Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: Review

Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles, #2)Title: Scarlet
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Puffin
Buy This Book: Amazon / Book Depository

This is not the fairytale you remember.
But it’s one you won’t forget.

Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. The police have closed her case. The only person Scarlet can turn to is Wolf, a street fighter she does not trust, but they are drawn to each other.
Meanwhile, in New Beijing, Cinder will become the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive – when she breaks out of prison to stay one step ahead of vicious Queen Levana.
As Scarlet and Wolf expose one mystery, they encounter Cinder and a new one unravels. Together they must challenge the evil queen, who will stop at nothing to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner . . .

I'm actually finding Scarlet harder to review than Cinder, which says a lot because that one was really hard to write. In the case of Cinder I believe the hype kind of ruined that read for me, I had very high expectations and when it didn't completely meet them I think I judged it a lot more harshly then I would have without the hype. I still gave it four stars because it was brilliantly written, had amazing characters and the most perfect setting but I still felt really disappointed by it for some reason. With Scarlet, I didn't have any expectations and I was enjoying it a lot more than Cinder at the start, it's around the halfway mark that it lost my interest.

I have to start by saying that Meyer is a fantastic writer, she really is. The settings are just incredible in her books and she really describes it in such a way that you can't help but visualise it perfectly in your mind. That's a sign of a very talented author for me because I usually struggle to visualise a lot of what I read, but I had no issues with that when reading Cinder and Scarlet.

I actually really loved Scarlet to begin with, I was enjoying it a lot more than Cinder. I felt that Scarlet was a brilliant character, she's very headstrong and she can definitely stick up for herself when she needs too. She was determined to get what she wanted and I really came to love her character. I also enjoyed the introduction of Wolf and very quickly went from thinking he was maybe a little psycho to thinking that I maybe wanted to marry the guy. I felt really let down by our love interest of Kai in Cinder because, let's be honest, he just kind of sucked. But Wolf I felt was actually believable and he was given much more of a personality.

I also liked that we still kept track of Cinder and her story. I was actually surprised by how disappointed I was that we didn't spend more time with her character. She meets Carswell Thorne when she falls into his cell during a breakout attempt, they team up with each other in order to escape. I thought their story was really interesting and I would have been happy to stick with that for an entire book. Thorne is a really hilarious character and I loved his one liners that would get me giggling. 

We still get to see Kai in this as well and his struggle with Queen Levana, sadly I still wasn't interested. I just find his character really dull and boring. I don't see him as a love interest for Cinder, so I hope that's not where his storyline is going. I kind of want Queen Levana to kill him because he's really useless. Queen Levana herself confuses me. I don't understand why she needs Kai and the Commonwealth. She has an army that seems capable of taking over the world by force, so why doesn't she just do that. She could then just glamour everyone to her submission like we are led to believe she is able to do on the moon. I am just confused by this and the extent of her power and army. 

I loved Scarlet, up until the halfway mark and then it went down hill a bit. I admit that I am in a really bad reading slump right now so that never helps. But, it just got really boring for me at the time when it should have seemed like the most exciting. I feel like the book is really long and my interest waned as it went on and on and on and on. Yes, there was a lot going on which may warrant the length but maybe there was too much going on. I lost interest by about 300 pages and then seemed to have to force myself to finish. In my opinion the book could have done with being about 100 pages shorter. 

4/5 Butterflies

I am still giving Scarlet 4 Butterflies because, even though I had my issues with it, I believe it deserves those 4 Butterflies. I can't fault the characters, the storyline is really brilliant, the slow growing romance in this worked so well for me and I was loving this for a lot of the book. A reading slump has made it hard for me to concentrate and keep interested in a book so I think that didn't help me when reading a book that's almost 500 pages long. I really did enjoy this but I had my issues with it, if you loved Cinder then you won't be disappointed by this. 


19 comments:

  1. I had a lot of issue with Scarlet too. Honestly, it was my least favourite out of the three so far. Honestly though, I promise you, Cress is a bajillion times better. I was so hesitant to read it because I really found Scarlet so 'eh' but WOW was it just phenomenal! Even better than Cinder.

    I'd love to know what you think once you've read that one :)

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    1. I am really happy to hear that. I am taking a break between Scarlet and Cress because I feel like I can't deal with it right now. I hope it impresses me though :)

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    2. Cress is better but my favorite is the very end of cress and the beginning of winter. Fairest is also pretty good(in my opinion) as it gives you insight on Queen Levena.

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  2. If I am being honest, this is the main reason why I haven't started this series yet, I am so scared that I will be disappointed with it.
    I guess I will never know until I finally just give in and try it.

    Wonderful honest review! I really do appreciate how honest and straight forward you have been about both of these reads.

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    1. You're welcome! I couldn't be anything but honest if I tried. If you have ever seen one of my negative reviews then you probably know that already haha!

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  3. I read Cinder and really enjoyed it but I haven't gotten around to the other books in the series yet. I have to agree with you though, the world building is pretty awesome.
    Kristin @ Book Sniffers Anonymous

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  4. I read this recently as well but didn't get the sense of how long it really is as I was on my e-reader. The bouncing to different story lines does drag things out. Hopefully we get more answers about Queen Levana in Cress.

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    1. I really hope so, and I hope that doesn't drag at all - it's over 500 pages!

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  5. I have these books in my iTunes library, but I'm scared to start them too soon. I want to read them after the hype and see what I think about them then... Great and honest review!

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    1. Thanks, the ridiculous hype does leave me with high expectations and that makes it hard for the books to live up to it.

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  6. It seems we are a little opposite when it comes to this book. I agree with most of what you said in your review. I just didn't love this book even though the writing and characters were great.However, for me I wasn't that interested in the book during the first half and the last half is when I was invested in the story.

    I also really loved Scarlet and Wolf's relationship. I thought they were just so good for each other and they brought out the best in one another. I just really liked them as a couple, I liked them much more then I liked Cinder and Kai. I also really dislike Kai. When I was reading Cinder I just didn't get why she liked him so much. But here's hopping that he gets better in the next two books.
    Great review :D

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    1. I definitely loved Wolf & Scarlet and wasn't really a fan of Kai and Cinder because I never really liked Kai. I hope he gets better or just goes away.

      I was just a bit fed up by the second half.

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  7. I felt quite the same at this point in the series, there were more issues because Cinder was such a good installment. I admit, the whole Queen and Kai thing is a little confusing, more enlightening on that soon would be good, and the length was a thing too, Cress is huuuuge, so I'm pausing with that. Fantastic review though, honest with your feelings and blunt with your opinion, detailed enough with the review and I'd still want to carry on reading the series, so well done :)

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    1. I am pausing too, the length of Cress really does put me off... IT'S HUGE! Thanks, I always find it hard to review a book that I enjoyed enough, don't want to discourage anyone but want to share what I didn't like about it. Glad it worked well enough :)

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  8. I'm in love with this series, but Scarlet was the week point for me. I still liked it, but not quite as much as the others.

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    1. I hope I love Cress way more than the first two, both were a little disappointing for me.

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  9. I loved this one, I have to say. And I can't believe you don't like Kai, you want him to be killed???? What???? Glad you still enjoyed it for the most part. Hopefully you will like Cress better! ~Pam

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    1. Haha, I just feel like he has no personality and is a really, really weak love interest. I hope I enjoy Cress more or I will be really disappointed.

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