Review - The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

Published by Atom Books
Published 5 June 2010

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is the riveting story of Bree Tanner, a vampire first introduced in Eclipse, and the darker side of the world she inhabits. The novella chronicles the journey of members of the newborn vampire army from their preparations to close in on Bella Swan and the Cullen family to its unforgettable conclusion.

As much as I occasionally mock various aspects of the Twilight Saga, I do actually pretty much love those books.  Well, I don't really love Breaking Dawn, what with the shizzle that goes down, because really, like really?.  To call this a *review* is really pushing my luck, because really, thats not what this is.  The whole point of reviewing is to breakdown the book and access it's writing, the plot arcs, the character development and interactions etc etc etc.  To do all this stuff, you need to be objective, because if your not your views are going to be seen through a pair of mega shiny rose tinted glasses, which is pretty much what I have on.  Hey! like you don't, there the good stuff.  And, to be quite truthful, I can't be objective.  If I said I could, I would be a big liar, just like those damn Volturi *shakes fists* so i'm just going to babble a bit.  Okay?

Right, I can remember reading Eclipse for the first time, and I fricking hated these newborn vampires who were out to get Bella and the Cullens.  I wished lots of fire and flames on each and everyone of them.  Bree didn't even register in my mind, even though she was in the book.  Crap, even Riley evaporated from my memory to be known as that insane vampire who thought Victoria was in love with him.  The lovesick vampire, thats who he was to me.  He wasn't a character, and neither was Bree.  Actually, I thought Bree was a mard arse and a vampire that deserved to die for being such a wimp.  Who barges into a battle to kill people and then cries and surrenders.  A big fat wuss thats who.   So, to read a book that had both of them in it, was insane, but that good insane.

A big lesson I learned from the book is this - vampires who sparkle in the sun are awesome *cough* not nearly as awesome as wolves *cough* but you know whats better? KILLER vampires who sparkle and are still good even though they may want to eat you.  They are like the epitome of vampires.  At last, Ms Meyer has given me what I wanted, a good vampire who sparkles and kills things that are not like deers or bears.  I mean, I know I really shouldn't want real live people to die, but come on kids, this is fiction, and if I can't get excited by killer vampires, then this is a sad world.  Plus, I really liked Bree as a character, she struggled with the thirst and trying to keep a sense of normalcy in this new strange world she's been re-born into. 

The last 50 or so pages were bloody brilliant (pun intended).  To see the whole scene in the meadow from a vampires point of view and not Bella's, who ultimately, was way to invested in the outcome, was so strange.  I never thought not knowing what the vampires thought about the situation was a Bad Thing, I wasn't missing out.  Edward was probably worrying about Bella, Jasper was being all "I don't trust people" and Rosalie was maybe just mad that she got blood on her shirt.  I never once thought how it would look through this strange vampire girls eyes.  And now that I know, it's like I always kind of knew.  It complements that scene spectacularly, and makes you realise there was a lot going on before that event and during it that Bella was not privvy too, being a weak ass human and all.  I will say, the last page, I actually wanted to cry like a girl.  I didn't, but I wanted to.  I still love Stephenie Meyer a LOT and I don't think that will be changing anytime soon.