Review: Scarlet

Title: Scarlet
Author: Marissa Meyer
Series: Lunar Chronicles
Volume: 1
Genre: Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Fairy Tale Retelling, Fantasy

Why I Read It: It is the sequel to Cinder.

A Quick Intro (beware, spoilers for Cinder follow this point): Cinder has made her escape from prison, but, instead of going to Africa, upon deciding she has bigger problems, and does not trust the Lunar doctor who freed her at all. Meanwhile, Scarlet is looking for her Grandmother, who has gone missing, at which point the authorities are of no use, and she decides to search herself. Finding an ally in street-fighter Wolf, she starts off on a fast-paced quest to save her Grandmother from captors she knows very little about, and her companion seems to know a little too much. Meanwhile, Cinder (and a couple of allies of her own) is looking for Scarlet and her grandmother too, in hopes that she may know something of Cinder's past and be able to help.

What I Thought: I wasn't as fond of Scarlet as a character as I was of Cinder, and found Cinder's parts really fun to read, especially after she escaped with Thorne and the ship (wherein Iko's personality chip finds a new home).Cinder, Iko and Thorne were incredibly humorous. Scarlet and Wolf weren't really my favourite characters- I just wasn't as attached to them as I am to Cinder, though I'm really looking forward to (spoiler alert) the team dynamics in the future. In spite of my less-than-favourite new characters, I found this to be a strong second book, and I'm really looking forward to Cress, and it was interesting the turn which the Lunar queen's attacks have taken- the battle has already started, which adds a lot of pressure to our heroes. Earth is already suffering, not just under threat. I really like how each of our stories is set where the story originated (Cinder in China and Scarlet in France- if we keep with that theme, Cress should take place in Germany, since Rapunzel is a German fable).

Fun Fact: The original story of Little Red Riding Hood was quite gruesome- the Brothers Grimm actually made it less morbid. Some versions originally involved cannibalism (our heroine eats her grandmother, though unintentionally).