Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, #2) in Sophomore Reading Challenge

Mar 17, 2013 Andi (Andi's ABCs) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, series, own, 2015-fantasy-challenge

4.5 stars

Scarlet was a crazy person on the audio but I loved loved loved the audio and the story. Wolf is totally swoony and I enjoyed all the turns the story took and the connection to Cinder. Only my second attempt at listening to an audio before reading and it was a success. Up next, Cress.

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Aug 21, 2012 Jen Ryland (jenrylandreviews & yaallday) added it

Shelves: atw-tour

Source: ATW ARC tours

I'd originally thought Scarlet would be a companion book to Cinder, but it's really more of a sequel -- a merging of two story lines. If you haven't read Cinder, you won't completely understand what's going on in this book.

Scarlet's narrative alternates with that of Kai's and Cinder's. Kai is still trying to deal with the fallout of the whole Cinder at the ball fiasco. Cinder, after her disruptive appearance at Prince Kai's royal ball, has been imprisoned. With the help of C Source: ATW ARC tours

I'd originally thought Scarlet would be a companion book to Cinder, but it's really more of a sequel -- a merging of two story lines. If you haven't read Cinder, you won't completely understand what's going on in this book.

Scarlet's narrative alternates with that of Kai's and Cinder's. Kai is still trying to deal with the fallout of the whole Cinder at the ball fiasco. Cinder, after her disruptive appearance at Prince Kai's royal ball, has been imprisoned. With the help of Captain Carswell Thorne, a feckless fellow prisoner, Cinder stages a jailbreak and soon the pair are combing New Beijing for Thorne's missing spaceship. The two of them made a compelling couple -- verbally sparring in a rapid-fire fashion that brought to mind the crackling sexual tension between Princess Leia and Han Solo in the Star Wars movies. I am definitely rooting for Thorne in this particular love triangle. Like many classic fairytale heroes, Prince Kai is a little on the bland side. After Cinder escapes, poor Kai has to manage Queen Levana's fury, but he still isn't given much to do in this book. Cinder pretty much gets to do all the cool stuff as far as I'm concerned. I was delighted to see that among her accomplishments is bringing back Iko, her beloved cyborg-servant, at least in a manner of speaking. Iko provided additional comic relief as Cinder and Thorne tried to evade capture by the Queen's minions.

Meanwhile, Scarlet is trying to track down her missing grandmother with the help of the mysterious street fighter named Wolf. While I enjoyed reading about Scarlet and Wolf, I also felt that theirs was a peripheral plot stream to Cinder's. Scarlet's grandmother has something that the evil Queen Levana needs, but Scarlet doesn't really seem central to the series' main plot. Wolf is an interesting character -- I don't want to say too much for fear of spoilers -- and I hope he and Scarlet will continue to be part of the series. There are still two more fairytale characters -- Rapunzel and Snow White -- who also need to be brought into the mix.

Scarlet, like Cinder, is a lively, imaginative book that seems to be one-third fairy tale, one-third sci-fi, and one-third comic book adventure. The series, which features strong female heroines and a great blend of action and romance, is one I highly recommend!
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Feb 13, 2013 Darlene rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, for-review, 2013-sophomore-reading-challenge, 2013-ya-audiobook-challenge, read-in-2013, 2013-literary-exploration-challenge

The second book in the Lunar Chronicles series was really good!

The story begins the day after Cinder’s attendance at Prince Kai’s ball, and the news footage of her fall down the palace steps has been broadcast over the entire globe. Scarlet Benoit is an 18 year-old young woman, who lives with her grandmother in Rieux, France. Her grandmother has been missing for the past two weeks, and the only clue is her identification chip which has been left behind. The police have written off the disappear The second book in the Lunar Chronicles series was really good!

The story begins the day after Cinder’s attendance at Prince Kai’s ball, and the news footage of her fall down the palace steps has been broadcast over the entire globe. Scarlet Benoit is an 18 year-old young woman, who lives with her grandmother in Rieux, France. Her grandmother has been missing for the past two weeks, and the only clue is her identification chip which has been left behind. The police have written off the disappearance as a likely suicide, since most people who want to disappear will cut out their ID chip. Scarlet doesn’t buy it. She knows her grandmother would never abandon her, and she is determined to find her.

Scarlet meets a hungry young man named “Wolf,” who has a penchant for Scarlet’s homegrown tomatoes. He asks for a job as a farmhand, but Scarlet doesn’t really need one. Scarlet returns home one day to a ransacked house, and she finds her father searching for something. His arms have scars all over them, and he is utterly hysterical. Wolf happens to be with Scarlet and, when her father sees the tattoo on Wolf’s arm, he freaks out and tells Scarlet that Wolf is “one of them”- one of the men who abducted her grandmother and are holding her hostage for something they think she has. Wolf insists that he is no longer a part of the gang and that joining it was the biggest mistake of his life, but he offers to take Scarlet to the gang’s headquarters where he believes they would be holding her grandmother.

Meanwhile, back in the Eastern Commonwealth, Cinder is trying to find a way to escape from her cell before Queen Levana can take her back to Luna.

I absolutely loved Cinder when I listened to it last year and couldn’t wait to find out what happens next. I was curious how Meyer would tie the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood to Cinder’s, and she did it brilliantly! I do not want to give away any spoilers, so I will just say that I was really impressed how Cinder’s path and Scarlet’s path become tangled together.

I really enjoyed Scarlet, though not as much as Cinder. Still, it was a solid book in the series. One big disappointment for me was the absence of Dr. Erland, who I adored in Cinder. I really missed his presence, and I hope that Cinder will be reunited with him in Cress which is expected to be published in 2014. On the plus side, I thought the budding romance between Scarlet and Wolf had more chemistry than Cinder’s relationship with Prince Kai. Meyer kept me on my toes, wondering whether Wolf was good or bad!

Narrator Rebecca Soler is so good! I love her French accent, and she has the right amount of sass to bring attitude to Cinder’s and Scarlet’s characters without coming across as annoying. Her vocalizations make all the characters easily distinguishable, and her exuberance brings excitement to the story.

I received this audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive any compensation for my review, and the views expressed herein are my own. ...more

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Aug 06, 2013 Sasha rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobook, lived-up-to-the-hype, macmillan, science-fiction, young-adult, retelling, read-in-2013, read-in-2013-favorites, 2013-publication, just-as-good-as-the-first

So, what I think was the best part about this book for me was that I didn’t realize that all four stories were interwoven; I thought that there were kind of like companion novels where each story is wrapped up nice and neatly at the end of its respective book, and then we’ll just see older characters here and there. Basically, different stories set in the same universe with guest pop-ins from old friends. BUT NO. This series is ONE big story with each main character having a major role.

So to kno ...more

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May 25, 2012 Princess Bookie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read2012

My Thoughts: I really loved Cinder, so I was beyond excited for Scarlet, and I enjoyed it almost just as much. I still loved it, but not quite as much as I did Cinder!

We are introduced to Scarlet who lives on a farm and helps her grandmother out. She’s lived with her since she was a little girl and its all she really knows. She remembers her dad and living with him but it wasn't the best moments of her life. When her grandma is taken, Scarlet is on a mission to find her. She is one determined gi ...more

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Dec 25, 2016 Danya rated it really liked it

Shelves: futuristic, young-adult, retellings, fairy-tales, sci-fi, rockmytbr-2016, flights-of-fantasy-2016, retelling-challenge-2016

4~4.5 stars. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! I'd liked Cinder okay, but I hadn't been thoroughly wowed by it, and I'd read it several years ago. So I was going into Scarlet not remembering a bunch of details from the first book, which was a little problematic (Marissa Meyer does try to recap some of the important bits from Cinder , but even so, I found myself re-reading portions of the first book to remind myself).

Anyway, I really enjoyed the new characters we get to meet in Sc 4~4.5 stars. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! I'd liked Cinder okay, but I hadn't been thoroughly wowed by it, and I'd read it several years ago. So I was going into Scarlet not remembering a bunch of details from the first book, which was a little problematic (Marissa Meyer does try to recap some of the important bits from Cinder , but even so, I found myself re-reading portions of the first book to remind myself).

Anyway, I really enjoyed the new characters we get to meet in Scarlet (Scarlet, Wolf, and Captain Thorne are chief among them) and Cinder herself actually grew on me a little more. Having her struggle with the notion of using her Lunar powers made her more relatable than I think she'd been in the first book. Scarlet and I are not much alike, but I liked watching her have a strong presence on the page and in the plot (although her mood swings and volatile personality were a tad irritating at times. She could use some anger management classes or something...but then again, Wolf probably could too.) Wolf I felt a little mixed about, given the nature of what he's involved in ((view spoiler)).

And Captain Thorne was just excellent for comedic goodness and one of those distinctive, over-the-top personalities that you kinda like despite yourself. He provided so many snarky, smart-alecky comments. Often it was neither the time nor the place for those comments, and there's no denying he sometimes came off as an annoying, superficial womanizer, but there's also no denying he stayed rather loyal to Cinder and helped her out. I'm very interested to see how his character develops (or doesn't) in the next book, as from what I understand he's the love interest.

I found the whole concept of the Lunar armies ((view spoiler)) to be pretty far-fetched. Also, just generally, I still don't find Queen Levana to be that intimidating a villain (although she does pick things up and engage in some serious villainy towards the end of the book, so yay!).

Looking forward to reading Cress now! ...more

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Feb 28, 2012 Shanyn rated it it was amazing

I didn't really have any intention of reading CINDER by Marissa Meyer. I was a bit intrigued, but I often have problems following along with science fiction and fantasy books because I read so much contemporary and am used to those themes. Then I started hearing good things. Great things, even. And then? My friend Katie sent me an ARC and demanded I read it.

Full Review: http://chickloveslit.com/2012/12/revi... ...more

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Jan 06, 2012 StorySeekers rated it it was amazing

Shelves: emilia-shelf, 2013, wishlist, needs-review

OK just wow! The series definitely gets better. If you're worried about the new characters, you shouldn't be. I am not going to say much because it is such a long wait but it is definitely a must read!

Now...

For the long wait...

Until Cress...

Which doesn't come out until 2014! How am I ever going to wait for this book!? ...more

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