Monday, April 15, 2013

Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

ISBN: 9780312642969
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release date: February, 2013
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #2
Page count: 452 pages

GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:

"Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or 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 Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner."

IN-DEPTH REVIEW:

I usually take notes while I read books, because lets be real, can you always remember what happens throughout the whole 400+ pages of the books you read? Most likely the answer is no. Or a lot of times for me, I will hate/love a book in the beginning and then feel the exact opposite at the end and its hard for me to remember why I felt a different way 400 pages ago.

What I'm trying to say is that for some reason, I only have about four lines of notes on this book so I'm having a hard time putting my thoughts on the book in its entirety into words. It took me three long weeks to read this. I dont want to be unfair, though, because the main reason it took me so long is that I have been very distracted with my recent engagement and I've been obsessed with all things weddings ever since. I finally finished Scarlet at work today, then OF COURSE I found myself wishing it didnt end.

As I stated before in my review of Cinder, Meyer's writing is fantastic. Not once did I encounter awkward wording or things I couldnt picture in my head or understand based on the way it was written. It came alive and I connected with the story, felt like I was with Scarlet and Cinder on their adventures.

I do have to say that I don't think I connected as much with Scarlet as I did with Cinder, and it was throughout the first half of the book that I found myself just reading about Scarlet and hoping and hoping for more about Cinder. I just felt like Scarlet's story took too long to develop into an actual adventure to save her grandmother. Then the romance started between Scarlet and Wolf, the mystery "Loyal Soldier to the Order of the Pack" with the sexaayyy eyes. Yeah, uh, boo to you Wolf, for all of that! I wont say more for fear of spoilage. But keep in mind that at one point, I wasnt sure if Wolf was gonna pull through as a good guy for this one.

Anyhow, I hate to be the girl who didnt like the book until the characters made kissy faces at eachother, and I do feel like the actual romance was a little much, but it still finally made things more than just mildly interesting. Needless to say, by the end of this book my heart ached for the two of them and I hated Wolf no more!

Cinder is my absolute favorite, her sarcasm, wit, badass-ed-ness, I just love it all, and with the long stretches of several chapters about Scarlet, I wanted to yell at the book and ask Cinder to come back. I once again loved the charming and clever way Meyer added the original fairytale of Little Red Riding hood into the story without being boring and still making it absolutely different. Also, I have a lot of questions about Thorne Carswell. He's gotta have something going for him, right? I mean, did he only serve the purpose of the "lumberjack" that saves Red Riding Hood aka Scarlet, or is he gonna be matched up with the chick from the next book? Like, what's his deal? You know authors dont waste attractive and funny character on secondary spots.

I really dont have much more to say about this book because I already love the series. It is so fresh and unique and so unlike any other dystopian out there, and I am sad that I will have to wait until next year (I mean come on, REALLY?!) to read the next one.

SUMMARY OF MY THOUGHTS:

Not suprised to have loved this one. Certain parts moved a little slower for me at first and I didnt connect as easily with the new characters, but by the middle of the book everything moved much quicker and I loved the new characters (almost) as much as I love Cinder, Kai and Iko! I would recommend this book (or the series itself) to dystopian lovers who are getting tired of the same old stuff. This is a fantastic and unique retelling of Little Red Riding Hood and I cant wait for the next to be released next year.

RATING:   

I give this second installment of the Lunar Chronicles four stars because I loved it and the only thing that made it a little below amazing was that the first half was a little slow.

Have any of you read Scarlet by Marissa Meyer? If so, do you agree or disagree with my review? If not, do you plan on reading it? Love hearing what you all think

A.

2 comments:

  1. I agree with your review, though I gave it 5 stars because I loved Scarlet and Wolf. I think it is absolutely unique yet since a great retelling. I cannot wait until the next one.

    Ashley @ The Quiet Concert

    ReplyDelete
  2. I found it to be a bit slow in places as well but it wasn't too bad over all.

    ReplyDelete

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A.