Scarlet by: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Publication Date: February 5, 2013
Genre: Futuristic, Action, Sci-Fi, Retelling
Series: Lunar Chronicles #2
Source: ARC from Publisher (Thanks Feiwel and Friends!)
Page Count: 462
Author Website: Marissa Meyer
Pre-Order the Book: Amazon, Barnes & Noble
Summary from Goodreads:
Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-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 and 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 has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.
As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.
Teaser
“…As Cinder and Thorne can for their abandoned podship, the man’s howl was picked up by another and another, half a dozen unearthly calls being sent up in every direction to greet the rising moon.”
My Review:
Scarlet exceeded every one of my highest expectations. Marissa has such a way of imagination and intrigue, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the pages! In Scarlet, the story of Cinder continues as well as the story of a new character, Scarlet. These books are often labeled as fairytale retellings, and they are, but they are also so much more than that. There is an entire world more.
While we do follow Cinder’s story, we also are introduced to a new main character, Scarlet Benoit. She is bold and determined. Her grandmother went missing weeks ago and Scarlet will stop at nothing to uncover the secrets of her kidnapping and find her. I loved Scarlet’s fierce personality. She was brave and strong in the face of tragedy and shock. I admit, I was kind of not positively anticipating Scarlet’s story because I wanted the book to focus on Cinder, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. Scarlet and Cinder’s stories were quite cleverly intertwined, I found.
In Scarlet, Cinder is quite noticeably not the teenage mechanic she was in the first book. In the events that have struck her, she has grown stronger and more resilient, and also more knowledgeable of her place/duty in the world. I like how she’s changed. She’s a lot like Katniss from the Hunger Games in the way that she is being forced into a role that she doesn’t necessarily understand or want. I am very much looking forward to seeing how this plays out in book 3.
The main male protagonists in Scarlet are Emperor Kai and Wolf, Scarlet’s companion on her search for her grandmother. I loved and appreciated seeing Kai’s POV in this story. The decisions he made and how he made them were made more meaningful by it. Wolf is another story. I knew he deserved a heaping bowl of suspicion from the beginning. I did end up thoroughly admiring him in the end though.
I honestly can’t find anything I didn’t like about Scarlet! Every moment was amazing and the story was action packed! Two absolutely spectacular female main characters made this book all the better! READ IT!
Official Rating:
Five Un-Birthday Cakes!
I already couldn’t wait to read this book, but you only made it much worse! This book sounds even better than I dreamed of. I’m so happy that it didn’t suffer from the second-book-syndrome. I love the kick ass Scarlet already and I can’t wait to meet Wolf and see how these two stories entwine together! Awesome review.
Mel@thedailyprophecy.