Review | Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Author: Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #2
Release Date:  February 5th, 2012
Pages: 452
Review by: Max




Scarlet is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood that picks up where Cinder left off and includes the story of a new character, Scarlet, while continuing to tell Cinder's cyborg/alien tale.

If you're planning to read Cinder and haven't yet, I would avoid reading this review because of spoilers.

After the her complete disaster at the ball, Cinder has been incarcerated. Which makes it a bit difficult for her to convince Prince Kai she's not evil, stop the actually evil Queen Levana, and fulfill her role as secret alien princess.

Scarlet, Marissa Meyer's version of Little Red Riding Hood, fights her own set of problems in the novel involving aliens (of course) and her missing grandmother in France, with the help of another new character named Wolf. Together, Scarlet and Cinder tell the story of the Commonwealth and Earth in the future through their own separate tales.

Max here! Since Fairest recently came out and Winter, the last book in the series comes out this year, I figured I should finish up my reviews on the beginnings of this fantastic Lunar Chronicles series for you guys! Here's the link to my review of Cinder from way back when if you haven't checked it out yet. (Please don't judge me, it's from 2012).

Sorry to get a little nostalgic here, but Cinder was one of the very first YA books I ever read, and it will always hold a special place in my heart simply because of how awesome it was to me at the time. Obviously, this made me have some pretty high expectations for Scarlet.

As far as second books go, Scarlet did not disappoint me. Something I really appreciate about this series is the way Meyer tells the story through the multiple POV's. Usually I don't like multiple perspectives, but in this series, it really raises the suspense and ensures that you get to hear about Cinder through her own perspective. All of the POV changes did cause the book to be a little slow, however.

Meyer also has a real talent for blending fairy tales with sci-fi, and if either of those interest you, I really recommend you pick up this series.

Unfortunately, I did not like Scarlet (the character) or her plotline as much as I loved Cinder and hers. For one, Scarlet's relationship with her love interest is intense almost instantly. I think Cinder and Kai's interactions are much more amusing and that their feelings for each other don't feel as forced.

Cinder's adventures and struggles in Scarlet are very entertaining and set up for the next book, Cress, very nicely, so if you enjoyed the first book, you should definitely continue with the series.