Novel Review: Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, #2) by Marissa Meyer

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5

Genre: YA Sci-fi Fairy-tale Retelling

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan)

Release Date: February, 2013

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday. 

Goodreads Synopsis:

The fates of Cinder and Scarlet collide as a Lunar threat spreads across the Earth...

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.

The Cover:

I love this cover. Much like with the previous book, and the next one, this cover is beautiful. It's not even a little embarrassing, the colors and the font are fantastic, and it's all very fitting for the book as well. I just love it.

Quotes:

• "Scarlet’s world was crashing down around her and nobody noticed. Her grandmother was missing and nobody cared.” (Hardback, pg. 7)

Review:

This was even better than the first book, which I’m really surprised by. I mean, the first one was really good, but this one was even better. Which makes me even more excited for the next book.

I love the characters, and writing, in these books. The writing isn’t overly gorgeous, it’s a little simple, but it is pretty. And, I don’t know if anyone’s going to know what I mean when I say this, but it’s perfect for a fairytale. It’s the writing style of a storyteller, of a fairytale. Does anyone know what I mean by that? I’m not even sure I know what I mean.

I love the world, and the plot of the whole series is just awesome. I love how they’re intertwining so far, and I love getting the multiple points of view. I’m so interested in where everything is going so far, and I’m so excited to see how it gets there.

I love the characters. I still love Cinder, she’s such a good character, and her frustration is so well portrayed. We got to see a new side of her in this volume, both with her dealing with her new development, and from getting to see her from other people’s points of view. I hadn’t realized how much we were in her head in the first book, but we got to see Cinder from both Scarlet and Thorne’s point of view, and that was really neat. It gave a more rounded perspective of her, and I really liked that.

We got to see Kai a few times in this book, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed those chapters. It showed the reader what was going on with him and the Commonwealth, which we didn’t get to see from anyone else in this book. His chapters were kind of like a special treat, surprisingly. Plus, I just really liked him, and I think those feelings just expanded in this book. I feel really bad for him, though, and what he’s doing with Queen Levana. I understand his reasoning, and how hard it is for him, but it’s still frustrating.

Then there’s the new characters. First, there’s Captain Thorne. I wasn’t sure of him at first, but now I’m a rather big fan. He’s really funny, and a really good character for Cinder. I like their relationship, their friendship. I also like what happened with Iko in this book.

And there’s Scarlet. She’s feisty and determined, hard-edged in a very different way from Cinder. I like her a lot, and believe she’ll push Cinder in a good way in the next book. And she has Wolf, who I’m a really big fan of. He’s such a sweetheart, and I feel so bad for what happened to him. I’m excited to see their relationship grow, though. And to see them help and push Cinder. I’m also interested in seeing more of them from Cinder and Thorne’s perspective.

The next book is going to be really good, I can tell. I’m really excited to meet Cress, whoever her boy is (which is either going to be someone new—very plausible—or I’m going to go out on a limb and guess is Thorne—which would be so cool!), and what happens with Cinder and Kai next. I’m just loving the progression of the Lunar versus Earth, where everything is going with Princess Selene, and how their stories are going to meet up with Cress’. 

I’m just all-around excited for the next book.