Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #2
Publisher: Puffin
Publication Date: February 7th 2013
Source: Library

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...

After reading Cinder last month, I knew I had to get my hands on Scarlet ASAP and find out what was going to happen next in the story. Scarlet ended up being so much better than Cinder in my opinion. There was a lot more to discover, new characters and a lot of action! I also loved how the story was told from Scarlet's POV, but then we also got chapters from Cinder and Kai in third person narrative. So even though we were following a different character, we still got to see what the characters from Cinder were up to and how everything that happened in this book affected them.

As soon as I started reading Scarlet I knew I was going to enjoy this one a lot more than Cinder. I connected with Scarlet straight away. Her grandmother is missing and the police have called off the search saying that she ran away or committed suicide. But Scarlet knows that can't be true. I loved her close her relationship with her grandmother was that she knew for sure that something terrible had happened to her. Scarlet is a determined character. She's willing to do whatever it takes to get her grandmother back, no matter the cost. She was a fantastic and strong main character.

I was a bit iffy with Wolf to start with. I mean, he was a dangerous street fighter but he seemed so naive and scared that I couldn't help but feel drawn to him. He wanted to do whatever he could to help Scarlet find her grandmother (even though he kept trying to convince her to forget about it). It was extremely interesting finding out about Wolf. I knew there was something off about him, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was exactly. So I loved finding out about it, but it also made me have Queen Levana even more than I already did. Wolf is such a sweet character. He wants to protect Scarlet and I feel sorry for him because of what was done to him.

And then we have Thorne. Thorne was my favourite new character. He was so sarcastic and snarky. I loved him from the very first moment we met him in his jail cell. He managed to make me laugh a hell of a lot throughout this book. He's a very skilled character. He knows how to hide from the police/government and knows what precautions to take to stay hidden. He was a fantastic character.

Cinder was amazing, yet again. I just adore her. I felt really bad for Kai though. He was getting all the backlash from Levana because of Cinder, and he had to do whatever he could to stop her. My hate for Levana grew in this one. After I found out what she'd been doing, and found out what she'd done to Cinder as a child - it made me sick. She has to be stopped before she takes over Earth.

The story line in this one was packed with action and mystery. I had a lot of questions at the start of the book like: "Why was Scarlet's grandmother taken?" and "What's up with Wolf?", and my questions were gradually answered throughout the book and I loved the journey we were taken on to get these answers. We were also following Cinder and Thorne and their escape to find out more about Princess Selene. And then we had Kai. Kai is dealing with everything that happened after Cinder and is also having to try to please Levana.

The ending was packed with action. I was shocked and disgusted by the lengths Levana would go to just to get Cinder. It was horrible. I was hooked reading the ending and I just couldn't put it down until I found out what happened. I was also extremely shocked by what Kai did. I wanted to hit him! Does he seriously think that it's going to make any difference? Really? If he does, he needs some sense knocked into him. But by the end of the book my hate for Queen Levana had rocketed and I can't wait to see her meet her end. I'll be cheering.

Overall, this was such a fantastic sequel! Packed with mystery and action that had be hooked from start to finish. I can't wait for Cress now!