The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephanie Meyer

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Book Description from Amazon.com

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.

Bree Tanner was a very minor character in Eclipse. Stephanie Meyer explains that she was a character she couldn't seem to let go of and that's why she wrote the book. I do admit I honestly wonder if that's the whole truth or if the Twilight franchise just wanted another book to sell. This has been on my bookshelf for a long time so clearly I bought it at the height of the Twilight Saga frenzy. 

Now I must admit here that I loved the Twilight books. I read them all long before I started blogging. I still wish that Bella had ended up with Jacob though. Sorry but controlling, stalking Edward just creeped me out. Although had she ended up with Jacob a human pregnant with a baby vampire would have never happened and that story line was simply genius. 

However, the sparkly vampires idea is not so genius. It's the silliest thing about the Twilight Saga and actually is a key element in The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. Worse yet, in this novella, Meyer describes the vampires as "disco balls." As a reflex, I rolled my eyes at this. Although I'm sure they are fun at parties. 

The biggest problem with this story is the main antagonist. Riley is so inconsistent that he's unbelievable as a character. First, he convinces the entire coven of vampires to work together and then decides to pit them against each other. It's so inconsistent even Bree makes note of it.

Second to the ridiculous idea of sparkling vampires is the character of Fred and his power to make himself repulsive to everyone. For some inexplicable reason only Bree can stomach him. (You see what I did there?) Why the heck Fred didn't overpower Riley instead of just saving himself is beyond me. He's able to camouflage himself and Bree enough that they are allowed to stand around watching the other vampires train for three days. Seriously? Sorry, I guess that was a bit of spoiler. But it seems Fred's only purpose was to keep Bree safe. Once he couldn't do that anymore he split.

Another inconsistency is that it was hinted at that Bree had the power to make herself invisible, yet was too stupid to realize it. 

What was happening when Jasper was making her see all those images after the fight? None of it made any sense. It didn't even make sense to Bree so I guess it's a bit much to expect the reader to understand it.

I also would chuckle every time Bree referred to Volturi as "vampire cops." 

The Twilight Saga as a whole is cheesy but this novella took all the silliest ideas and put them in one small book. It was mildy entertaining but had the potential to go deeper. Since Bree appeared to be a good person I had hoped there would be some sort of moral conflict about taking innocent human lives but Bree doesn't ever think twice about it. Innocent newborn or not it was hard to like a cold blooded killer.

This book just wasn't that good. It had the potential to be good I think. Then I remind myself again of the phrases "vampire disco balls" and "vampire cops" so maybe not. My rating