SCARLET by Marissa Meyer 2/5

SCARLET

(The Lunar Chronicles #2)

by Marissa Meyer

2 out of 5 stars

Read my review on Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) here.

After reaching the very last page of Scarlet, I was astounded why I gave Cinder a generous 3 out of 5 rating. I realized that the only reason the first book of The Lunar Chronicles garnered a positive rating from me was because of its reference to Sailor Moon. 

The rest of Cinder wasn't as spectacular as it could have been. Unfortunately, even after all the positive reviews, Scarlet didn't do any better. As I struggled through it,  I realized why I had such a hard time with it. 

SYNOPSIS

The cyberpunk retelling of The Little Red Riding Hood was set in France, including the still-standing Paris. We follow Scarlet, a farmer from a small French village, whose grandmother was kidnapped. Her grandmother's eccentricities made the villagers conclude that she merely ran away in search of adventure, leaving Scarlet alone in the investigation. Scarlet's search didn't progress until she meets a stranger in the tavern, a street fighter by the name of Wolf. He follows her back into the farm where they found her father, Luc, who confirmed that grand-mere was, indeed, kidnapped. Luc recounts the torture he went through, efficiently describing the tattoo on the arms of his attackers. It was similar tattoo Wolf had. Instead of apprehending Wolf, which she could have done because Wolf could be convicted from the illegal street fighting, she enlists his help in finding grand-mere. They travel to Paris, where they are holding grand-mere, in the hopes of exchanging Scarlet for grand-mere's freedom. It appears that grand-mere held a very important secret that could change the course of the impending war with the Lunars.

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SPOILER ALERT

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Clearly, the true inspiration for this tale is not Little Red Riding Hood. Instead, so many themes in this tale is from Beauty and the Beast, which is a... tale as old as time.

Let me clarify. 

-- The version of Little Red Riding Hood that occurs in France started in the 10th century and was a beloved peasant tale. Naturally, it is full of gore and morals like all fairy tales. However, the red hood started with Charles Perrault in the 17th century. Well, it's not like Cinder was faithful to its truly original version of Rhodopis. So, it's shouldn't be surprising that Scarlet didn't bother with the original Riding Hood African version. 

--- Following Perrault's version, Scarlet has a grandmother and meets a wolf hybrid. Apart from the signature red hood(ie), and grandmother wasn't grandmother afterall scene, there wasn't any other similarity. This is odd because Cinder actually did much better with including a lot of the fairy tale plots in its story (e.g. pumpkin car, metal foot glass slipper, etc.). If this was a retelling, it didn't tell much. 

--- In which case, where does the story come from? Because it didn't read very original. Ah, well... There maybe something there that wasn't there before.

1) Little town... it's a quiet village. 

Where does Scarlet live? In Rieux, which has been described as a small town of merely 3,000 or so residents. What a small town, right? Was it repeatedly discussed a small town in the middle of nowhere? Yes. Was it a provincial town? Hell, yes. Was it so small that every one everyone else? Opening bar scene says everything. Now that's established, there must be more than this provincial life.

2) Crazy old Maurice

Here's a wham. Grandmother's name is Michelle, and Belle's dad is Maurice. WHAM! Just like Maurice, grandmother has been described as eccentric. And, when I say eccentric, I truly mean crazy. She's paranoid and have very strange habits. It doesn't help that grandmother is the most educated person in the village... just like crazy old Maurice. (And they are both old. But that should be obvious.)

3) There must be more than this provincial life (reprise)

You would probably argue that Belle wants adventure but Scarlet wants to stay put to take care of her farm. Of course, you have a point there. Scarlet took care of her farm and has declared that just wants everyone go back to normal. However, Scarlet didn't seem keen in fitting in or doing any actual settling-down. No boyfriends, barely any friends (one friend), etc. She stuck out as a sore thumb in her village. The only thing holding her down to that village is her grandmother. If you think about it, Scarlet doesn't want to stay in the village as much as she wants to stay with her grandmother. Although her devotion to grand-mere prevents her from assessing her own feelings, she is rooted to grandmother and not to the village. Like who? She's different from the rest of (them).

4) Belle

Oh but Belle is a book-nerd, and Scarlet isn't like that at all. Nope. She's a pilot-nerd. Although it wasn't explored as much in the book, Scarlet is a very capable pilot. She has the greatest love for her cargo ship. This might be stretching it, but you'd see it if you squint. It's too good to pass up. 

You what else was on her mind? The Cinder scandal that was constantly referred to in the book via Scarlet. This might also be Wolf assessing if Scarlet would still be sympathetic to her after she learns that he too is Lunar. But, of course, it wasn't discussed. What's come to my mind is that Scarlet had become a little too involved in the Cinder scandal, just like Belle becoming too involved in that book that the sheep ate in the town fountain. Again, it's a stretch.

5) Something there

Oh, Wolf. You're such a beast. Isn't he just mean and was course and unrefined? When Wolf and Scarlet comes together, he started to be something sweet and almost kind. He becomes dear and she becomes unsure, wondering why she didn't see it there before. These feelings culminated with the WHAM event in the train. Wolf was even a little surprised that she didn't shudder at his paw. Scarlet held her own against Wolf at all times, because, you know, they came together on their own. This entire song is the middle bit of this book, only really really drawn out. 

6) Gaston

But there's no Gaston, you'd think. Yes, there is and he is Ran. Like Gaston, he's really full of it. Alright, Gaston was already in love with Belle while Ran's motivation is more of his competition with Wolf. Ran had always been boorish, etc. And wasn't he also covered with hair? Lols. I wonder if Ran also eats 3 dozen eggs. Even more lols. Towards the end, Gaston and Ran had the same goal in mind... Kill the Beast. 

7) Tale as old as Time

It's a tale as old as time. It's a tune as old as song. In turn, the song is as old as rhyme, between Scarlet and the Wolf. How many times have we seen a volatile guy change before our eyes because of a beautiful, head-strong, young girl whose heart is full of righteousness. Can you say Twilight? Don't get me wrong, it was quite satisfying to see Scarlet win over Wolf's more dangerous instincts in that train scene. 

Also, if Scarlet donned on a pretty ball-gown and walked down that grand stair-case, I would have bumped up this book to a full 4 stars. I have absolute love for Beauty and the Beast. If you love Beauty and the Beast as much as I do, here's a decent retelling.

When I was reading that scene, I almost want to forgive all the nonsense Kai chapters and the too-long Cinder-Thorne scenes. They were unnecessary and diverts from the most interesting Scarlet-Wolf scenes. Cinder had a book to herself! Can we just focus on Scarlet please?! In fact, the whole of Cinder-Thorne-Kai scenes could have been inserted into Cinder. Yes, it diverged from the Cinderella story. But you can't possibly give that to us now that we know about the Beauty and the Beast reference in Scarlet. It would have read better if all the Cinder scenes were lumped together in the end. Like this:
PART 1 - All Scarlet scenes: ending with the last Wolf-Scarlet scene. It ends with a cliff-hanger.

PART 2 - Cinder starts her story and converges with Scarlet's story in Paris. 

8) What's missing?

There's no rose and singing appliances. That would have been so cool! Talking appliances are the best!

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END OF SPOILERS

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Just like Cinder, this book wasn't at all as honest to the retelling as it should be. It takes inspiration from another tale and closely resembles that one instead. The original ideas in this book is still worth a look. The entire Lunar conflict is quite interesting. But the decisions characters make aren't as smart as I thought it should be. Admittedly, if characters made all the smart decisions, the story would be as boring as The Queen of the Tearling. But the characters just make the story ridiculous, specifically the world government, Cinder and Kai. In fact, Cinder should have been the last book. Scarlet should be the second book and I'm guessing the first should have really been Cress. I'm reading Cress now and it hasn't bored me yet. Linear stories are easier to read, but in this case it's just makes the already thin plot even more boring.

A word to the wise, don't put WHAM information in expositions please. I'm referring to the information revealed by Wolf (albeit, it had been referred to in Cinder and is clarified in Scarlet) in the woods. What a waste of a possibly good scene.