Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
ARC received from Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan)
Release Date: 2-5-2013
Reviewed by: Middle
Sis Jenn
The Sisters Say:
Shocking, Salacious, and Seriously Awesome!
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.
So, I read Cinder
and Scarlet in the last few weeks,
and while Cinder was good, it didn’t blow me away. BUT Scarlet did! It more than blew me away—It smacked me in
the face with its awesomeness!!! From
Chapter 1, I was reeled into this futuristic world, and for the entire 450
pages, I didn’t want to be anywhere else.
Scarlet is mesmerizing—be
prepared to enter a world dripping with malice, encounter characters laced with
deceit, and discover love breaking its bonds.
Like I said in my Cinder review, I really like the world
that Marissa has created. It’s
futuristic, yet it retains many similarities to our own world, so it’s easy to
relate. But the technology is what sets
us apart—and this future is intricate and captivating. I love seeing the different advances that
have taken place and how they have affect society as a whole. The androids and cyborgs create a different
dimension that separates Marissa’s world from other dystopian novels. I look forward to the next two books in the
series, as they take place in separate parts of this new world.
I really liked that this book focused on Scarlet. At first, I was kind of wary because she was
completely new character, and I didn’t know how it was going to fit in with
Cinder’s story, but the two plot lines merged fantastically. The story is told in alternating
perspectives, so we get to see Scarlet as she travels down her road in search
for her grandmother, and on the other end, we also get to watch as Cinder
travels down her own road of self-discovery.
I will admit, I enjoyed Scarlet’s story much better. Scarlet was strong-willed and determined, but
still all too human. She falls prey to
human vulnerabilities, and I liked seeing how others had to come to her
aid. She was strong, but needed help at
times, and that made her open herself up to new relationships.
I absolutely loved Wolf because he’s my YA type! Troubled and broken, broody with
secrets. I’ve said it before and I’ll
say it again—that’s the best YA guy in my opinion. I love knowing there are secrets behind their
actions because I love mystery in a guy, and there is definitely mystery
surrounding Wolf. He’s strong and
over-protective, domineering and a jerk-face at times, but that just adds to
the tension that he creates with Scarlet.
In Cinder, I though the plot twists were extremely obvious,
and while I still saw most of the twists in Scarlet coming, they weren’t laid
out as openly. You kind of had to
stretch to see them. Still, I’m hoping for
a little less predictability in the future.
If you’re a fan of Kai (which I’m not a huge fan of), then
you might be disappointed in this book.
He only shows up a handful of times, and those times are really not very
lengthy. I was perfectly fine with this
because he is a bit too goody-goody, nice guy for me.
Lastly, I will say that the blurb isn’t written the
best. It makes it sound like Scarlet and
Wolf are meeting up with Cinder and that most of the book will follow them
together. This wasn’t even close to the
case. They run into each other very late
in the book—the rest of the time they are on their own.
Overall, this was a fantastic read, and I would highly
recommend it to fans of dystopian worlds.
Scarlet + Wolf = Jaw-dropping, edge of your seat fun!
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