Scarlet by Marissa MeyerSeries: Lunar Chronicles #2
Published by: Feiwel & Friends on February 5, 2013
Genre: Dystopian, Fantasy, Retelling, Science Fiction
Pages: 464
Source: ARC From Publisher, Won
Buy on Amazon • Book Details
Rating: ★★★★★
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.
THIS BOOK! THIS. BOOK! THIS. BOOK. IS. SO. AMAZING!!
Scarlet was one of my most highly anticipated (maybe the most highly anticipated) 2013 reads.. and it ROCKED! It didn’t disappoint at all, and it doesn’t suffer from Second Book Syndrome at all, and Wolf it rocked my Lunar universe COMPLETELY!
One of my favourite parts of this book is Wolf the alternating points of view. I LOVE how we read from Scarlet’s POV, Cinder’s POV, Kai’s POV, Thorne’s POV, and even crazy bitch queen’s POV! Basically everyone! We get to see so many different sides to the story like Wolf’s sexiness, different reactions, and different interpretations. We follow different story lines until it all comes together EPICLY at the end! Both Scarlet and Cinder’s stories play really important roles. They each have their own goals and missions, but they end up intersecting.
To be honest, I do think I could have benefitted from re-reading Cinder before starting Scarlet. Marissa Meyer does a pretty good job of recapping the events in Cinder, but it had been so long since I’d read it that I still feel like I was missing out on a few things. It would have been better and easier if all the events were still fresh in my memory.
Scarlet is officially one of my favourite characters EVER! Honestly, I might even like her more than Cinder, and that’s saying something! She’s incredibly selfless and determined, sweet when she wants to be, ruthless when she needs to be, and isn’t afraid to stand up for herself, her family, or what she believes to be right. She’s intelligent, and spunky, and I love everything about her! In the first scene she has a throwing-tomatos-rage-fest. That made me love her right away LOL! And when people are being stupid jerkfaces who buy into everything the media feeds them, Scarlet has no problem standing up on the bar table, shutting off the TV, and bitching at a bar full of drunken morons. That takes guts. Scarlet reminds me a lot of Cinder; they both have take-no-crap attitudes and they’re both incredibly strong characters overall. Oh, and Scarlet carries a gun. Yes, she’s a badass.
Thorne, Cinder’s travelling companion, is like the Scarlet version of Han Solo. He’s handsome, kind of arrogant, in love with his ship, and a bit of a big baby at times! I LOVED his character! Sometimes I hated him because he was such an arrogant self-obsessed jerkface, but he’s the kind of guy that you can’t help but smile at.. because he’s so self absorbed that it’s almost cute LOL! Also, don’t worry, there is no Cinder-Kai-Thorne love triangle (I personally was a bit worried about that, but luckily it never came).
And then there’s Wolf.. OMG WOLF! How I loveth thou. Have my babies and my love and my soul. Because I love you. Wolf is an insanely sexy beast (hahah). He’s definitely the strong, mysterious, silent type. Scarlet and Wolf meet fairly early on in the story and they become travelling companions. He’s a total badass, but also has a more sensitive side buried deep down. I mean he’s a street fighter. He can kill people with his bare hands. And his name is Wolf. WOLF! He practically has fangs. Obviously, since this is a Little Red Riding Hood retelling, we know that Wolf is some sort of evil guy who ate her grandmother. But it’s constantly hard to tell what his true motives are, and that’s what really hooked me into the story. I kept trying to figure him out. And oh boy, his story plays out EPICLY! And the end… *fans self* My god, I was salivating.
Scarlet left off in a great place, and I already know that the third book—Cress—is going to be amazing. With an ending like that, how could it not be? But I’m actually struggling to figure out how I’ll maintain my sanity after having to wait an entire YEAR to read it.
The Verdict
Did you just mention Han Solo?!??!?! Ok, can I be any more excited right now?!??! I have the book, but didn’t get to pick it up yet. But… the more reviews I read the more excited I get!!!
OMG Danny you are going to LOVE IT!!!!
Eeeep I can’t wait to read this one!! Your review has me even more excited for it! 🙂
YOU ARE KILLING ME! I NEEEEED THIS BOOK! *MEEEEPS!* Looks so amazing. 😀 I should go pre-order or something.
OMG PRE-ORDER IT NOW, YOU SILLY GIRL!!
♥ ♥
I really liked Cinder but im so anxouis for Scarlet since it’s told from other peoples POV as well and I’m still sort of stuck in Cinder’s bubble and I’m not sure if i want to leave it! Have to admit though your review may have given my the shove I needed to start this one!
Great Review
lily
I felt the same way at first Lily. But I promise you, Scarlet is AWESOME! She is a kickass character and you will love her!
I have yet to even read Cinder! I need to make some time to read it.
Glad that you enjoyed it. I want to read Cinder first! The characters sound great.
Happy reading,
Brandi @ Blkosiner’s Book Blog
OMG, I want to die for not having this book yet. To tell you the truth Cinder was just okay for me. But I still am looking forward to Scarlet *coughs* Wolf *coughs*. You make Scarlet (Wolf) sound so amazing. And I am happy there was no love triangle, I am so tired of those right now. I must get this book soon or I might explode.
By the way. Just finished Doomed. LOVED!
I loooove Wolf! And yes, I am getting so tired of love triangles too. At first I was worried that there might be one in Scarlet, but there definitely isn’t. Phew!
OMG I’M SO GLAD YOU LOVED DOOMED!!!
SO EXCITED! This is the most fangirly review I have seen. Ever. And I love it. I’m waiting for my copy to come to me!!! Hurry up, release date! I am seriously drooling in anticipation. I read the first five chapters, and Scarlet is so hilarious, and I am definitely enjoying Thorne’s character, even though I’ve only read one chapter that talks about him. I love Marissa Meyer so much!!!!
If you loved the first five chapters then you will definitely love the rest!! 😀
I’m excited to read this because of Kai. But I’m curious about the Wolf…
Kai doesn’t have as big of a role in this book, so Wolf definitely steals the show. 😉 I mean, Kai is in it a bit, but not really in a lovey-dovey way. More in an “I’m stressed over politics” way.
WOW, this was one awesome review! I couldn’t tell that you loved
Wolfthe multiple PoVs or characters at all! 😉I was already excited for Scarlet, but now I feel like I NEED IT RIGHT NOW!
Hehehe! 😀 You are going to love it Kelly! I can’t wait to see what you think. 🙂
I LOVE THIS REVIEW! Sorry for yelling, but it’s true. I want to read this book so bad! I thought Cinder was fantastic.
Unlike you, I didn’t expect much from Scarlet. I liked Cinder enough, but it didn’t blow me away and I expected much the same from Scarlet. Imagine my surprise when I got hooked after the first ten pages! This is definitely one of my favorite reads of 2013 so far and I hope it continues to be a favorite at the end of the year when I do my lists!
I agree with you about Scarlet’s character. I loved her too. And I loved all the new characters we were introduced to. Thorne, Wolf… I can’t believe some of the twists that were in this book. Nothing surprised me about Cinder but Scarlet shocked me more than once. Great review, Ashley!
A little embarrassed to say I still haven’t started this series yet (eeep!), but I’ve been meaning to, I swear! So glad this one picked up for you, all I seem to hear is gushing and love for this series from all my friends!