by Marissa Meyer
Hardcover, 452 pages
Published February 5th 2013 by Feiwel and Friends
ISBN 0312642962 (ISBN13: 9780312642969)


Blurb

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.

The Good

  1. The quotes. At the onset of each “book” within the novel is a quote from the original “Little Red Riding Hood” tale. This helped tie the books together well and was just a very cute way to separate sections of the novel.

  2. The pace. Unlike “Cinder”, the first book in this series, “Scarlet” grabbed my attention from the very first page. The action scenes were well-written and the parallel plots came together rather well (if a little predictably). I really could not put this book down, it was so wonderful.

  3. Wolf. I am not one to swoon over fictional characters, but if ever there was a male fictional lead to swoon over, Wolf is it! He’s complicated, caring, mysterious, scruffy—the boy’s got it all! And his interactions with Scarlet are so sweet and genuine.

  4. Scarlet and her shotgun. Scarlet won my heart from the very beginning when she put the drunks in their place by standing on a bar and ripping TV cables out of the ceiling. She grows more and more likable as the novel progresses—showing off her piloting skills and taking down bad guys with a shotgun. I loved how Meyer skillfully balanced Scarlet’s independent, badass side with her sweet, loving side; it gave her character a lot of depth.


The Bad

  1. The Cinder plot line. I loved the plot line in this book involving Scarlet and Wolf. The same can’t be said for the continuation of the Cinder plot line from book one. I don’t find Cinder likable as a character—she whines a lot and, even when given a ridiculous amount of evidence, takes an inordinate amount of time to come to logical conclusions. On top of that, things always seem to fall a little too neatly into place for her, which is frustrating.


Overall Rating

I absolutely loved this book. Wolf and Scarlet were amazing characters; the book had wonderful pace and exciting action scenes from cover to cover. My only issues were with Cinder herself and the plot line revolving around her.