Review #36 - Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet is the sequel to Cinder in The Lunar Chronicles. Where Cinder was a futuristic version of Cinderella, Scarlet is a futuristic version of Little Red Riding Hood. It still has the same evil-Lunar themes running throughout it and the plot of Little Red Riding Hood run alongside the plot involving Cinder and Kai.

The plot lines were weaved together really well between the chapters involving Scarlet and Wolf and the chapters involving Cinder and Kai. Both Scarlet and Kai's chapters talked about Cinder which was done really well, especially in the Scarlet chapters. It managed to have its own plot line without compromising the sequel-ness of it.

I was much less emotionally invested in the romance in Scarlet than I was in Cinder. In Cinder my heart and soul was obsessed with Kai and Kai and Kai but Wolf was just an interesting character rather than the kind of guy I want to marry/be my boyfriend/general male interest. Also, frankly, he has fangs and that's weird.

It wasn't quite as fast moving as Cinder and that was a shame as Cinder had this great flow to it and it just felt really natural, whereas this felt a little bit stinted, pace wise. However I really loved the last 33% as it was so fast moving and I was just obsessed and all I wanted to do was read.

Kai was so annoying in this book, however to give Meyer credit, her female characters kick butt and are not whiny at all, whereas Kai is sort of the opposite to this. We get it - he feels betrayed.

Little Red Riding Hood is a much shorter fairytale than Cinderella so the plot felt ad-libbed for most of it which was a shame. It just didn't feel as clever as Cinder. However, I loved loved loved the bit about "grandmother what big teeth you have!"

I would read Cinder first if you do want to read this.

I would recommend this if:
You want more than just Cinder
You want a sci-fi book that isn't totally focused on a demographic of 14/40 year old boys
You want a fairytale with a twist

I gave this three stars. Good, but not stunning.

Look at this fan art though