Title: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company 2010

Genre: Vampire

Pages: 178

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Vampires; Amazon - Customer Favorites; Support Your Local Library; A to Z Titles: S

Fans of The Twilight Saga will be enthralled by this riveting story of Bree Tanner, a character first introduced in Eclipse, and the darker side of the newborn vampire world she inhabits. In another irresistible combination of danger, mystery, and romance, Stephenie Meyer tells the devastating story of Bree and the newborn army as they prepare to close in on Bella Swan and the Cullens, following their encounter to its unforgettable conclusion.

I thought this would be a nice followup to Twilight: The Graphic Novel and I wasn't disappointed.  In Eclipse, we meet Bree Tanner for about five minutes and then she dies at the hands of the Volturri.  There's no backstory, no real insight into her character.  She's a soldier in Victoria's army.

In this novella, Meyer gives us a glimpse into the very confusing short existence of Bree the vampire.  She may be a newborn, but that doesn't mean that she a mindless eating machine.  With the guidance of Diego, Bree starts to question "the plan" that Riley's been feeding the army.  We get a look inside the inner workings of newborn vampire, the hunger, the fear, the blindness, the strength.  It's interesting to see the world from the other side.  I enjoyed the look through another's eyes.  Meyer points out in the introduction that throughout the series, the readers never really see the world from the eyes of a newborn (and Bella was never really a newborn, she's very different).

Bree's short life is filled with some interesting characters.  We see Riley from a different perspective than we get in Eclipse. We meet Diego, a newborn, but one who seems to have a much better handle on reasoning.  We meet Fred, who has a special talent, not completely unlike Bella's.  And of course, we have the other soldiers, whose only thought is of the thirst.  Best of all, we get to view the Cullens and the Volturri from an outside perspective.  I definitely enjoyed this other look at the Twilight series.

I wasn't expecting to finish this books today.  Now I have to go revise my February wrap-up post and pick the next book to start.  Aww... such is the life of a compulsive reader.