Week 23: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella - Stephenie Meyer (178 pages)

It is highly likely that if you enjoyed the TWILIGHT series, then you will enjoy this book. In this novella, Meyer does something that I can't recall very many authors doing - she decides to tell the story of a very minor character from this series of books. 


Bree Tanner appears near the end of Chapter 25 in ECLIPSE in a brief but moving scene. She is a mere blip on the radar, we recognize her and she moves the story along, but once we turn the page she is almost instantly erased from memory - at least she was erased from mine. Meyer had a tougher time shaking this character from her mind. She decided to write this short story to give the reader a background and motivation for Bree and some of the other vampires in her coven. 


The TWILIGHT books focus mostly on "good" vampires, we are told that there are other 'bad" vampires around but since the TWILIGHT series is essentially BELLA SWAN's love story - we are blind to elements other than those that don't directly affect her world. What we get in this book is the tale of a young girl turned into a vampire and the subsequent manipulation of that girl. There are flashes of happiness for Bree, when she seems more like a 15-year-old girl - a crush on a boy vampire...but for the most part, MEYER lays it out in the title, it is to be a short life for Bree. 


The story is intense and it captures you right away. I found, as with most of MEYER's books, it was hard to put down. As a stand alone book - it wouldn't work, but it is a well-written companion piece about a character I didn't know I would care about.