Review: “The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner” by Stephanie Meyer

In the interest of full disclosure, I feel I must pre-face this review by admitting that I am a Twilight Saga fan.  (Make fun out of me if you must – I don’t care.)  The reason I think that information is pertinent is because I feel different people will read this book for different reasons and the angle you come into it will determine what you get out of it.  Most people read Twilight for the romance between B, E, & J.  There is nothing wrong with this, but those people will have to understand that B, E & J have little if nothing to do with Bree’s story and therefore aren’t really in it except at the end.  Also, since this is only a character sketch and not a full novel, there is very little time to develop any kind of romance at all. 

Now, for people like me who just dig vampires in all forms, you may enjoy this book.  Bree Tanner is more of your typical, human-eating vamp who is completely consumed with her newborn thirst for blood.  This book is darker and more gory than the other Twilight novels.  For this reason, the romance readers might not get into it.

One problem with Bree’s story is that I don’t feel it went deep enough.  Since readers will be going into this story, already knowing Bree’s fate, the background story is essential.  I thought Meyer did a great job showing us what life was like for the newborns under Riley’s leadership, but I would have liked more of Bree’s life as a human.  A tiny bit was mentioned, but not enough to really connect to and care about. 

So, this book did have me thinking about other side stories form Twilight I would be interested in exploring further.  (Yes, we all want Meyer to release Midnight Sun.  Sorry, I don’t think that is going to happen.  She is too pissed off about it leaking on the internet, and I don’t blame her.  Out of respect for my fellow author, I have chosen not to read the leaked copy.)  I was thinking a story from Alice’s POV about her and Jasper’s time away from the Cullen’s during Breaking Dawn.  You know, when they pretended to run off, but were really seeking out half-breeds in South America.  I think there could be a good story there, and I would love to see more of Alice and Jasper’s relationship.  (Team Alice!)  What do you think?  Any suggestions of other characters that you might want to see Meyer explore further?

Overall, I give The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner…

Plot – 2 bookmarks (It’s anti-climatic that we already know the end.)

Character Development – 2 bookmarks

Love Story – 1 bookmark (There was a very brief one, but not enough to engage the reader.)

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who i pictured while reading) – I pictured the actors from the movie, so no surprises there.  Although I have to point out one thing… The color bronze is a goldish brown, not red!  Bella repeatedly refers to Edward as having bronze colored hair.  On the other hand, Bree keeps calling him a red-head.  It was super annoying.