Review - 'Scarlet' by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet is the second book in the Lunar Chronicles, this time giving us a retelling of the classic fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood". Our new heroine, Scarlet, is looking for her grandmother after she disappears one day. She is intrigued by a mysterious fighter named Wolf, who may be able to help her find where her grandmother is, but only if she can trust him. This book also picks up right where the first one left off with Cinder's story, and and we get to see how the two story lines eventually tie together.

A lot of what I loved about the first book is back. The story continues to be fascinating, with multiple separate plot lines moving forward at a brisk pace and weaving together cohesively. The action never stops, and I felt pulled along with it, immersed in a wondrous journey.

And yet, what I didn't like about the first book is here in this one too. Scarlet is written as overly emotional, paranoid, and accusatory. Her way of finding her grandmother is to go up to random strangers and yell at them to give her grandmother back. I'm not sure this is the best course of action when it comes to getting a loved one back from kidnappers, but Scarlet seems to think it is. She's also stubborn and rather stupid, so she charges into situations without thinking first and inevitably ends up in trouble.

Thankfully, Cinder is better. She is able to talk in this book, no longer stuttering and hemming and hawing through her day, but rather making calm decisions and taking charge. It's so refreshing to see, and is a nice break from the first book version of herself, and the current version of Scarlet. So far, this series has real trouble coming up with good strong female characters; instead, they have been weak, confused, paranoid, and emotional. I hope this gets better, because it really takes away from what otherwise would have been a stellar story.

I'm going to continue with this series. I hold out hope that the main characters will get less annoying as the series goes on. And I'm still really enjoying the universe and the story line. We are gearing up for what must surely be an epic showdown between good and evil, and I can't wait.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars