Review of Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Release Date: February 5, 2013

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Page Count: 452

Format: Hardcover

Genre: YA/Sci-Fi

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.

The Lunar Chronicles will always have a special place in my heart as these books were what truly got me into reading YA. I remember Scarlet being one of the few books that felt like torture waiting for (before my TBR had thousands of books in it and only had a few) after reading Cinder. While Scarlet wasn't my favorite book in The Lunar Chronicles it was still an amazing book that I remember when I think of the year 2013.

Marissa Meyer gives us new settings and world-building throughout all of the Cinder books and Scarlet is no exception. Set in a completely different part of the world from the first book along with new characters and a different plot (that ties in with the original one). However, as much as I enjoyed reading about these new areas in the Cinder universe it was the characters that ultimately pulled me in and made Scarlet memorable. We get "old" characters like Cinder and Iko along with new ones like Scarlet, Thorne, and Wolf. I was a bit hesitant on my approach to these new characters as I wanted more of the older ones but from the first chapter I was hooked and loved them just as much as Cinder and Iko. These new characters also introduced an interesting new element where there are different character focuses for each book in the series and eventually they all come together for the main plot. I really don't want to spoil even a small bit of the book (I want everyone to enjoy it as much as I did) so you'll just have to take my word that Scarlet has some of the best (and funniest) characters in a YA book. Every bit of Scarlet was perfect and I have no complaints at all other than that I was unsure of the new characters when I first started reading it (and that was more my fault). Scarlet continued my thirst of YA from reading Cinder and progressed the series enough that I was left pining for the third book.

Just like in Cinder, Scarlet had a cliffhanger ending that left me wanting the next book really really badly. Scarlet will forever be a book that I remember, even after I've read hundreds or thousands of new books after it. I've also been lucky enough to go to two Marissa Meyer signings (BEA '15 and '16) and she was just as amazing as her books. Everyone should read The Lunar Chronicles and Scarlet, if you love these books then we're basically guaranteed to become friends. Marissa Meyer delivers a book full of amazing characters and intriguing plot (and continues lightly including fairy tale retellings in her books, this one is Little Red Riding Hood) and keeps the momentum of the first book going.

5/5 - AMAZING Book