Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

From Back Cover: 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 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 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 who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

My Rating: 4 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: In Scarlet, Marissa Meyer brings together two separate storylines into one. First, we’re introduced to a new protagonist who is trying to find her grandmother with the help of a mysterious street fighter. A few chapters in though, we rejoin Cinder as she attempts to escape from prison in order to find out more about her past from a woman named Michelle Benoit.

While Cinder won me over in Cinder because she was so different from her fairy tale counterpart, I didn’t love Scarlet as much since she was a lot more similar to hers. Thus, like Little Red Riding Hood, Scarlet is rash and willing to trust sketchy strangers. However, I also found her to be loyal, brave, determined and opinionated.

On the other hand, I actually liked Wolf more than Kai. Like Kai, Wolf’s life is complicated; but I feel as if he’s less of a pushover. Plus, Wolf is tough and very protective of Scarlet. I did find Scarlet and Wolf’s romance fast progressing though, and wish that Meyer had given it a bit more time to develop. After all, less than a week passes between the start of the novel and the end.

With the stories of Cinder and Scarlet now overlapping, I look forward to seeing how Meyer will integrate Cress in the next book. With POVs from all sorts of characters in Scarlet, I’m curious to find out whether there will be three main narratives in Cress (i.e. Cinder’s, Scarlet’s and Cress’) and whether Meyer can continue to keep her characters’ voices distinct. 

Scarlet was released on February 5, 2013 by Feiwel and Friends. 

Comments About the Cover: I love that Scarlet’s cover matches that of Cinder. The red cloak also instantly tells you which fairy tale Meyer is retelling.

In exchange for an honest review, this book was received from the publisher (Raincoast Books) for free.