Title: Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles #2)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Pages: 452
Publication Date: February 2013
Summary...
This is not the fairytale you remember.
But it’s one you won’t forget.
Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. The police have closed her case. The only person Scarlet can turn to is Wolf, a street fighter she does not trust, but they are drawn to each other.
Meanwhile, in New Beijing, Cinder will become the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive – when she breaks out of prison to stay one step ahead of vicious Queen Levana.
As Scarlet and Wolf expose one mystery, they encounter Cinder and a new one unravels. Together they must challenge the evil queen, who will stop at nothing to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner . . .
My Thoughts...
I started off Scarlet somewhat hesitantly, remembering how it had taken me some 100 pages to get into its prequel Cinder. However, only 3 chapters into Scarlet and I was already loving it! It’s often the second book in a series which is a disappointment but with ‘The Lunar Chronicles’ that situation is completely inverted. Scarlet, without a doubt, easily surpassed Cinder and left me hooked onto this series and hoping that the next two instalments (Cress and Winter, due to be released in 2014 and 2015 respectively) will follow this trend and be even better!
Author: Marissa Meyer
Pages: 452
Publication Date: February 2013
This is not the fairytale you remember.
But it’s one you won’t forget.
Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. The police have closed her case. The only person Scarlet can turn to is Wolf, a street fighter she does not trust, but they are drawn to each other.
Meanwhile, in New Beijing, Cinder will become the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive – when she breaks out of prison to stay one step ahead of vicious Queen Levana.
As Scarlet and Wolf expose one mystery, they encounter Cinder and a new one unravels. Together they must challenge the evil queen, who will stop at nothing to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner . . .
My Thoughts...
I started off Scarlet somewhat hesitantly, remembering how it had taken me some 100 pages to get into its prequel Cinder. However, only 3 chapters into Scarlet and I was already loving it! It’s often the second book in a series which is a disappointment but with ‘The Lunar Chronicles’ that situation is completely inverted. Scarlet, without a doubt, easily surpassed Cinder and left me hooked onto this series and hoping that the next two instalments (Cress and Winter, due to be released in 2014 and 2015 respectively) will follow this trend and be even better!
Scarlet was just so
much more entertaining and exciting to read than Cinder. One major reason contributing to this was the alternation
of two storylines – Scarlet’s and Cinder’s. The two plotlines really
complemented each other and I thought the way they fitted together was clever.
I have to say, I preferred reading Scarlet’s scenes more than Cinder’s though,
definitely, although both characters had their exciting moments.
A third mini-storyline (a kind of sideline plot, which I feel
was big enough to earn it the title of ‘mini-storyline’) was the one following
now-Emperor Kai and his political negotiations with Queen Levana. You could
really see Kai’s struggle to deal with his predicament – he was still trying to
absorb Cinder’s Lunar/cyborg-ness, along with the fact that he was on the brink
of war with Levana over Cinder, along with the fact that he might still have
feelings for this Lunar/cyborg girl who appeared to be causing him a lot of
trouble. Poor guy.
Anyway, all these alternating storylines meant there was
always a lot going on, and as a result, I was never bored whilst reading Scarlet.
Another great thing about Scarlet
was the new characters it introduced to us. Scarlet was a very likable protagonist, although she and Cinder did seem
very similar to me – they were both fiery, feisty, sarky characters, and I just
felt like they were quite obviously penned by the same author. It would have
been nice to see a bit more differentiation between the two, but there’s still
space for them to develop throughout the series so I’m not worried.
I loved Wolf, although he felt a little bit like a cliché –
the tortured, mysterious love interest...so yeah, he was alright but nothing
new. Who I did really like though was Captain Thorne! We didn’t see much of him
in Scarlet (but I hope we will be
throughout the rest of the series) but he’s such a charming, self-deprecating character
and I found him very amusing.
Overall, Scarlet was
SO MUCH BETTER than Cinder, and,
having read several reviews by others, I’ve found that this opinion is shared
by both those who loved Cinder and those who didn’t alike. So, if you were one
of those who fell in love with ‘The Lunar Chronicles’ series immediately after
reading Cinder, be excited because
you’ll love Scarlet! And, if you
weren’t...well don’t worry because you may be surprised by Scarlet! I was!
