Review: Scarlet - Marissa Meyer

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 . . .

Lunar Chronicles Series:
Glitches (free prequel short story can be read online here)
The Little Android (free short story can be read online here)
Cinder
The Queen's Army (free short story can be read online here)
Scarlet
Cress
Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky (free short story can be read by signing up for Marissa Meyer's newsletter)
Fairest
Winter

Wires and Nerve:
(Graphic novel series staring Iko set after the events in the Lunar Chronicles books)
Wires and Nerve Volume 1
Wires and Nerve Volume 2: Gone Rogue

Visit Marissa Meyer's website for more information

Check out the Scarlet book trailer below:


Review:
Although this review will be spoiler free for Scarlet I am working on the assumption that if you're reading this you've already read Cinder. If you haven't then look away now because there will be spoilers ahead if you don't. Now we've got the warning out of the way let's get back to the actual review.

I really enjoyed Cinder when I read it last year so I couldn't wait to get my hands on Scarlet, I knew it would be a great read but it managed to blow me away. If you thought Cinder was good then you've not seen anything yet because Scarlet was absolutely fantastic! Seriously, my only disappointment with this book is that I've got to wait a whole year to get my hands on Cress. Marissa Meyer has masterfully woven two different plot threads so that you get to follow both Cinder and Scarlet on their adventures, although both girls are facing very different challenges the threads eventually weave together as they discover a common enemy.

Cinder was imprisoned as a traitor at the end of the last book and she is awaiting exile to Luna at the order of Queen Levana. She knows that she will be killed if Levana gets her hands on her so her only option is to escape from prison. In hiding and on the run she must try to uncover more about her past to understand why Levana is so threatened by her. I love Cinder, she is so practical and no matter what is thrown at her she uses her brain to find a way around it. She is struggling to accept the discoveries she made in the last book, it has changed everything she thought that she knew about herself and her upbringing but she doesn't sit around moping. Instead she becomes determined to find out who helped to keep her hidden all of these years and just why she was given all her cyborg implants. We don't get to see as much of Kai in this book but Cinder has an unlikely companion to help her with her investigations. Thorne was absolutely brilliant and he added a lot of humour to the story (don't worry though - Marissa Meyer hasn't created yet another YA love triangle for us!). I did miss Kai but we have a few chapters from his POV scattered throughout the book and to be honest I don't think we needed more of his story at the moment.

Our other heroine in this tale is Scarlet, a young pilot who works delivering produce from her grandmother's market to local shops and restaurants. Scarlet's grandmother has been missing for several weeks and she knows that something terrible must have happened to keep her away from her home for so long. The police refuse to investigate thinking that her grandmother has left on her own accord so Scarlet knows that it is up to her to uncover the truth. Scarlet doesn't trust street fighter Wolf but she has good reasons to believe that he can help her find her grandmother so she has no other option but to request his help. The romance that develops between them as they try to track down her grandmother was delightful to watch and I have to admit to swooning over Wolf on more than one occasion! He's definitely my favourite hero of the series so far. As much as I loved Wolf he definitely has a darker side and he is keeping plenty of secrets from everyone around him which makes it hard to decide if he's trustworthy.

I don't want to say too much more about the story other than to tell you to go out and grab a copy immediately. If you enjoyed Cinder you're going to love Scarlet even more and I absolutely can't wait until Cress is published. This is quickly becoming one of my favourite series so if you like fairytale retellings or futuristic science fiction you need to read these books. I'm actually kind of jealous of people who haven't read these books yet because they still get to experience reading them for the first time.

Source: Received from Puffin in exchange for an honest review

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