Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: Book Review

My Synopsis:

If you’ve read Cinder, you know where it leaves off. If not, I won’t spoil it for you. So let’s just say that Cinder’s story arc continues. Meanwhile, in France…

Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing and has been for about two weeks. Scarlet is worried sick but doesn’t know where to start looking for her. None of the villagers are willing to help because they think eccentric Grandma has just finally gone off the deep end and wandered away. A new street fighter shows up in town and he seems to know something about Grandma’s disappearance. But can Scarlet trust him?

My Review:

I didn’t like this quite as much as Cinder but I definitely still enjoyed it. By introducing Scarlet, Marissa Meyer managed to avoid my common complaint that the second book in a series is just filler. Had she stayed exclusively with Cinder’s story, I’d probably be complaining. By shifting the focus, she fills in a lot of back story without a big info dump and we learn everything in a way that feels very natural. Hats off for that one! It’s apparently a hard thing to do.

My problem was with Scarlet herself. She was angry and yelling for at least 85% of the book. At least it felt that way. If she wasn’t yelling, she was thinking about yelling, and very occasionally she was crying. The girl goes through a lot of stress, so to a point it felt authentic. But after that point, I wanted Scarlet to grow emotionally and feel something other than anger or sadness. That’s a little unfair but not completely so. I’m not sure if that’s how the author wrote her or if that was just the narrator’s interpretation. And while I’m picking on that end of things, it irritated me that Scarlet was the only character in the book with an accent. There are other French people who don’t have accents. I guess it was a way to remind me that this was Scarlet and not Cinder speaking? I don’t know but it bothered me.

I really liked the other new characters though. I liked Wolf, the street fighter, a lot. I thought I had him figured out but I was never entirely sure of where he stood or what was going on with him. Even narcissistic Thorne won me over. He is what he is. I appreciate that kind of self-honesty. There are hints that there are bigger things to be seen from him, but right now, we’re good.

As for poor Emperor Kai–I just want to tell him that everything’s going to be okay, even though I have no idea at this point if it will be or not. He has no idea what’s going on with Cinder. He has no idea if his emotions for her are real or if he’s been manipulated. But while he’s dealing with his own personal pain and confusion, he’s doing his best for his people, even at great personal cost to himself. I really, really like this guy.

Other than Scarlet’s…anger issues…I still like Rebecca Soler’s narration. Her voice is age-appropriate and she gives the characters life and emotion. I’ll keep listening to the series on audio, at least for one more book. I may have to switch to print if Scarlet stays this shrill though.

I highly recommend this one for anyone looking for a very different take on some classic fairy tales. This series gets huge points for originality.

Similar Books:

If you liked Scarlet, you might also like my reviews of

• Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer, read by Rebecca Soler
• Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
• Dust City by Robert Paul Weston

Purchase:

Buy Scarlet from Malaprop’s Bookstore in beautiful Asheville, NC or