“Personally, I’ve never figured out why some of my characters take on strong lives of their own, but I’m always happy when they do,” writes Stephenie Meyer in her introduction to THE SHORT SECOND LIFE OF BREE TANNER. Bree Tanner, who appears briefly (and dead!) in ECLIPSE, the third novel in the Twilight series, is one of those characters, she notes. Now, in a novella that helps flesh out (as it were) the fictional world Meyer created in her four-part series, Bree gets a chance to tell her own story.
Bree’s story is not just her own, however; it is also a more extended venture inside a realm Twilight fans have only glimpsed before: the world of the newborn vampire. Painfully thirsty, nearly out of control, these young vampires have trouble controlling their desires --- for violence, but especially for blood. Bree and her friend (and love interest) Diego are among a large band of newborn vampires kept alive but controlled in the service of someone readers know for a long time only as “she.” For what purpose have Bree and her fellow newborn vampires been created? Readers of the series already have a pretty good guess at that answer, but that doesn’t make her story any less provocative or suspenseful.
In ECLIPSE, readers barely get a chance to know Bree. Here, we learn far more about her life as a vampire (where she makes great efforts to follow the rules, to be well-behaved, even when it physically hurts her to do so) and about her previous life as a human (she was a runaway who fled an abusive father). Bree is desperately trying to make sense of her new “life” even as she still reels from the misery and unhappiness of her old one.
And, of course, as fans know, Bree and her coven are on a relentless track that will coincide, tragically, with the vampires in the Cullen family and with Bella herself. One of the most fascinating aspects of her narration for long-time fans will be seeing the Cullens and Bella through the eyes of an antagonistic outsider: “I had tried to wrap my head around the idea of a coven with a pet human, but this was not close to what I had imagined…. Who was this girl? Why did the vampires allow her to be with them? Why hadn’t they killed her yet?” Seeing Bella and her companions from Bella’s point of view complicates the story significantly and enhances readers’ understanding of the world Meyer has created. It may also help fans’ enjoyment of and appreciation for the forthcoming Eclipse movie, in which Bree will play a role.
Are there other characters with “strong lives” who Meyer will revisit in future adventures? Let’s hope so. Fans will clamor for anything with the Twilight brand attached, it seems, but in the case of THE SHORT SECOND LIFE OF BREE TANNER, a slight novella helps provide important context for the original series, in addition to telling a compelling story in its own right.
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