Friday 18 June 2010

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, a review.


***Prologue***

It was the most exciting chapter yet, fan’s eagerly gripping the sides of the book as they read. Thoughts passed through their minds at lightening speed: Who was going to come out of the battle on top, Victoria or Edward Cullen? And finally what would become of Victoria’s soldier Bree Tanner?

If you’ve read The Twilight Saga : Eclipse you would already know the answers to all of the questions above, but would you know the answer to the question, what life did Bree Tanner live before she and the rest of Victoria’s army attacked the Cullens?


Well you’re in luck twi-hards because the Twilight Saga’s author Stephenie Meyer has released another Twilight Saga addition; a novella about Bree Tanner's life titled; The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner.

Newborn vampire Bree Tanner’s Seattle life is anything but simple. Besides dealing with the constant burning in her throat caused by blood-lust, Bree also has to deal with her growing feelings for vampire pal Diego, her master Riley’s ongoing orders and her, Bree’s mysterious and unknown creator.


What I thought about this book: Stunning. Marvellous. The Short Second life of Bree Tanner may just be my favourite book in the saga. Superb in every way, the only thing that let me down was the super tear-jerking ending.
My Favourite Character: Bree Tanner
My Rating: 5 out of 5 Congrats Mrs. Meyer you did it again

***Epilogue***
So, if four novels, one quarter of a manuscript and three movies weren't enough to sate your appetite for a certain vampire family, Stephenie Meyer recently released a novella, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. Originally, like Midnight Sun for R-Patz, this was written for the actress playing Bree, Jodelle Ferland to help her really get into the character in Eclipse. Stephenie Meyer requested, as a thank you to her fans, that it be made free to read online. And it is, but only until the 7th July, so get to breetanner.com quick if you haven't already.
Maddie and I were skeptical about the word 'novella', considering how lengthy the Twilight Saga novels are, so were surprised to find that it was in fact just 178 pages, easily readable in an afternoon.
Bree Tanner is one of the newborn vampires, recruited by Riley, the leader of the vampire army and created by Victoria, who, in an effort to block Alice Cullen's powers of foresight, is only known to the newborn army as 'her' and is never seen by any of them. Bree develops a relationship with a fellow recruit, and together they begin to unravel the net of lies that has snared them. There are a couple of interesting scenes that shed light on the Volturi and Edward Cullen, that I wasn't expecting, but I definitely feel that Bree's story drew me in and the addition of the familiar Twilight characters added little to the story.
I've heard a lot of criticisms of Meyers writing, most written in that lovely shade of envy green, but for me, the one thing that she does superbly is to create characters that you want to invest in. With Bree Tanner it's no different, and although if you've read Eclipse you'll realise that the ending is not going to be pretty, I found I couldn't help but be pulled in to her story. Obviously this is meant to be a companion novella to Eclipse,but if you've never picked up a Twilight novel, as a stand alone story it's a worthwhile read, and perhaps a good first taste of Meyer's flavour of writing.
 I'd rate it a 4.5 out of 5. My favourite character was Fred, whose peculiar 'power' kept me amused through-out.

1 comment:

Sarah said...

Having read the four novels and enjoyed the escapism of them immensely, I must read this. Thanks for the great review x

The Word Party

Loving words clutch crimson roses,
Rude words sniff and pick their noses,
Sly words come dressed as foxes,
Short words stand on cardboard boxes,
Common words tell jokes and gabble,
Complicated words play Scrabble,
Swear words stamp around and shout,
Hard words stare eachother out,
Foreign words look lost and shrug,
Careless words trip on the rug,
Long words slouch with stooping shoulders,
Code words carry secret folders,
Silly words flick rubber bands,
Hyphenated words hold hands,
Strong words show off, bending metal,
Sweet words call each other 'petal',
Small words yawn and suck their thumbs,
Till at last the morning comes,
Kind words give out farewell posies....
Snap! The dictionary closes.

-RICHARD EDWARDS.