Scarlet: Lunar Chronicles, #2 -- Marissa Meyer

If you were a fan of Cinder, then you've probably already read Scarlet. I, of course, am getting to it monstrously late.

Anyway, it's pretty safe to say that if you liked Cinder, that you'll really like Scarlet! It has all of the first book's strengths—plucky heroine, really cool worldbuilding INCLUDING a setting centered OUTSIDE of the United States (WOO!), political intrigue and threads about cultural and economic and physical differences and YES, ROMANCE—and, like Cinder, in Scarlet, Meyer takes a familiar story and makes it fresh and new and compelling and surprising.

I especially love that it works not just as a sequel to Cinder, but as a companion to it, too: it's set in the same world, and it continues Cinder's story, but it also introduces a completely new heroine and all of her trials and tribulations. So even though the overarching Big Picture Story is about Cinder, Scarlet is about, well, SCARLET. 

Who is, in case the cover art didn't make it abundantly clear, Little Red Riding Hood.

If you HAVEN'T read Cinder, then you probably don't know what I'm talking about. So if the phrases FUTURISTIC FAIRY TALE or CYBORG CINDERELLA or MECHANIC AND SECRET PRINCESS make your ears perk up, hop on back to my post about it.

BONUS POINTS: Iko the android continues to be hilariously shallow and adorable. 

BONUS BONUS POINTS: Wolf. I love him. Not just because I have a soft spot for the Street Fighter Who May Or May Not Have A Heart Of Gold type, but because I loved the descriptions of his mannerisms: they're very... wolf-y, which was a nice touch. (As well was making sense within the context of his history, etc., but I'd picked up on them well before THE BIG REVEAL, and it was just all-around well done.)

TRIPLE BONUS (I just typoed that as 'BONES' and almost left it, because wolf/dog/bone and that would have been HILARIOUS) POINTS: The Queen of the Moon continues to be A COMPLETE MONSTER. And hugely enjoyable. I vote for Charlize Theron to play her, so that she can play an Evil Queen in a movie that doesn't, you know, stink.

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Author page.

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Amazon.

Publisher.

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Book source: ILLed through my library.

Comments

[Kate P]

I loved CINDER--I couldn't put it down the weekend I got it. And I agree, the setting is awesome for this series. Maybe I loved Cinder too much, because I sorely missed her in SCARLET. I just couldn't quite feel the same attachment to Scarlet. That said, I can't wait to see what happens next.

[Leila]

I totally see how that could happen, because it was definitely a big shift. For me, it worked because I loved the relationship between Scarlet and Wolf (and even more so when the Big Reveal happened (which, yes, was expected, but it still worked for me)), and I loved that she didn't have some ridiculous coincidental magical immunity to the Lunar mind control. Also, I liked seeing Cinder from the outside, if that makes sense?

AND, of course, IKO KILLS ME.

I'm so much looking forward to book three.

[Kate P]

Yes, IKO! I feel as if I totally know what her voice would sound like.

[Leila]

@Kate: I'm not a huge audiobook person, but from what I remember, the reader's take on Iko's voice is PERFECT.

[Bookworm1858]

I thought Scarlet was SO amazing-I'm completely hooked on this series and can't wait for book 3.

[Leila]

Ditto! Do we know what fairy tale it'll be based on? (She says, too lazy to Google it.)