The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

About The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is a novella by Stephenie Meyer, published in 2010, that tells the story of the newborn vampire army from the inside. Set during the events of Eclipse, the story is narrated by Bree Tanner — a newly turned seventeen-year-old who appears briefly in the final chapters of Eclipse and whose fate is determined before that novel ends.

Bree was transformed against her will along with dozens of other teenagers by Victoria, who is building an army as revenge against the Cullens. The novella explores what it means to be newly turned: the overwhelming thirst, the confusion, the accelerated strength and speed without the accompanying control that older vampires develop over time. Newborn vampires are more physically powerful than established ones but also erratic, aggressive, and prone to tearing each other apart in the close quarters of the army's hideout.

Within this brutal environment, Bree finds an unlikely ally in Diego — another newborn who has figured out that several of the things they've been told about vampires are lies, told by Victoria's lieutenant Riley to keep the group disoriented and obedient. Their investigation into the truth they're being kept from gives the novella its central tension.

A Different Perspective on a Familiar Story

Meyer has noted that she found the newborn army storyline in Eclipse compelling precisely because it was happening off-screen — the reader knew there was a war coming, but saw it only through the Cullens' secondhand intelligence. The novella fills in that gap, and the knowledge of where the story ends (anyone who has read Eclipse already knows Bree's fate) gives the narrative an inherent tragedy.

The short run of the story — 224 pages — and its narrowly focused perspective make it one of the more compact and readable entries in the Twilight universe, appreciated by fans who wanted more from the world's secondary characters.

Why It Has Been Challenged

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner has been challenged in some school libraries as part of broader challenges to the Twilight Saga. The content — violence among newborn vampires, themes of manipulation and coercion, and the novella's tragic conclusion — has drawn criticism from some parents and administrators applying the same scrutiny to companion volumes as to the main series.