La Segunda Vida de Bree Tanner (Twilight Saga, #3.5)

by Stephenie Meyer

Fans of The Twilight Saga will be enthralled by the riveting story of Bree Tanner, a character introduced in Eclipse, and the darker side of the newborn vampire world she inhabits.
In another irresistible combination of danger, mystery and romance, Stephenie Meyer tells the devastating story of Bree and the newborn army as they prepare to close in on Bella Swan and the Cullens, following their encounter to its unforgettable conclusion.

'I'm as surprised as anyone about this novella,' said Stephenie Meyer. 'When I began working on it in 2005, it was simply an exercise to help me examine the other side of Eclipse, which I was editing at the time. I thought it might end up as a short story that I could include on my website. Then, when work started on The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide, I thought the Guide would be a good fit for my Bree story. However, the story grew longer than I anticipated, until it was too long to fit into the Guide.

• ISBN10: 1616051426
• ISBN13: 9781616051426
• Publish Date: 5 June 2010 (first published 1 January 2010)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Alfaguara
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 225
• Language: Spanish

Reviews

[Laurie]

Already finished his book in 2011, but forgot to add it.

[lauriesbookshelf]

Already finished his book in 2011, but forgot to add it.

[Kelsey D]

i mean....if you like her books you'll like this. I picked it to see if it was any good. and it's the same as all the other books. a good read if you have nothing else.

[angelarenea9]

I really liked seeing Eclipse from Bree's eyes. I was really sad when she 'died' but I think that it made the whole series feel more real, that there was a casualty. I think it was an intersting look into a day and a life of this newborn army that makes them more 'human' than just a mindless killing machine.

[celinenyx]

I'm not a big fan of Twilight, I don't make a secret of that. I think Meyer is pushing the boundaries by still releasing Twilight stories (i.e. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, Midnight Sun). That this little novella is for sale for over fifteen dollars is beyond me.

But I was curious, I was on vacation with nothing to do but read in the sun, so I gave Miss Bree Tanner a try.

Turns out, Bree's life is quite boring. This is 150 pages of Bree doing this, Bree doing that. Bree is thirsty, Bree drinking some blood. Everybody hates Bree, so Bree is hiding in a corner. Bree finds an instant love interest, boy out of the blue likes Bree. There is a big mystery going on, and Bree solves it!

The writing in The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is quite al right, I don't really have something to complain about there. Meyer is a very clear writer, making her books accessible for the general public. The problem I'm having is that her books are empty. There is no meat, no substance. I feel like we're watching a puppet-show. The characters move about a lot, they tell a story, but in the end, they're only puppets.

I don't understand why Miss Meyer thought Bree's was a story that needed to be told. I read the post on her site about it, but I still don't understand. I'm all for the underdog's perspective, but Bree just doesn't have anything interesting to bring. I would have enjoyed this novella more if it had been from Riley's perspective. Now that would have been interesting.

I would recommend The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner only for the hardcore Twilight fans. For the casual reader this novella has nothing to bring, especially not for it's insane price.

[Angie]

It was nice to get out of Bella's head, but couldn't we have followed someone more interesting. Sure it gave some insight to what was happening with the newborns at Camp Riley, but it was still pretty dull. The main thing that kept my interest was Freaky Fred and the fact that it was only 112 pages. A novella about Victoria, or even Laurent, would have been a lot better than this. Bree had what, 2 sentences about her in the series? At least Victoria and Laurent actually interacted with the other characters for more than 5 minutes and have a story to tell! If you're a completest (or an uber Twilight fanatic) and already read all 4 books, go ahead and read this one. If you're just thinking about picking it up to have something to read, don't bother.

[inlibrisveritas]

I'm going to attempt a non-partial review of this, but I don't know if I'll be able to succeed entirely due to my dislike of the series in general.

I do like the idea of the author going back and creating a side story for one of the lesser known characters, it's something that is becoming more popular in the world of paranormal fantasy novels. I personally didn't even remember who Bree Tanner was until I read how she died, but I did like the fact that she got her own story. The writing style is the same as the rest of the Twilight books. It flows smoothly and fluidly so it's quite possible (and easy) to read the entire thing in a day or two. There is the lack of chapters, so the whole thing has no obvious "Stopping place", that in itself kind of makes the story seem to go quicker as well. I would recommend this to anyone who a) loves the Twilight series and b) completists (like me)

Now on to how I feel about it personally...I gave it 2 stars because I couldn't decide if I hated it enough for 1 or if I liked it enough for 2. So I just gave it a 2 to be fair. While it did flow I can't really say I enjoyed much of it because of how quick the story does go by. It's one thing for a novel to be so gripping that I fly through it but it's something else for a novel to be so easy and mindless that I'm done and feel completely indifferent by the time I reach the end. This gets the same reaction from me as the others in the series, "Okay that was interesting, now to find something to read." I don't have to take a moment when I'm done to pull the whole story together, to enjoy it all in perspective. I simply finish it, stare blankly at the back page, put it down, and grab another book. It left me with nothing.

Bree as a character is...okay. She's nothing special and neither are the other vampires that she comes into contact with. It was kind nice to see what all went on with them during the main points of the story but it didn't really make me go 'Oh wow!'. Overall this was just a 'so-so' kind of novel.

[Stephanie]

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a Chapter

" I watched his body change. He crouched on the roof, one hand gripping the edge. All that strange friendliness disappeared, and he was a hunter. That was something I recognized, something I was comfortable with because I understood it."

This is the short story of Bree Tanner's life as a vampire. Most of us who have read the Twilight saga didn't even remember who Bree was. Maybe it would have been kinder if things had remained that way.

For those of you who don't know, Bree is a newborn vampire who was created by Victoria. Victoria has scoured Seattle for the dregs of society, looking for people to add to her growing army. Victoria is seeking vengeance against Bella and Edward for killing her lover. An army of crazed newborns is Victoria's strategy.

This is where we meet Bree. All of the newborns are being kept in the basement by day and allowed to hunt at night. Bree doesn't trust any of them. Tempers seem to spark easily and there are either fights where limbs are lost of fires start. So Bree hides behind Freaky Fred and keeps to herself.

One night while hunting she meets Diego. Diego isn't like the others. He's smart and thinks for himself. He and Bree discuss their lives as vampires and how they both feel there is something much larger in the near future. Diego trusts Riley, their keeper, and thinks they can go to him with some of the information they put together. After Diego goes to Riley, everything seems to snowball and before she knows it, Bree is on the battlefield with the Cullens and surrendering because she doesn't want to fight. She didn't know this was what she had been created for and everything she had known was a lie.

Carlisle finds Bree and wants to extend compassion to her. The Volturi arrive on the scene and, well, we all know what happened to Bree from Eclipse. For those who haven't read Eclipse, the title of this novella should help you draw your own conclusions: The Short Second Life....

I really could have gone without reading this book. There I said it. The pace was fast and it's a short book so I finished it in one sitting. I can't seem to shake the feeling of pointlessness. We don't know much about Bree's life as a human. What we do know about Bree's life as a vampire is pretty sad. All Bree knows is hurt and betrayal. When she does have a flicker of hope it's snuffed out until all she wants is her own death. It's the story of a girl who didn't have a snowball's chance in hell and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I adored the Twilight saga and the depressing tale of Bree almost seems like a blemish in the series. I'm sure that there are a lot of people out there who are going to love this book, but I guess it just wasn't for me.

[Linda]

I am SO happy I could read this for free on the internet! But I'm kind of sad I wasted a few hours reading it!