Scarlet by Marissa Meyer | Audiobook Review

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My Thoughts

“Unique.  I couldn’t put it down! A must read!”

Scarlet is the second book in the Lunar Chronicles series and it is my favorite (I’ve also read Cress) so far!  I absolutely love this retelling of Little Red Riding Hood!  Ms. Meyer has a way of merging both stories – Cinder ( a retelling of Cinderella)  and Scarlet.  It is seamlessly done and very well written.

Scarlet focuses on the story of  Scarlet Benoit (Little Red Riding Hood) and Wolf in relation to the whole series.  Scarlet’s grandmother, Michelle Benoit an Imperial Pilot (or something) has gone missing and she is frantic!  With the authorities not helping her, Scarlet is distraught.  Enter Wolf, who claims to be a street fighter looking for a job.  He finally convinces to help Scarlet look for her grandmother in Paris, France, nd the two journey.  Eventually, Wolf’s true nature is revealed.  In this book, Cinder also escapes and manages to bring along a prisoner named Captain Thorne!  And I just love Captain Thorne!  But more on that later.

What I love about this book is it’s uniqueness.  A futuristic dystopian world as the backdrop of the retelling of one of our childhood fairy tales?  Be still my heart!  Again, I cannot express my love for this book!  I was able to finish this book fairly quickly because of the fast paced plot.  I actually love that it was told in Scarlet and Wolf’s POV.  It does make it a little confusing but I was able to follow through without any problem.  Throughout the book, we are also shown bits of Emperor Kai’s dilemma and struggle to appease Queen Levana.

I like the subtle hints of fairy tale it was based off on.  Like Scarlet’s red hoodie, and Wolf being actually a wolf hybrid, a LUNAR wolf hybrid created by Queen Levana to be mindless killing machine.  The shift from Wolf double crossing Scarlet to his later change in the end was superbly done that I even shed a few tears.  When Wolf defied the Thaumaturge (?) who controlled him to save Sacrlet, it was epic!

We also see a lot of revelations here.  As we all know (spoiler alert) Cinder is Princess Selene.  The book also explores how Cinder became a cyborg (don’t you just love that word?) and what Michelle Benoit’s true role was in her salvation.  With Thorne tagging along, Cinder manages to save Scarlet and Wolf, with Cinder showing how powerful she really is when she was able to control a Thaumaturge.

This book is well written with awesome world building and character development.  A definite must read!

THE AUDIOBOOK

Narrated by Rebecca Soler, the audiobook is just fantastic!  I love the young tone of her voice that she used for each of the characters.  My ultimate favorite is her voice for Iko!  So cute and despite being a teeny bit annoying, I think it works!  Again, Ms. Soler’s narration added another depth to the story and made me enjoy the book more!

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