Scarlet (Review)

The Lunar Chronicles: Scarlet | Marissa Meyer

Published by: Puffin, February 7th 2013

Genre: YA, Science Fiction

Pages: 452

Format: Paperback

Source: Bought

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 . . .

I could easily sum up my experience reading this book in one photo:

But I wanna talk about my feeelings a little. 

For me Scarlet had everything Cinder lacked, that extra magic, the sparkle of chemistry between the two characters, the betrayal. Everything. It also did it much better, in my opinion. Or maybe I just love Scarlet and Wolf more than Cinder and Kai, who knows?

Scarlet's story hooked me in much quicker than Cinder's did, and I was warming to her within a couple pages which is extremely rare for me. One of the main things I liked was that we were introduced to the love interest in the first chapter. No building up to it, no waiting around wondering, nothing dragged out. It was awesome. I was so gripped by their story that I read it in two days. I liked Cinder and Thorne's parts too, and was happy to see the return of Iko, but there was something just gripping and enchanting about Scarlet and Wolf. Possibly it's because I LOVE little red cap.

I LOVE the characters in this book. I love Scarlet because she's so determined to find her grandmother and she will not back down for anything. I love Wolf because he's so timid yet vicious and I like how quickly he can flip between the two. Mood swings bro, I getchu. I also loved them together, from the first moment, even without the instalove, even when they were pretty wary of each other. This book is a miracle, basically.

And it broke my heart. Several times. And I'm on the rampage, so I need a tiny break before I read Cress and run out of this series for a whole fricking year. (That release date for Winter's gotta be wrong, right? right???) I am SO not ready for my bb Kai being manipulated, oh hell no.

To sum: HELL YES.

(I was so tempted to give this book the favourites badge, and I probably would had it been just Scarlet and Wolf, but Cinder kinda flattened this book the slightest bit.)

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world building ★★★★☆

Writing Style ★★★☆☆