A Vintage Reads YA Review: Scarlet

Vintage Reads, where the not so new young adult and middle grade books get some much deserved attention. From old favorites to new discoveries, both good and bad, you can see my thoughts on some titles from the past two years and back!!

Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles, 2) by Marissa Meyer, January 1, 2013. 454 pages. Published by Square Fish. Source: traded/own.

Cinder is back and trying to break out of prison--even though she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive if she does--in this second installment from Marissa Meyer.

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.

First Sentence:

Scarlet was descending toward the alley behind the Rieux Tavern when her portscreen chimed from the passenger seat, followed by an automated voice: "Comm received for Mademoiselle Scarlet Benoit from the Toulouse Law Enforcement Department of Missing Persons." 

First off, I huge thank you to Zandalee for the book trade!! So, so excited to now have Scarlet...especially since it was really good!!!

After finishing Cinder a couple months ago, I could not wait to get my hands on a copy of Scarlet to see where the story would lead next. Do to business, it took me longer than expected to read it since I was pretty much sneaking a page here and there and a chapter if I was lucky (thank goodness my plans a couple Friday's ago fell through).

I don't even know where to begin when it comes to Scarlet! But, I guess I'll start with Scarlet herself!! You know because a) the book's titles after her and b) because her story-line pretty much made up the vast majority of the book.
   I admit that I was somewhat disappointed that Cinder's role was not as big in the second Lunar Chronicles book. While I enjoyed seeing how her story evolved from the first book I did miss seeing her story take center stage. But that's not to say that Scarlet's story was uninteresting. One of the reasons I enjoyed Scarlet's story was that so much of what was going on in her life, like the disappearance of her grandmother and the sudden appearance of a strange character, had more to do with the overall web being woven in the series.

Why, oh why are the best most twisty elements of the book that parts that I want to talk about the most. You know, the elements that would be the biggest book spoiler thing to talk about. Well, let's just say I had an inkling going in that Levana's plotting would start to come to a head in book two. And let me tell you, it does not disappoint!!!After re-reading Cinder during the summer there was something hinted at, which happened in Scarlet, that I had been waiting for. And the nefarious plot that unfolded within book two, well, it was so good that I just want to dissect and discuss it. Although I won't because it is too good of a story point to risk ruining it for someone who hasn't read the book yet (you should remedy that, yes).

As serious as things were, I did not expect to find myself laughing my head off more often than not. So consider me surprised when I spent so much time laughing; though I do believe the laughter can be attributed to the introduction of one Captain Thorne. I cannot even began to explain why I found him funny, just that I did. His whole story just lightened the whole mood of the book. As for the other new guy, Wolf, I really liked his story line...and his awkwardness.

Hopefully, I have not spoiled any of the book for y'all. I just had so much that I wanted to talk about and doing it without giving everything away and yet being coherent is hard!!

Again, I really found myself enjoying Marissa Meyer's writing and storytelling. I thought she did a great job progressing the story within the Lunar Chronicles. The world and characters she's created are just so entertaining to read about, which has made me excited to be (finally) seeing where the rest of the series will go from here on out.

Final Verdict: Scarlet- New characters add entertaining new twists to this wonderful series!! Seriously cannot believe it has taken me this long to read book two!!

Scarlet earns

This book was received via a book trade and is owned by me. All thoughts are my own.