Scarlet

“We met less than a week ago and in that time I've done nothing but lie and cheat and betray you. I know. But if you give me a chance...all I want is to protect you. To be near you. For as long as I'm able.”

4 STARS

To start off, I loved Cinder. I know there was a lot of hype around it, and usually that honestly turns me off to the book in general or I don't end up agreeing with that hype, but I adored that book. I thought it was thought-provoking, original but with enough tie-backs to the fairytale to be a good retelling, and well written. Scarlet was good, but not as good. One of the things I loved about this was that we continued Cinder's plotline, rather than leaving her in the dust and solely doing Scarlet and then solely doing Cress. But nope! They all form this awesome gang and it's like the Avengers of the Lunar world or something and it's magnificent. However, I didn't like Scarlet that much. Was she fully developed? Yep. Did she have sass and spunk? Definitely. Did her love interest overpower it? A bit. But I think the main problem was just that she wasn't as cool and fascinating as Cinder was. Cinder was just this very interesting, likable character and I instantly became hooked and completely paralleled with her thoughts and emotions and it was just awesome. But with Scarlet I felt more distance and I didn't like her as much. She was more whiny, more self-serving, though not by much, and had some insta love. You know how I feel about insta love. But I dealt with it. The plotline of this book was interesting, but I just found myself rushing through Scarlet's parts to get to Cinder's, and that doesn't bode well for a book that's supposed to be about the one I'm skipping over. But that doesn't mean I totally hated Scarlet, I just didn't like her as much and her story wasn't as compelling at prison breaks and mad dashes into space with another fugitive. Meyer's writing was good as always, and I loved that we got more information about the world with seeing it in the European Federation's perspective through Scarlet, though not by much. I wish we had more of a firm ground into the Union and how politics work, though we get some help with Kai's perspective. Levana needs to die. Right now. Don't even get me started on this bitch. Just...ugh. But I think it's interesting seeing her foil against Cinder, because she's Cinder's archetypal shadow, following the darker path that Cinder is desperate to avoid. Who knows what'll happen, but I'm excited to see it unfold! Share your thoughts!