Scarlet, by Marissa Meyer, is the second book in the Lunar Chronicles, the riveting sequel to Cinder. That also means for all of you reading this who haven't read Cinder, you might want to read it before reading this one. Just a helpful hint (if you want you can read Ms Jensen's previous review on Cinder). Anyway, the book picks up right from where it left off, only hours after the end of the last book. Cinder has to escape from prison and has just been given the aid to do so. She ends up picking up another "criminal", Thorne, along the way because he has a ship and they are free to escape. At the same time, another teenager, Scarlet Benoit, is looking for her grandmother who has been kidnapped two weeks ago. Meyers weaves in another fairytale with Scarlet and her red hoodie, grandmother, and an unfamiliar and questionable street fighter, Wolf, who may just be the key to finding Scarlet's grandma. As the story unfolds, Cinder, Thorne, Scarlet, and Wolf have to cross paths to put all the pieces together and plan a way to defeat Queen Levena who shows more and more of just how ruthless she is.
From the very beginning you follow around these four characters and also Prince Kai who is faced with his own issues -- between decided what is best for the Earth and what he wants. Although at the beginning it was a little difficult for me to get attached to the new characters of Scarlet, Wolf, and Thorne, soon you get so caught up in the story you can't put it down. It was a brilliant connector for all the dots and you can tell the author knew exactly how the plot would unfold before the books were written. It has a lot of the same elements from Cinder, so if you don't like sci-fi, romance, adventure, blood, and nasty creatures trying to kill everyone, you might not want to read this book (also, you must be pretty boring). I throughly enjoyed this book and it was really fun for me too read. Unlike Cinder, there was not a plot twist to predict by chapter three and I had no idea everything was going to happen how it would happen. The book was brilliant and clever and I really did enjoy it.
Earlier when I was still in the beginning of this book, Ms Jensen asked me if I thought boys would like this book. And originally I kind of thought they wouldn't because it was a fairytale. But Scarlet took things to a whole new level. Yes, there is still love (sorry folks), and sci-fi, but by the end of Scarlet it is (as Ms Jensen told me) "more violent than some of the Hunger Games." After finishing this book, I think that anybody could enjoy it and I would recommend it to everyone. I loved it and personally think the author is a genius (I mean, who sits down and says, "I going to write a book where Cinderella is a cyborg and it's post-apocalyptic and not only does Cinderella have to win the prince but she has to save two planets!" Wow! Kudos to Marissa Meyer). A+
1 comment:
I know we have talked about this, but I figured it should be somewhere near the post so people know how I feel...I, like you, loved this book. HOWEVER, Scarlett and Cinder--the two heroines--feel very similar in personalities. I don't understand why two strong girls can't still be characteristically different enough to the reader. When Cinder and Scarlett were in the same location I wouldn't have been able to tell their actions or dialogue apart if it weren't for the dialogue tags. I feel like it is a bit of a travesty for such a wonderful idea.
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