Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Title: SCARLET
Author: Marissa Meyer
Published: February 5th, 2013
Series: Lunar Chronicles #2
Genre: YA sci-fi / fantasy
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
POV: 3rd, alternating
Pages: 464
Format: ARC
Source: Publicist

"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."

All of the main characters from CINDER are back and ready for some dangerous adventures in SCARLET. Cinder and Kai are both struggling in their new, opposing roles as they try to become the leaders they need to become. And then there's Scarlet, a new character with a firecracker personality who isn't giving up on locating her missing grandmother, even if the lousy local police have decided it's a closed case. With a little initiative, she teams up with Wolf, a mysterious street fighter with a strange numbered tattoo who knows exactly where her grandmother is. Add in Captain Thorne, Cinder's new flirtatious and endearingly ridiculous accomplice, and you've got yourself a story that will make you laugh, gasp, and leave you eager for so much more.

I enjoyed CINDER, and remember thinking that this series had a lot of potential. So, I expected the sequel to be similar to the first book. Needless to say, I was blown away by the character development in old and new characters, the exciting bursts of action, the breathtaking twists, and the overall excitement that is present in every single page of this story. If CINDER was a good story, then SCARLET is a superb sequel that is fun to read from the first page to the last. Anyone who is debating on whether or not to continue with this series after reading the first novel (or debating on whether or not to start this series) should absolutely give this series a chance, because SCARLET is magnificent.

Highlights: I usually dislike alternating 3rd person POV's (this book had mainly 3, but went up to about 5), but Meyer made it work. Meyer's large cast of characters are likable, different, and sometimes a bit complicated. The story was more exciting this time around. There is so much more happening in this book, to the point where I felt satisfied at the end but still curious about the next novel. I love how fresh Meyer makes familiar fairytales, and I'm eager to see what she'll do in her next two novels. 

Lowlights: The romance formed between two characters is very quick (at least the couple even references the quickness).