Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: February 5th 2013
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
My rating: 4.5 stars
The fates of Cinder and Scarlet collide as a Lunar threat spreads across the Earth...
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.
Stars! Remind me again why I just read this now? I was both annoyed and relieved that I got on to this one pretty late. Annoyed that I didn't realized how much fun I was actually missing until I started this one (but it's better late than never, right?) and relieved because I wouldn't be waiting that long before the next book comes! So that totally saves me a year of crucial wait. Because, seriously, this series is just so freaking amazing!
I was afraid I'd have a hard time getting invested on the new characters for this sequel. I was a big fan of Kai and Cinder and thought that I'd be too preoccupied with their pairing to really appreciate Scarlet's and Wolf's. So it was actually quite surprising with how easily and fast I fell for Wolf this new couple. With Scarlet's fierce and determined character and Wolf's enigmatic but surprisingly adorable child-like innocence, it made their pairing so much more interesting.
As for the plot, it was totally a win. Although this book doesn't really contain that much action and battle it was still fascinating going through with the discoveries and revelations and see the connections between the characters and what had happened in the past. The re-imagining of the tale of Red Riding Hood and it being applied to this world was fantastic. I don't know how Meyers do that but that kind of creativity is just bloody genius.
We get to see a lot of perspective in this book too, majority from Cinder, Scarlet, Kai and Wolf, a couple of Thorne's and a small portion at the end from Levana! Too many point of views usually annoys me but I think, here, it kinda helps seeing better angle in the story and understanding and connecting with our characters.
I had a lot of fun with some of the secondary characters too, like Iko! She's just so cute and she's like you're girl best friend who teases you with your crush and swoons over sweet things when in fact she's just a cyborg, or no, actually she's just a character chip and here she was the ship! But her voice really sounds genuine and real. And another one is Thorne! I don't know if I'd be annoyed with him or be actually amazed with his weird antics. But he's quite an interesting and unique character. I shared some laughs with some of his action, and stars, he even flirts with a ship! Haha!
Anyway, to close this review, if you haven't started this series you better start thinking now. You're totally missing out here! Where else can you find a fairy tale inspired sci-fi story with talks of war and aliens and totally out of this world ideas but still with a touch of, although light, sweet and cute romance? All of that is in here so you better pick this one, asap! Haha!
I highly recommend this.
