Review--Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

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 . . .

Scarlet is the second installment in Marissa Meyer's Luna Chronicles and as you know I felt meh over Cinder, and while I wasn't overly wowed with Scarlet, I was a bit more intrigued! That's something right? I'm not sure why I can't immediately fall in love with this series when I hear so much praise over it, but I am finding more bits and pieces that I enjoy, so Baby Steps (thanks, Bob!).

I can't remember much about Cinder, other than few basic details and mostly those were brought up in Scarlet as a refresher. Scarlet is our main heroine, but Cinder isn't far from the scene either. In fact we get both Scarlet and Cinder's points of view throughout this one! Even some chapters from Kai. I think this definitely helps broaden the storyline more.

Scarlet is determined to find her grandmother who has been missing for over two weeks. Everyone else has given up hope expect for her. Then she meets Wolf, a street fighter and he seems to know things and she finagles her way into getting his help. And soon the two are off traveling across Europe to find her grandmother. But there are unseen enemies hot on their trail. 

Wolf was definitely an intriguing character. He's a wolf, but not a wolf. He doesn't really transform fully into the animal if I am recalling correctly. He has minor changes to him when he's in "beast mode". It was interesting to say the least. I liked him, but he definitely had his secrets about him. Hardly ever would reveal much as to this thing or that when it came up. Scarlet was a fun heroine, she was tough as nails and was ready to drive through hell and back to rescue her grandmother, who practically raised her as a child.

Cinder's role in this one became more of the girl trying to escape and deal with the things that she learned. Her ultimate goal is still to rescue Kai from Levana who continues to be a thorn in her side. I feel like we have more history to learn in that matter. I can't remember how much "history" we learned in Cinder, but I know that Levana is getting her own book, so maybe that will help fill the gap I feel like I have concerning her and why she is the way she is.

As far as romance goes, there wasn't a whole lot. There's definitely a budding romance brewing between Scarlet and Wolf. It was a sweet tender kind, but there wasn't a whole lot of it to be seen. But, I feel that's mainly due to the action. I have to say this book was well paced, there was hardly any dull moments. The scenes varied in degrees of intensity and some were super intense, packed with running for your life kind of action and others were more subtle with a kiss on the horizon or learning of something of peculiar interest.

All in all, a decent read. I can't say I'm in love yet, but I am definitely intrigued and am in "like" with this series! Cress will be making its way into the reading queue as soon as I tackle my next upcoming read!



Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars