Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Goodreads: 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.

My thoughts: Yay for me! I finally snagged this baby at the library. Here's the thing is, I was at a book fair last week and trying to explain the story of Cinder, the book's predecessor, to a colleague. I couldn't remember why I loved it so much but I remembered the story. The teacher was reading the description and mumbling words with disgust like, "Cyborg?" and "Mechanic?" and "Lunar?!" Yes, yes, Megan. And much better than it sounds.

So the story leaves off as Cinder is making an escape after Dr. Erland provided some modifications and ran away to Africa. This is a slight parody on Cinderella and there are similarities but Cinderella would not be this sarcastic nor clever. I'll get back to Cinder because now we meet Scarlet who wears a red, hooded sweatshirt and crosses paths with a street fighter named (predictably) Wolf. Scarlet believes her grandmother, who raised her, has been kidnapped. Her i.d. chip was cut out and left. The police have dropped the case. Scarlet believes her grandmother would never willingly leave the farm. Through combination of events, Scarlet and Wolf join together to go to Paris to find her grandmother. This is all directly related to the other protagonist, Cinder.

Okay, a little spoiler. Cinder escapes but she ends up with another prisoner, Thorne who, in my opinion is the best character and stereotype of the book. Not only does he play the part of the arrogant yet dumb jock, his comments and actions left me laughing out loud. Unpredictable yet playing off Cinder and her personality perfectly. And this, my friend, is how I remembered why I loved the book, Cinder, so very much. Pure entertainment. Brilliant and clever.

Making a small appearance is a Goldilocks and Phantom of the Opera is intimated. It is a fairy tale retelling that is, by far, the best and most unpredictable while developing both main and secondary characters to the point that you absolutely love them.

Overarching (is that redundant?) the stories of Scarlet and Cinder is Emperor Kai who is attempting to keep world peace with the lunar queen. Cinder is a key part to this but that part is mostly told in the first book. Expect to be captivated, entertained, and a little grossed out. It's a little violent at times like any real fairy tale. At least Grimm's style. But this is much better.