Luna Chronicles (2) - Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
And to the second part of the series: Scarlet (Wie Blut so rot, Scarlet). I read the 505 pages in English. Originally published 2014.
When Scarlet's grandmother has been abducted, her whole world starts falling apart. But saving her is difficult – even with the help of a stranger with... well, quite wolfish features, who was a member of the group responsible for the crime. While Scarlet makes the journey from Toulouse to Paris, a cyborg criminal is about to fight her way out of prison to find out more about her past and birthright... with a thief as her ally and the whole Eastern Commonwealth and Lunar forces in her neck. But Cinder has more allies than she believes...
Surprise, surprise, this is Red Riding Hood. But a hell of a lot different. I love Scarlet. I was sceptical at first because she's got such a temper and is so stubborn, but she's quite charismatic. She's got your heart before you know it. But whom I love more is Wolf. He's... well, he's simply great. He's a mixture of brutality, shyness and sweetness... a rather interesting combination that captures your heart. He's gorgeous. Especially how he protects Scarlet.
Well, back to the fairy tale stuff. Apart from the fact that Red Riding Hood aka Scarlet Benoit has far more temperament than politeness, she's also very brave, tough, does not shy away from doing what she has to do and, what I find best, she fully knows what she's doing. She's not simply picking flowers and thinking of nothing all the while. She knows the risks of going after her granny and trusting Wolf, but she does it never the less. Additionally, she's remarkably unbiased. So. Our Red Riding Hood is nothing like the sweet innocent girl who gets eaten. Instead, she shoots the guy she loves in the arm. Oh, and she takes “no shit from no one” when it comes to questioning her values. But what I like best about her is that she's still very considerate and gets people in a way Cinder doesn't. She feels with people – on a whole different level. It's always surprising to see because she's like a blazing fire most of the time. As you can see, she's quite fascinating.
There are some other differences to the real fairy tale, but I won't dwell on that because the main stuff is character related.
To go on: You have many other PoV's, like Cinder's and Kai's. First of all, it's cute that Kai kept the foot. And how he begins to fight for the rights of cyborgs. Their love story is really sweet, especially because they are absolutely convinced the other person hates / manipulates them.
And I love Thorne. That guy's so, so awesome! I have a weakness for... book characters? Especially for male book characters with a streak for the funny kind of arrogance. Like Thorne, Jace from TMI (Chroniken der Unterwelt)... Thorne's so charismatic, and he's got such a good humour!
Another person whom I LOVE would be Iko. As the ship. It's so cool to imagine a ship being in love with the emperor and shops for a new body with colourful accessoires. I like, how Iko manages to make fun of Cinder – and how she manages perfectly well to accept her as Lunar princess and still keep her belief that all Lunars are evil. She's gorgeous. If you had that girl as your BF, you would never stop having fun.
Well. So far to the good part of the books. Now... politics.
…
Seriously?
I mean, seriously? First of all, how can Kai overlook his cabinet so easily? Aren't they supposed to be a check-and-balance for him? But he doesn't even get their advice on anything! What use do they have, if they neither counsel nor veto him?
Spoiler:
Next: The Lunar politics. Hey, guys, there is this kingdom on the moon that has been threatening us basically forever, now we have a lunatic dictator who a) withholds the cure for the plague which decimates the planet and b) attacks us with an army of genetic engineered wolf...people. No full moon needed. But, we a) do not have prepared for war – it's not like it was a threat for over a century – no, we don't even try to strike back. Instead, I'll marry her, knowing this will give her the opportunity to spread her power and knowing she intends to kill me after the coronation and wage a war for world dominance!
… Yay. Great plan, Kai. I'm so very proud of you. Seriously, who has taught him politics?! Even I know that this can't exactly work out. Sure, I do not believe that violence is a solution, or that killing innocents in a war (which happens all the time) is acceptable. “For the greater good” is usually an excuse for mass murder. But... seriously! He can't let her go through with killing his subjects and so many more people on Earth! Especially not if he knows that this plan of his is giving her so much more power. How about... I don't know, sending an EMP to the moon to disable their space ships, and hopefully a lot more stuff that will slow them down? The time could be used to make weapons to have a new position in peace talks – a position in which Levana has the choice between considering real peace or facing a lot of unpleasantness. This would make sense! But I guess that's too easy. No one even thought to mention that.
Apart from that, the story was sound, tense and overall well done. I'm excited as to how Cress is going to play out. She seems so sweet.
In brief:
I give stars for characters, style and ideas, minus one for content. Sorry, but these politics are just so damn bad.
Prequel:
Sequel: