seemed at first that this was a dumb idea-to tell the story of a minor character whose fate is known-it works because Stephenie Meyer makes the reader care about Bree and wish things could be different for her. Those who are not fans of Meyer's writing will probably not enjoy this as there won't be enough action or romance to keep readers from noticing the flaws. If you are sitting on the fence about the book, I recommend reading it for free online like I did. It is available at the Bree Tanner website until July 5, 2010.

Readalikes: Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer