story craft

Genre: YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Format: Paperback

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Cautions: violence: frequent violence and descriptions of mind control, fighting, and bloody scenes; romance: there were a few steamier kisses in this one, and Thorne is thinking about/looking for risqué or pornographic images when we first meet him, so there’s that too. But there are some really sweet moments of simple hands brushing, etc.

Main themes: Secrets, betrayal, loyalty, family, belonging, justice

Favorite quote: “All Cinder had ever wanted was freedom. . . . Now she had her freedom—but it wasn’t anything like she’d envisioned.”

Review:

Have you ever wondered if the big bad wolf ever had a choice? If maybe, just maybe, he didn’t want to be the big bad wolf? In this beautifully told rendition of Little Red Riding Hood, Meyer causes us to sit back and ask the question: Is the villain always someone who sets out to be a villain? And she shows us that even those who seem like the worst of the worst can be redeemed with love and a fierce desire to never give up. 

In Cinder, we met Linh Cinder, mechanic and cyborg hopelessly and un-admittedly in love with Prince Kai, who has just found out that she’s not only a cyborg but also a Lunar. But Dr. Erland told her a truth Kai still doesn’t know. In this second Lunar Chronicles book, Cinder must keep moving or be given over to Queen Levana for death. Her newest, most charming of companions (or so he would say), Thorne, doesn’t know her secret. Even her trusty android sidekick, Iko, doesn’t know. At least not for a while. But nonetheless, they help her evade the wicked queen as she searches for answers. And then we meet Scarlet, who’s searching for the same answers. She just doesn’t know it yet.

She’s content with her life at Benoit Farms and Gardens in Reiux, France, selling her tomatoes and other produce to local vendors. It’s through delivering said tomatoes to Reiux Tavern and straight to the first booth where she meets a street fighter named Wolf. (Do you see where this is going yet?) She has just gotten the news that her grand mere, Michelle Benoit, former pilot and beloved guardian, is listed as a runaway. But Scarlet believes it’s a lie and that is only solidified when her frightened drunk of a father shows up, searching the farm and hurling accusations that Scarlet’s grand mere had hidden something important from them. But Scarlet and her grand mere had no secrets between them. . . right? 

As she discovers the truth about her grand mere and Wolf piece by piece, she begins to wonder if anything she thought she knew was real or true. And fierce and fiery as her red hair, Scarlet refuses to give up on those she loves—even though she feels a deep sense of hurt and betrayal. She vows to finish what her grand mere started by protecting Princess Selene, and when she and wolf team up with Cinder and Thorne, she begins to believe it just might be possible. 

Through clean and simple yet provocative writing, Meyer invites us to follow already beloved characters from Cinder into new adventures and meeting new and pivotal characters like Thorne, Scarlet, and Wolf. She answers questions left unanswered at the end of the last book (like what would happen with Cinder’s taking Peony’s chip) and provides us with new depths of questions to answer as we see Cinder finally make a decision in the final scene of the book, moving from broken down and bewildered to bold and brave and decisive. 

Meyer takes us on a train through the French countryside and into the heart of a dystopian Paris, even as she takes us on a wild emotional ride where we feel the hurt and betrayal and utter hopelessness our heroes and heroines also feel. She left me both hurting and healing, angry at the injustice of it all, and feeling the weight that has settled so clearly on our heroines’ and heroes’ shoulders.

I can’t wait to see where Meyer takes us in Cress—which I ordered, again, immediately after finishing Scarlet. (Why I didn’t just order the rest of the series after the first book, I don’t really know.

My take:

All people have their secrets. Sometimes the secrets that are meant to keep us safe are the very ones that destroy us, or at the very least, destroy our trust. Broken hearts need mending, and sometimes it starts with a slow smile, an unexpected defender, the comfort of an old friend’s sarcasm, and truth-telling. All healing must start somewhere, usually right in the middle of our broken pieces, we find hope when it feels like all hope should be lost. And we walk on, head held high, plan in motion, heart thumping with a rhythm of rightness.