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.
So as a goal to go out of my comfort zone this year, I decided on The Lunar Chronicles to start it off. I mean what could be more out of my comfort zone than a cyborg Cinderella?? I went into reading Cinder kind of nervous. First, there's all this hype... and hype makes me nervous. Second, I just really like books set in today's world. Maybe that makes me lame or whatever... but it's just what I like. Then I ended up LOVING Cinder. So of course, I had to immediately go out and buy Scarlet.
Here are some of my thoughts on Scarlet:
1. I wasn't expecting Cinder's story to continue for this book. I sort of thought it would be all about the Red Riding Hood retelling, but it wasn't. Don't get me wrong, a LARGE portion of this book is about that, but we still check in with Cinder and Kai.
2. I didn't love Scarlet as much as Cinder. I know that's probably normal for the people not to like the second book in a series as much as the first... but I don't think it's normal in this series. Most people adore this book. And I liked it a lot... but not as much as Cinder.
3. Part of the reason I didn't like it as much was that I didn't like the girl Scarlet's story as much as Cinder's. And I wasn't feeling the insta-love with Wolf and her. Maybe the same thing was going on with Kai and Cinder, but I just FELT that connection better. And it was more than 1 day. Scarlet only knew Wolf for ONE day and she's thinking about how she can't live without him. That sort of stuff turns me off.
4. So for most of the book I kept wondering WHEN it was going to go back to Cinder and Thorne. And it did.... but a majority of the book was about Scarlet and Wolf. And I liked it. But I didn't LOVE them as characters.
5. I was SO happy that Iko was back!! At the end of Cinder, I was really worried that she wouldn't be in this book at all... or even the rest of the series! She was my favorite character in Cinder, so I was relieved that she was back... and as fun as ever!
6. I love how in this book the plot is mixed with the fairy tale version of the story perfectly. Just like in Cinder where there's the ball and the "glass slipper" thing... in this book there's the whole "Grandmother, what big eyes you have" scene. It just worked really well.
7. I hope this isn't a spoiler, but it might be- Once they all meet up, I freaking love every second of it!! I love Scarlet and Wolf once they are apart of the group. Their story just didn't interest me enough to love them by themselves. And I also love how everyone fits together in this group. It really is fantastic story-telling to make all these different retellings fit together in a futuristic world. I give mad props.
OVERALL: I'm really glad I started this journey to go out of my reading comfort zone. I loved Cinder... and I really liked this book as well. It's easily going to be one of my favorite series ever. Like I said about Cinder, I think any and every body should read this :)
Add it to your To-Read List!!
My Rating: 4/4
How I got this book: I own it
Date Published: 2/5/2013
I'm glad you enjoyed this one too! I have the same opinion, though, in that while I enjoyed the book, I didn't enjoy it as much as Cinder and I wasn't completely sold on the Scarlet/Wolf relationship.
ReplyDeleteBut I was really happy to see Iko back, and I hope you enjoy Cress!
Great review! :)
This book/series is so awesome-glad you enjoyed it :)
ReplyDeleteI still haven't read this. I usually am not a fan of retellings and the idea of a cyborg didn't seem that interesting either, but after reading a lot of great reviews about it I did add it to my to-read list a few months ago. I just want to read it now and see what I think about it. Now to actually get aorund to buying it.
ReplyDeleteIko is my favorite as well. I also didn't like Scarlet as much as I enjoyed Cinder. It just didn't flow as well for me. Great review!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked this one! It's funny because I actually enjoyed Scarlet more than Cinder xD But I agree about the insta-love, sometimes I forgot it took place in such a short time period. And yay for going out of your comfort zone :)
ReplyDeleteSO glad that you loved this one too! This is one of my all-time favorite series so now I get nervous when people read it for the first time haha! It's just so well done! I think I wasn't AS into Scarlet's story itself as much as Cinder's but how everything ties together. Gah. Just so amazing. I was also insanely invested in CRESS so I hope you love that one too!!
ReplyDeleteScarlet is my favorite book of TLC series. I'm glad that you enjoyed it. Though I'm usually put off by insta-love, Scarlet's & Wolf's attraction affected me differently than normal.
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