Oh, my sweet Lunar babies, how does Meyer do it?

A review of Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, the sequel to Cinder. Hey, Little Red, let’s wear matching red hoodies and fly spaceships together and eat lots of tomatoes. ALSO: bring Wolf. (More) No spoilers!

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--------------------- CLICKSummary: Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-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 and 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 has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.

As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner. TO ADD TO GOODREADS ---------------------

*pets new hardcover* What? Am I supposed to pretend as if I don’t caress beautiful-cover-having books? Wouldn’t that be giving you the wrong impression about me? I wouldn’t want you to delude yourself into thinking I’m not superficial and probably half-crazy. I’m an honest woman.

Ok, So What Had Happened Was: Remember that genre-bending book with pages made of the skin off amazebeans that released last year? You realize we’re talking about Cinder, right? Yeah, well that was about a brave little female cyborg not without her problems. In love with tinkering and toying with machinery, Cinder had been leading a relatively simple, semi-miserable life among her android parts and loose nuts (he ha ha) and torque wrenches before then coming home to her awful stepmama and her two stepsisters. Then Prince Kai comes and shakes everything up, her beloved step sister falls ill, a suspicious scientist runs some tests on her, and then, some pages later, an evil vain power-hungry Lunar wench wearing a crown starts gunning for her. Now Cinder is on the run with uncovered secrets on her back and questions forming in her head and her only lead to the answers will have her crossing paths with one Scarlet Benoit.

Last year, Cinder was invited to my mega super-secret meeting of Bad Arse Individuals (BAI for short, as in BAI everyone else because you weren’t invited) and my bouncers won’t be tackling Scarlet down and dragging her away from the fun. Unless she forgot Wolf, ‘cause then homegirl and I are going to have problems that can only be settled calmly with cheesecake and a fresh lock of Wolf’s haphazard hair (hey, it’s not like I didn’t warn you about myself).



I wasn’t worried that this sequel intended to veer a little bit from Cinder’s story in order to make room for more surprises and OBVS amazing characters, because all Marissa Meyer knows how to write are awesome things. I trusted her judgment and I’m happy to say that her decisions for this book didn’t force me to skulk off into seclusion or sign up at a monastery to meditate and sing songs of love and peace or whatever it is they would have us believe they do.

Scarlet and Wolf. Spoiler: Alien pups are on the horizon for these two, I swear. I about melt into a pitiful mess when it comes to every single scene involving this pair. Scarlet is the perfect hot-head. She can be rash and overwrought and even annoying, but that doesn’t stop her from coming off as lovable. She’s got a good brain in there, full of knowledge about piloting spaceships, growing tomatoes, and tracking down disappearing old grannies. She’s diligent and persistent; her tenacity really drives home how darn important her grandmere is to her. She’s also got a great sense of priorities, not becoming mesmerized by someone as suspect as Wolf--who seems to know a great deal more about her grandmere’s disappearance than he's letting on--even though there’s A LOT to be mesmerized about. Because this young man can be sweet and gentle and vulnerable one moment and then fly into a feral state the next. Protection and assistance and care from someone who has to be careful with Scarlet every second and tries, does nothing healthy for my heart.



Cinder and Captain Thorne. First, see: pg 433. Oh, the makings of an incredible defend-all-against-evil team has begun in Cinder and soap-protesting, government-ship-stealing Captain Thorne, a kick-butt addition to the story full of potential as the BAMF cyborg’s trustworthy sidekick. He’s all charm, a big flirt, silly, and quick as a whip and it doesn’t help he’s got the looks to boot. I unashamedly let out rambunctious laughter at all their banter and mishaps along their adventurous course. And just because Scarlet has been painted into the picture doesn’t make Cinder’s storyline any less important. In fact, Scarlet’s presence reinforces the severity of Cinder’s situation. Cinder is scared, lost, and unsure, rightfully so, and she can’t be blamed for dragging her feet when it comes to facing the destiny everyone is expecting of her.

Prince Kai. Will somebody get a warm towel, a fistful of painkillers, and a leather massage recliner for this unfortunate boy?! Oh, and a pro-wrestler, a big one, because we need a temporary solution for these evil spying mind-bending Lunars on the premises.



You had to know it was going to turn out like this. Me having such an exuberant reception of this book. I advise those of you who had lukewarm feelings toward Cinder to check out all the reviews, some of which were written by peeps with the same reactions as you and still found that Scarlet by Marissa Meyer makes anyone want to commandeer the nearest spaceship to get to Marissa Meyer’s casa and demand the next portion of the story. And ANOTHER THING: even if you don’t like sci-fi fairy tale retellings THIS IS NEITHER OF THOSE THINGS. Well, it kind of is but Marissa Meyer’s books are entities of their own and cannot be so simply classified and categorized. Come on, trust this blogger’s judgment—would I lie to you?

Tying her arms around Wolf's shoulders, it occurred to Scarlet that she had every right to despise him. He'd had the chance to rescue her grandmother, but he'd run away instead. He'd lied to her and kept these enormous secrets that she had every right to know...
But that didn't change the fact that he was still here. Still risking his life and facing his own tormenters to help her. Still taking her to find her grandmother.
Biting her lip, she leaned forward. "I'm glad you told me everything."
His body seemed to deflate beneath her. "I should have told you sooner."
"Yes, you should have." She tilted her head, temple to temple. "But I still don't despise you." She swept a kiss against his cheek and felt his body lock up. His heartbeat thundered against her wrist as she clasped her hands together. (235)

My mom bought my copy from B&N a few days before its release date.