Book 35

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella - Stephenie Meyer

If you're a Twi-hard, feel free to squeal. If you're not, then I don't blame you for groaning. If you're in the middle... then you'd probably have the same response to this book as I did.

A bit of a reminder for you. Bree Tanner is the newborn vampire that survives the battle at the end of Eclipse. So it's not exactly a spoiler if I tell you she dies, as the Volturi don't allow her to live even though she has surrendered and the Cullens have sworn to take her under their family wing and be responsible for her. She's around only for a few pages (or, a few movie minutes) and then, bye bye Bree.

So, Stephenie Meyer thought it would be fun to show Bree's side of the story, to show what things would be like for a typical newborn vampire. Apparently, things are pretty bloody and scary for a newborn, who would have thought?

Here's the good: It's clear, very clear, that Stephenie's abilities as a writer have improved greatly post-Twilight. Her improvements throughout the series were apparent, but she's definitely gotten better. The writing flowed better, and she didn't over-use or repetitively use words. Also, this book did give interesting insight to the vampire world and gave interesting back story to what was going on behind the scenes in Eclipse.

Here's the bad: It was definitely rushed to be released around the same time as the Eclipse movie. Cha-ching! Cash grab, anybody? I'm also not 100% sure how much Bree's final pages actually meshed with Eclipse, I'm inclined to go re-read that part. There was parts in Bree's version of the events that don't seem congruous with Eclipse's version of things. I might look into it, but probably not. I don't really care enough.

In conclusion, don't read this if you haven't read the Twilight saga. Because on its own, it does lack as a story. But if you want more Stephenie in your library, then go for it.


****

Book 35/50