Review | Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

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 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.

Although I thought Cinder was good, its slow pacing and predictable plot twists kept it from being amazing. Thankfully,Scarlet addressed those complaints, making for a much easier and more enjoyable read.

I absolutely loved Marissa Meyer’s take on the Little Red Riding Hood story. It contained the identifying elements of the original fairy tale (Grandmother goes missing, Scarlet’s red sweater and, of course, the Big Bad Wolf) but all of these elements were given a sci-fi twist that made for an action-packed, unpredictable, and completely enthralling read.

Scarlet introduces us to several new characters that are consistent with the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale: Scarlet, a determined young woman for whom family comes first, and Wolf, a wolf-hybrid-turned-street fighter. I really enjoyed reading about both of these characters, and found myself fully supporting their inevitable relationship – even if it did feel like instalove (since they’d only known each other for a day, albeit an incredibly eventful one) and even if my mind couldn’t decide whether Wolf was the “good guy” or not.

Instead of containing only their story (as I had initially assumed), Scarlet and Wolf’s adventures intersect with Cinder’s – something that I was incredibly happy about, since I don’t think I could wait another whole book to find out how my favourite cyborg was doing. This also brought about the introduction of the charming Captain Thorne, who may or may not be my new book boyfriend. His banter with Cinder was so much fun to read, and I applaud Meyer for not forcing a love triangle along with his introduction.

Overall, Scarlet showed me exactly why everyone loves this series so much: it’s captivating, fast-paced, unique, and contains some of the most loveable characters. It’s safe to say that I’ll be starting Cress straight away.