Second Life Falls Short – The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner review

It was a success story that began with a dream – literally. In 2003, a housewife and law school aspirant who had never written a short story in her entire life woke up from a vivid dream about a vampire who was in love with a human girl, but who also thirsted for her blood. The woman felt compelled to write the dream down, just for herself, until her sister urged her to send the manuscript for publication. Fifteen letters and nine rejections later, Stephenie Meyer found a deal that catapulted her to literary fame (and sometimes infamy) with her Twilight saga.

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years: Twilight is the story of an ordinary human girl named Bella Swan and her romance with a 107-year-old vampire Edward Cullen. The saga is composed of four books – Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn – that chronicle their romance and attendant complications (werewolf Jacob Black, and the Volturi, who enforce vampire law). Midnight Sun, the companion novel to the saga that tells the story from Edward’s point of view, was delayed indefinitely after the chapters were leaked online, and Meyer allegedly decided to focus her energy on non-Twilight books.

Or so we thought. Yet now we have Bree Tanner, a new novella in the same universe as the Twilight Saga.

Spoiler Warning (for the novella and the Twilight Saga).

Bree Tanner appeared for the first--and last--time in Eclipse, as a member of one of the vampire armies that attacked the Cullens in order to kill Bella. Bree surrenders to the Cullens, and they were more than ready to adopt her and help her learn their “vegetarian” ways--until the Volturi decide to kill her. Of course we see all these events in Eclipse from Bella’s point of view. In this new novella, we get to see the story from another point of view: Bree’s own. Of course, those aware of Bree’s fate will know that there isn’t enough material there for an entire novel, so The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is indeed short.

To be honest, I wasn’t planning to read the novella. After reading the disaster that was Breaking Dawn (no offense to the fans) I felt as if I’d outgrown the Twilight Saga. However, nice I start a series, as I have an obsessive-compulsive tendency to read all the books, whether I liked the series or not. Unlike the Twilight-starved fans who scrambled for this new addition to the mythos, I came in with low expectations. In the end, I emerge with mixed emotions.

Bree is (or could have been) an interesting character, and I wish that Meyer had taken this opportunity to show us her past, before she became a vampire or during the initial adjustment phase. However, the story begins with Bree already three months into being a vampire, when she’s learned to have better control over her urges. In Eclipse, Bella sees Bree as a sort of sneak preview of what Bella might be like as a vampire. Intentionally or not, Meyer portrays Bree as a lot like Bella: she loves to read, she’s a loner, and she’s quite smart…but seemingly incomplete without her guy. At the beginning of the story, Bree was her own person, but once she realized that she was in love with Diego, her brains seemed to fly out the window. She even admits to herself that she needs Diego to be able to think logically, a portrayal at odds with her initial character, yet once her love interest dies, Bree’s smarts seem to perish with him.

Diego, the love interest, is a huge disappointment. Meyer didn’t really make him real for me: I couldn’t get a clear image of him in my mind, and the voice of the character just seems inauthentic and out of place. (“Sing it, sister?” Really?) I suppose I should have tempered even my already low expectations based on Meyer’s track record with male characters. Diego is essentially decoration for Bree--I found more personality in Freaky Fred, the vampire that Bree befriends in the middle of the story, than in Diego – in fact, most of reviews praised Fred and not Diego. Even in his role as a plot catalyst Diego fails: his death should have been a means to allow Bree to explore her rage -- but once again, Meyer glosses over the climax.

This is, and remains to be, my major gripe with Meyer’s work: there’s never a proper climax. A friend speculated that since Meyer was not a trained author when she began the series, she’s simply not well-versed in crafting good fight scenes. While I don’t disagree with Meyer’s intent to put “light” in her stories, this simply can’t excuse poor storytelling, and omitting the climax every time is poor storytelling: in Twilight, Bella passes out just as the cavalry arrived; in New Moon, all we get is talk, talk, talk with the Volturi; in Eclipse, Bella is hidden for most of the battle, and the passes out again; and as for Breaking Dawn – after the big build up towards an epic battle--we get one death of a minor character, and Bella manages to save everyone with her new vampire power.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner continues this trend. I agree with this reviewer on Goodreads: with the shift in point of view, this novella was a perfect opportunity for Meyer to make up for one botched ending, and portray the battle that happened in Eclipse--instead, Meyer focuses on Bree’s search for her love, with the only nod to the existence of the battle being a thrown limb here and there. And, just to be sure we once again see nothing of the battle, at one point, Bree is actually made to close eyes and cover her ears.

Still, the ending was fitting – I was “at peace” with it, as some reviewers might say. We all knew Bree’s ultimate fate, and that made her last moments poignant in some way (or perhaps its because the Cullens were there at the end, and we finally see Edward from the point of view of someone other than Bella). Bree’s thirst for Bella’s blood, concern for her friend Fred, and narration of the Volturi’s deception fill her last moments--maybe, as far as Meyer was concerned, it was Bree’s death that was the climax.

In the end, while there were bright spots, the novella is unsatisfying. Meyer admits that writing Bree’s story was just an exercise while editing Eclipse. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner comes across as exactly that: a writing exercise. If it’s any comfort, I think this is better than Breaking Dawn (and some reviewers agree with me). Even with the fact that one dollar from each physical book sold goes to the American Red Cross, and the fact that the book up for free reading at BreeTanner.com from June 7 to July 5, I still can’t help but think that--coming so close to the premier of the Eclipse movie--this is just an attempt to draw more money from die-hard fans. After all, Meyer could have released the novella for a lower price (or even for free, like what Rachel Vincent did in My Soul to Lose) instead of the current price, 450 pesos at National Bookstore as of today… which is more expensive than many full length novels. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner isn’t a bad book, and fans of the saga will get a kick out of it, but for others… well, there may be better, thicker, stories to spend your money on.