The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (Twilight Saga, #3.5)

by Stephenie Meyer

[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.