Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Title: Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles #2)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Release Date: February 5th, 2013
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Page Count: 464
Source: Purchased
Rating: ★★★★★

The fates of Cinder and Scarlet collide as a Lunar threat spreads across the Earth...

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.

[Summary Source: Goodreads]

THE REVIEW

Scarlet's grandma is missing and she DOES NOT believe her grandmother's just run off. So when the cops stop looking and everyone starts thinking she's as crazy as her grandma, she decides to take things into her own hands. With the help of the MYSTERIOUS Wolf. While all of this is going on, Cinder's breaking out of prison with another prisoner - Captain Thorne. THEY'RE busy running around trying to figure out what the hell to do. And then Kai is freaking out because Queen Levana is still insane and, and, AND whoa. There's a lot of stuff going and HOLY SPACESHIPS it's incredible.

Let's break this down:

WHOA. WHOA. WHOA. BOOK. SLOW DOWN.

I'm pretty sure my favorite part of this book is all of the different POVs. EVERY MAJOR CHARACTER has a chapter from their POV. I could cry it's so brilliant. I mean, Marissa Meyer could have just alternated between Scarlet and Cinder - the two MAIN main character - but NO. NO. We get to hear from everyone and I've never been so happy in my entire life. Now, obviously this could have been a disaster but it waaaaasn't and I was siiiiiinging with joy. I think my favorites were the Kai chapters. Especially the first one, back when I didn't realize errbody was getting a chapter. Oh Kai. Poor Kai. Pets Kai.

But I probably wouldn't love this approach to the story structure if I didn't ABSOLUTELY LOVE every single character in this book. Okay, I still feel like Levana is a little one dimensional - WHAT ARE THIS CRAZY WOMAN'S MOTIVATIONS? - but since there's less of her in this book I'm okay. Also, I'm not a huge fan of how Cinder spends the whole book indecisive, but I guess I would be too if I just found out all of the things she found out at the end of Cinder. But anyway, Scarlet's FIERCE, Wolf's a honey, Thorne's hilarious, IKO IS IKO and ohohoh Scarlet's granny. I am all of the sads over that. Ultimately, the switching POVS really helped me get to know all of these characters and see them become more and more awesome thought out the course of the book.

But ultimately, I think the reason I like this one SO FREAKING MUCH is because of the usage of the actual fairytale. I felt like Cinder was kind of obvious and gave away the plot. Scarlet, on the other hand, was a little more clever. Obviously bad things were going to happen to Granny and yeah, Wolf was gonna lead Scarlet astray, but I didn't see any of it playing out how it did - while I DID see Cinder playing out JUST LIKE THAT. So that was a major, major plus. And also, since all of the POV switches so many times, there's less of a focus on Cinder losing body parts (only at the beginning for a little bit), which was kind of nice. I got over my whole aversion to cyborgs in Cinder, but I don't ned my face rubbed in it, y'know? Still a little creeptastic.

I also feel like I should note how READABLE Marissa Meyer's writing style is. I loves it. LOVES IT. I can totally image everything in this book. Every setting is just as real to me as if I was standing in the middle of Paris or on a spaceship or on Granny's farm. And since you all know how much I love Paris, you bet you behinds this book made me want to go back there times a million, war-torn or otherwise.

The long and short of it?

Plot: I LOVE the way the classic fairytale is used in this one. LOVE.
World Building: Everything is MAKING SENSE. Except Queen Levana's motives. Is she just crazy? Power hungy? All possible, I just want to know more about it. 
Character Development: All of the character's motives are made SUPER clear with all the POV shifting and I LOVE.
Prose: I am there. I am right there and I get it and I adore it. Paint me another amazing picture, Marissa Meyer. Do it.
Would I Recommend This Book?: If you love fairytale retellings, this series is MORE than just for you. Even if you didn't love Cinder so much, I would still say you ABSOLUTELY MUST read Scarlet. This is DEFINITELY not a sophomore slump, my dears, so go find a copy!

We now have 3 strapping young men to love - Kai, Wolf & Thorne. Who's YOUR favorite? Also, did you love this one more than the first? Equal love? First more than second? Tell me all about that as well in the comments below!