Review: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer

Series: Companion book to The Twilight Saga

Published: June 5th 2010

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Details: Hardcover, 178 pages

My rating: 4/5

My Summary:

A wonderfully written book, where Meyer once again manages to put life into a character I didn’t think I’d care about – a newborn vampire. A must read for every twilight fan.

My Full Review:

No one thought much about Bree, the newborn vampire who gives herself up to the Cullens at the end of Eclipse, only to be killed by the merciless Vulturi clan. I sure didn’t pay any attention to her, more than that she was a testament to how a new-born Bella might be like should she turn vampire – wild and uncontrollable, especially while scenting a human prey. Therefore it was a surprise to me to realize that not only two chapters in I was already growing fond of Bree.

She is created by Riley (Victoria’s new mate) to participate in Victoria’s army against the Cullens. Of course, she has no idea that she is only going to be used as a brick in their war, nor does any of the other newly created vampires know any of this. They all live together in a house in the outskirts of Seattle, some of the vampires wilder than others. Not rarely do fights erupt resulting in one or two vampire lives lost.

It’s an unstable environment to say the least, and Bree tries to stay under the radar as much as possible, to stay safe. She’s very confused and especially lonely until one night when she befriends Diego, one of the other older vampires in Rile’s army. They spend some time together and in doing so she starts remembering bits and pieces from her former life again, reconnecting to her human self. But their time together is short, as Riley starts preparing for the battle.

It’s a short, sad story considering Bree’s tragic end, but it’s interesting, especially towards the end where the battle is described and we get to meet the Cullens and Bella from the viewpoint of her, an outsider. There is also an interesting play of minds going on during the meeting with the Volturi that we were unaware of in Eclipse. Bree essentially tells Edward everything there is to know about the Volturi secretly betraying the Cullens in this battle. She is on the side of the Cullens, more than I understood in Eclipse, which only added to my sadness to see her go in the end. Under different circumstances, I think she would have fit in perfectly in the Cullen family.

All in all, I loved revisiting the Twilight world, all though from a different view-point. Meyer certainly proved again what she does best – excellent characterization. In short, a wonderful read!

Do I recommend it?

Yes, if you liked the Twilight Saga you definitely should read this!

Review: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Series: The Host, book #1

Published: May 6th 2008

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Details: Hardcover 619 pages

My grade: 4/5

My summary:

If you liked Twilight, you will most likely love The Host. Don’t be put off by the fact that it is the story of an alien set in a dystopian future. Meyer proved in Twilight that she writes excellent character-driven plots with great love stories and this is no exception. Just make sure to get through the first 100 pages or so which may seem a bit slow. After that you won’t be able to let the book go.

Update:

It appears as if Meyer is planning a trilogy here. Sequel to be called The Soul and the third installment has been named The Seeker. No release date is set yet, apart from sometime around 2012, if all goes as planned. Let’s hope that it does!

See my full review below:

Synopsis:

The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed. But Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn’t expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Melanie fills Wanderer’s thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves–Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body’s desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she’s never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.

My thoughts:

I have to admit I was a bit sceptical at first, towards this book. Firstly, it is written by Stephenie Meyer, the author of the much adored Twilight saga and I feared that the she might have experienced a one-hit wonder with the series, as is so often the case. Secondly, the plot of the book didn’t seem all that appealing to me. Sci-Fi has never really been my thing, and the synopsis of some alien rooting itself into a human host hardly did much to convince me of the contrary.

But I needn’t have to worry. This book really is great! It is rather slow at first, and it takes a while to get into the details of the story, but then something happens about 100 pages in, and it takes off for real. Suffice to say that it took me about a week to complete the first 100 pages or so, then 2 days to read the rest (500+ pages).

This book isn’t so much a sci-fi story as it is a story about survival against all odds and relationships put into extreme circumstances. There is romance as well, in the form of a love triangle (or to be exact quadruple) - something I can assure you has never been seen before, but very much believable, thanks to Meyer’s writing.

To me, the best part of the book was the characters and their interactions with each other during the course of the story. This is where Meyer proves to us again, just why we fell in love with the characters in Twilight. She really knows how to develope her characters well. Once again in Host, it is as if you know all the people (and one alien) inside and out, so well in fact, that you feel and breath with them. On finishing the book, I felt really sad having to leave the great bunch of people I’d come to known throughout the book.

All in all, this is a great book which I highly recommend.