Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

October 19, 2017     erinthebooknut     Book review

Scarlet by Marissa MeyerScarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, #2) by Marissa Meyer
Published by Feiwel & Friends on February 5th 2013
Pages: 454
Goodreads

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. 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.

3.5 Nuts

Not gonna lie I still don’t get the draw of this series. Not that it’s not good, it’s perfectly fine, but it’s not amazing. Maybe I’m missing something, or maybe I haven’t gotten in far enough, but I just don’t get it.

So this is the second book in the series and it splits off into a bunch of POVs. You’ve got Prince Kai ( who I do really like), Cinder who I can take or leave, and Scarlet. Scarlet’s POV is an odd one. Sometimes I am far more interested in her than Cinder and would rather the entire book be about her. Other times she annoys the crap out of me and I’d rather listen to somebody else’s POV (I did this one on audiobook).

In all cases I like the male characters much better than any of the females. Prince Kai, Captain Thorne, and Wolf are all a million times more engaging than the so called main female characters of the story. Wolf is mysterious, Thorne has charisma, and Kai is endearing. But they don’t have much to go off of with Cinder or Scarlet, at least not for me. Levana is pretty badass though.

My biggest criticism is with Scarlet though. Her story is just so meandering. It just sort of wanders throughout the book while she goes on this scavenger hunt with a complete stranger. Why does this take so long? I just kept wanting something to happen, something dynamic and surprising. But I never really got it. It’s just far too predictable.

There was never a point during this book when I felt a drive to keep going and find out what happens next. It was far too easy to put down and forget about and took far too long for me to get through. The pacing doesn’t give me urgency. It’s not horrible, but it doesn’t help me along.

Between the two so far I’d say Cinder is the better book, despite the fact that Cinder is kind of predictable as a character. Her storyline with Kai had much more draw than Scarlet’s does, and in the grad scheme of things her story with Thorne is the same. I prefer the two of them to Scarlet and Wolf. Am I broken?

Honestly I do want to finish this series out of pure stubbornness but it’s such a damn slog at this point. They’re just mediocre stories in my mind and I am so confused about the hype. Or maybe they’re such a slog because of the hype. Maybe the hype has ruined them for me.

I still can’t say whether or not I would recommend these books. I’m hoping this is all leading up to something spectacular so I can be proven wrong. Right now though I’m just supremely unimpressed.

Tell me what I’m doing wrong! Do you love this series? PLEASE share your thoughts in the comments and tell me what I’m missing. I would love to know.

From my shelf to yours,

Erin

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.