Scarlet by Marissa Meyer | REVIEW

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
Published by Feiwal & Friends on February 5th 2013
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Action & Adventure, Sci-fi, Fairytale
Pages: 452
Format: Hardcover

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“Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison–even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.”

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*** AS THIS IS THE SECOND BOOK IN THE SERIES, IT MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS OF THE FIRST BOOK ***

*** YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ***

Scarlet By Marissa Meyer is the second book in the Lunar Chronicles series. The story continues right where the first book leaves off and introduces some new characters and points of views. Cinder has to break out of prison with some help from a new friend, mean while Scarlet does everything in her power to find her grandmother who she believes has been kidnapped.

I found Scarlet to be a lot more tolerable then Cinder was and I was impressed with the progression of the story. It’s slowly starting to grow on me bit by bit. Meyer was able to reinvent a old fairy tale and make it new again. This time take Little Red Riding Hood and integrating it into her unfolding story.

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Cinder was captured and now sits in prison. In order to save her country she must escape with the help of a new friend, Captain Thorne. Learning how to control her new Lunar gift we see them on a journey to France to find the lost princess. Meanwhile, also in France we have Scarlet. With her grandmother’s missing for two weeks, she believes that her grandmother was kidnapped. And something unexpected happened. She meets with a mysterious, fierce yet gentle street fighter, Wolf, who may have some answers for her. They start working together and they go to Paris to save Scarlet’s grandmother.

This time around the plot was a bit more intriguing with excellent world building. In Cinder, Meyer was able to recreate a futuristic Beijing and for Scarlet she did the same for Paris. With cool writing techniques and funny dialogues between characters made for an interesting read.

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As for the characters some of them were a hit and miss for me. My favorite would have to be Captain Thorne, and my least favorite this time around would be Scarlet. For Thorne I thought he was extremely entertaining with his demeanor and cheeky dialogues. I got a Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean vibe off him, and who doesn’t like a little Johnny Depp once and a while. With his cocky attitude and his go with the flow personality made for a quite enjoyable character.

Unfortunately for Scarlet, I was left disappointed. I didn’t find her unique or interesting, her relationship with Wolf was odd, and there just wasn’t anything I could connect with her on. I did find her drive and curiousity a bit endearing when it came to finding and saving her grandmother. It’s a shame that it wasn’t enough to save her in terms of likability.  I have yet to connect with any of the title characters and I find that quite alarming.

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If it wasn’t for the world that Meyers has built I don’t think I would have liked this story much. I love the futuristic elements and the way the Earth is described. Who knew that the every country would come to peace with each other only to in turn have a war with the Moon. If each book is set in a new country/continent as the series goes on, I believe it will keep the story exciting and fresh to read.

I want to see more scenes on the Moon though. I want to explore the kingdom of Luna and see if it’s as devastatingly beautiful as the Lunar people make themselves look.

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In conclusion Scarlet by Marissa Meyer was a step up from Cinder and I’m still intrigued to see where this story goes in the next installment. As I am writing this I should be almost done Cress, the best book in the series so far! Let me know your thoughts on the book below and stay tuned for future reviews coming your way soon!

Ratings:

Plot = 3/5

Writing = 3.5/5

Characters = 2.5/5

Setting = 3.5/5

Until next time,

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Marissa Meyer lives in Tacoma, Washington, with her fiancé and their two cats. In addition to her slight obsession with books and writing, she’s big on road-tripping, wine-tasting, and hunting for antiques. She’s represented by Jill Grinberg.

CINDER, her debut novel, is a futuristic re-envisioning of Cinderella in which Cinder is a cyborg mechanic.