Hello, all my friends! How are you on this glorious Friday? I’m doing well! I had a GREAT Thanksgiving.

My boyfriend and I decided this year that we would do our own Thanksgiving, forgoing the stress of trying to attend all four possible Thanksgivings with our various family members. I’m house sitting right now, so I even have a house available to do so. Jon’s brother, Chris, decided he was into the idea as well, and so the three of us planned it all out. Chris is a full vegan, I’m a pescatarian and Jon eats anything and everything so we were able to get specialized too! I made my very first tofurkey ever and it was SO good. I rocked it. We had a ton of food, and I’m stuffed and happy.

Now its time for a nice relaxing weekend! I hope all of you are safe and all that this weekend. Its a crazy shopping weekend and I’m not going anywhere near it haha. I stay in bed, in my nice cozy house, with my trusty laptop during this weekend. I’m a fan of Amazon Black Friday sales and Cyber Monday deals across the board. They’re awesome, and you don’t even have to leave your house! Brilliant!

Speaking of Amazon Black Friday deals, there are a TON of them in movies! I saw movies like Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, Twilight and X-Men First Class, and all kinds of nerd movies for really cheap! And Blu-Ray too! Definitely go check it out :)

Now, moving on! It’s a day late, but here it is: this week’s Book of the Week review. If you haven’t had a chance to read my review of Marissa Meyer’s first book, Cinder, you can read it here!

Now for Scarlet!

Scarlet  by Marissa Meyer

GoodReads / Barnes and Noble / Amazon / Book Depository

Genre:

Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fairy Tale Re-telling

Part of a Series?:

The second novel of The Lunar Chronicles

Please note, while there will be NO spoilers for Scarlet in this review, there will be spoilers for the first novel, Cinder. You may read the review for that book here. 

You May Like if You Liked:

Honestly I’m not sure. But if you’re a YA fan, and a science fiction fan, you should read it. Even if you’re not partial to science fiction, you should read it.

Age Recommendation:

12+

Plot Summary:

From Good Reads:

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison–even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive. 

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, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

The Review:

I am blown away by the amazingness that is this book. I was recommended Cinder by my friend Erin, who runs That One Geek Girl, and it took me a long time to read it. Not because it was awful or hard to get into BUT because I was busy with school and the upcoming holiday and finding a new job and all that fun stuff. But I did finish it, eventually, and I absolutely loved it. I got my hands on Scarlet ASAP and I just finished it on Thanksgiving, while making my delicious tofurkey.

Marissa Meyer takes the story that she has created in Cinder and just multiples it, makes it broader, and takes her world and makes it more widespread, and its incredible. She introduces two very important new characters in Scarlet and Wolf (and also Captain Thorne), but instead of detracting from the story, it just adds to it, builds it, and makes it more intricate and more complex and even more exciting than it already was. Seriously. She takes the story that she’s created and doubles it. Just when you kind of think you know what direction things are going in, she steps in, shakes her head (and probably laughs at your crestfallen face) and switches courses so fast that its a wonder that you don’t have whiplash.

I absolutely love that she continued with the fairy tale angle. I’ve always known these fairy tales, because, well, I’m a girl and I grew up with Disney movies like most kids do. But I also just recently took a Children’s Lit class in school, and we did a TON of work on the old school fairy tales. When reading Cinder, I loved the comparisons between the familiar Charles Perrault tale and the novel. I loved that she took the basics of the story, and built them into her own, and twisted them. It was done beautifully.

Then she introduced Scarlet, the wolf, and Scarlet’s grandmother, Michelle. The tale of Red Riding Hood is SO apparent int his book, which I absolutely, totally love but its done so flawlessly. Its weaved in so naturally that it doesn’t feel like its forced. The transition between Cinder’s Cinderella story and Scarlet’s Red Riding Hood story and the combination of the two just fits so well. You hardly notice that they’re colliding until the impact and its amazing. It really is. I love seeing the themes of the old story, like the sexual themes and the innocence and all of that, but translated into a much stronger character like Scarlet. Because let’s face it, women were always weak and needed to be saved by a big strong man in these old folk tales.

Plus, I think Marissa really knows her story. She really takes this story and builds it from page one of the very first book. Sometimes I feel like people write their series as it goes, without really thinking of the past, present and future. You have to be aware of the entire scope of the series in order to write it. She definitely does that. The interweaving of the first two books, and presumably the third, is just beautiful. Things that didn’t seem important or felt unanswered came up in the second book, perfectly, and often times, through Scarlet’s point of view. She connects these two girls and their stories as if this is just the way it is, its always been like this. I love that they are brought together, two very different girls, but both strong and determined, both fighters. Its awesome. She creates great characters. She takes Cinderella and Red and makes them SO much better, and stronger and smarter. Its fantastic.

I could go on and on and on about this book but then I’d be wasting your time. If you haven’t gotten involved in this series yet, definitely do it. If you’ve read Cinder and haven’t read Scarlet, what on earth are you waiting for? You’re going to SPEED through this book and then lament that Cress is still 66 days away. Sigh. But we’re a patient bunch, aren’t we? So get out there and read! The links to buy it are above, and you know you want to! Its a beautiful science fiction novel with mystery and action and romance and twists and turns, moments that make you laugh and cry, and they are stories that remind you of the classic stories you loved as a kid, with a little bit of a kickass twist.

Rating:

5 out of 5 Stars

Recommended or Not?:

Definitely! This book blew me away. If you thought the first book was good, you’re going to think this one is even better. I guarantee it. I canNOT wait until Cress comes out, and to find out what happens next!

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I hope you enjoyed this week’s Book of the Week! Don’t forget that you can check out old posts here!

Happy Reading!