Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: A Review

 

Earlier in the year, I reviewed the first installment of the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder by Marissa Meyer, which provided an engaging and creative start to the franchise, which is followed by another favorite of mine, Scarlet. I got this series as a present, so when I finished Cinder, I immediately grabbed Scarlet wanting to see what happened after its cliffhanger. While I may have first been interested in this series because of how the pretty covers caught my eye, each novel in the Lunar Chronicles has its own unique charm and I'm glad I found such a well-rounded series with loveable characters, one of them being Scarlet's stubborn protagonist.

Every book in this series is loosely based on a fairytale, Cinder is based on Cinderella, of course, Cress on Rapunzel, and Winter on Snow White. The second book, Scarlet, takes its inspiration from Red Riding Hood and picks up where Cinder left off. The story starts with Scarlet, an 18-year-old girl living in a futuristic version of France, where her grandmother mysteriously goes missing and so she teams up with street fighter Wolf, who she suspects knows more about her grandmother's disappearance than he claims. Meanwhile, Cinder is escaping from prison, trying to find out more about Princess Selene, and it turns out that the two investigations are a lot more related than you may have thought. 

While I'm still not sure whether the first or second book is my favorite because there are some things I like better about each one since I found Scarlet and Wolf's dynamic more interesting than Cinder and Prince Kai's, but also I think I enjoyed Cinder more as a character than Scarlet. Alongside that, I really liked reading this book because of all the surprises scattered throughout the book, which made it a memorable sequel and made me excited for the next ones in the series. For the question of whether to read or not to read, I can confidently say that Scarlet by Marissa Meyer is best suited for the former option.

-Chloe N.H.