52. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

Book 52: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: an Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer (A-)

Seriously, I'm not planning all this vampire fiction reading. It's just happening this way.

Honestly, after the disappointment of Breaking Dawn, the Twilight Saga's ending novel, I was worried about Meyer's attempt to write a spin-off for a character from Eclipse. Bree battled against the Cullen clan as a distraction for vamp Victoria to carry out her revenge against Edward and Bella. Bree makes only a brief appearance in the large novel that focuses and is told from Bella's point of view. According to Meyer, she felt a special connection to the character when editing the novel. From it, The Short Second Life... was born.
Bree's story begins in her third month as a vampire. She keeps to herself and tries not to die by the hands of her fellow newborn vampire brethren. Their tempers are deadly, literally. One night, Bree is sent out to hunt and becomes friends with Diego, the favored right hand vamp of their leader, Riley. They travel around the city of Seattle together and discuss the holes in Riley's regular speeches. Then, they discover Riley's first lie: they don't burn up in the sun! Instead, they glitter! Diego and Bree decide to team up together and discover the truth about Riley and their creator Victoria. What is really going on? Why are they being made? What other vampire myths aren't true?
This short story was a wonderful, descriptive inside look at what was going on in Seattle while Eclipse focused on Forks. I was quite impressed by how well Meyer was able to separate herself from Bella and write a completely new voice in the same story.
The beginning was a bit shaky. I thought the cave scene where Diego and Bree discover how they sparkle in the sun was a bit quick and understated. Instead, Meyer focused on Bree's thought process. Because Bree was so in the dark about everything, however, it couldn't be nearly as in depth as a character like Bella. So, the passages of Bree's thoughts and feelings are extremely repetitive until the final scene. Still, Meyer did a commendable job exploring this new side of vampires and breathing additional 'undead' life into a new character. I would love to see a short film based on this piece.