Book Blog #24: Scarlet by Marissa Meyers

Title: Scarlet
Author: Marissa Meyer
# of Pages: 452 (hardcover)
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Romance
Rating: ★★★★☆
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.

Review: Yay! I finally got the sequel!

The cover isn't as stunning as Cinder. I wish there was just the cape/red hood on the cover and not that little hint of...person.

The content had the same wow factor as the cover. It's not awful, but its not fantastic either. I wouldn't score it higher than Cinder's rating (4 stars).

Prince, ahem, I mean Emperor Kai is as annoying as ever. It's obvious that Kai has some sort of (positive) feelings for Cinder. Wolf, a new male character in Scarlet, is a bit of an improvement. More the action-y type, y'know?

In contrast to Wolf, Thorne is so...dumb. I can't believe he couldn't put two and two together and figure out that Cinder might be, just might be, the princess. But it didn't even seem to cross his mind!

You know what I thought was really, really cheesy? The Wolf and Scarlet romance. It was near the end was Wolf is all like "Be my alpha female!" It made me sick. Even so, I wish there was a lot less of Cinder. I mean, this is Scarlet's book! Cinder needs to butt out. I get that Meyer wants to inform the reader about what Cinder is doing, but she could have done that through new feeds and what not. Just a little hint of Cinder. And then all the characters could have met up at the end.

So, like I said, Scarlet was nothing special. But I did think that the relationship in between Scarlet and the original Little Red Ridding Hood story were clever. So I'll give it...3 and 3/4 stars.

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Book Blog #1 : Cinder by Marissa Meyer

American/Canadian Cover

Title: Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyers
# of Pages: 387 (hardback)
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Review: It had been the breath of fresh air that I was waiting for so long.

At first, I had been reluctant to read it. I mean, seriously, people have redone the Cinderella story so many times that I'm kind of exhausted by it now. But I was thought, "What do I have to lose by reading it?" So I read it. When I began reading the first few pages, I read with caution. My first impression of the book was that it was going to be one of those crappy attempts at writing. But I was wrong. The words seemed to mesh well together, weaving a beautiful story of a cyborg Cinderella. This book showed me how long it's been since I've actually read a good book.

What I really liked was the fact that the plot line didn't revolve around the ball. Meyer was creative and made a new problem for this story, a problem for many societies in the past and present; disease. Letumosis. Blue fever. A disease without a cure. And, of course, the not-so-evil stepsister had to catch it. Peony's death totally caught me off guard.

"'It looks more like a rotting pumpkin'" (47).

I absolutely LOVE the foreshadowing here. This "pumpkin" is obviously going to be Cinder's ride to the ball! Which leads me to another component of this book that I liked; Cinder is her own fairy godmother. Girls don't need magic to do the impossible, we can do it ourselves! This message is by far one of my favorites.

"'I don't know. I don't actually remember anything from before the surgery.' His eyebrows rose, his blue eyes sucking in all the light of the room. 'The cybernetic operation?'No, the sex change'" (100).

The humor = fantastic! After I read it, there was literally an awkward silence in my mind before I started laughing my butt off. VERY funny...or to me at least.
But then the air turned stale.

It started the moment the first chapter with Kai's POV came along. The lack of diplomacy in his personality disgusted me. He's a PRINCE, for goodness sake!

"Kai clasped his hands together. 'Right. Now, is that the one where the dominatrix queen throws a tantrum and threatens war every time she doesn't get her way? That relationship?'"(248).

This, I found, was one key example of his...lacking personality. It's not like Kai is rebellious against being Emperor; he understands that's his role in life. But he sure doesn't act that way. What has he been doing the past, I don't know, sixteen years? How old is he, anyway? I can't remember. But being a prince is his OCCUPATION. Sure, you can enjoy your youth while you still can, little prince, but you still have to look ahead to the future. Who knows, your parents might DIE and then you'll have to take over at a young age! Oh, wait, that's what happened! If he keeps it up, he might just start a war with a country!

And THAT is what caused this book to lose its fifth star for me.

Overall, however, it's very creative. I would defiantly recommend reading it!

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View more about this book here!