Hi Everyone,
Here's the first of many book reviews I have to do. We're going to do them a little bit out of order because I read the first two books in The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer but I didn't read them back to back so we'll just roll with it. First was
Cinder, which was book one of the Lunar Chronicles which I finished on May 6, 2018. Second is
Scarlet, which is book two of the Lunar Chronicles which I finished on May 31, 2018. For anyone who doesn't know, the Lunar Chronicles is a sci-fi series that retells classic fairy tales: Cinder is a retelling of Cinderella and Scarlet is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. So first up, Cinder by Marissa Meyer.
So Cinder is the story of Cinderella retold in a futuristic China where Cinderella is a cyborg mechanic named Cinder. Cinder meets Prince Kai, the son of the Emperor and heir to the throne, when he brings an android to her for fixing. The kingdom is facing a plague that kills indiscriminately and threats from people known as the Lunars who have a kingdom on the moon and are telepathically manipulative. They are led by a Queen named Levana who has her eyes set on Kai's father's kingdom. Over the course of the story, Kai's father dies of the plague leaving Kai emperor and Levana turns her sights on him for not just an alliance but a marriage that would give her control of his Empire as Empress. Cinder discovers she's a Lunar herself with a chip implanted in her nervous system to suppress her powers to keep her safe. She finds that Kai's droid doesn't work due to an incompatible communications chip that someone inserted to spy on him and the night of the ball, the chip activates in Cinder's room revealing that the Lunars have been spying on the Emperor and Levana plans to marry Kai, become Empress and then kill him to give herself complete control of the empire. Cinder goes to the ball to warn him and is exposed by Levana as a Lunar and a Cyborg. She is arrested for making an attempt to assassinate Kai and there she gets a visit from the doctor who had revealed her to be a Lunar, revealing that she is the lost Lunar Princess that Levana had killed to take control of the kingdom and therefore the true heir to the throne. He leaves, telling her she has to escape and to come find him when she does. And that's the book.
I loved Cinder. I thought it was cleverly done and the sci-fi setting was amazing, especially in contrast to the fairy tale retelling. I like how in the climax of the story, the confrontation between Cinder and Kai and Levana, instead of losing a slipper like in the fairy tale, Cinder loses her artificial cyborg foot. I love fairy tales, I mean I was born in 1988 and I grew up with fairy tales ala Disney. Truthfully, Cinderella is one of my least favorite fairy tales but I really enjoyed the sci-fi spin on it and how it sets up Cinder to be the heroine of not just her own story but of everyone else's as well. I like how Cinder gives you the impression that the princess doesn't just save herself but she'll save the prince/emperor as well. I read Cinder in three days flat and gave it a five stars on Goodreads.
Second book is Scarlet, the second book in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer.
Scarlet tells the story of a girl named Scarlet who lives in France and is retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. Scarlet lives on a farm with her grandmother, abandoned by her father, who is a drunk. When we meet her she's devastated by the loss of her grandmother who has been missing and the police think she just up and left and have quit the investigation. After a problem at a restaurant/bar she sells produce to she meets a transient street fighter called Wolf. Over the course of the story Wolf and Scarlet become uneasy allies and go in search of her grandmother who they've tracked to Paris. In Paris you discover that Wolf is really a Lunar wolf soldier. Ultimately he betrays his own people for Scarlet and they save each other. Since these books are part of a series, you find out that the Lunars have taken Scarlet's grandmother because she was a pilot who helped Cinder escape from Queen Levana as a little girl and provided the secret space where she became a cyborg. Scarlet's grandmother dies but Scarlet and Wolf decide to find the Princess and save the world from Levana. As Scarlet's story is playing out you find Cinder escaping from prison with the new cyborg hand that her doctor gifted her when he visited her. She ends up in another cell by accident and allies herself with a man named Thorne. They have a stolen American spaceship and go looking for Scarlet's grandmother for answers about Cinder's past. They end up finding and rescuing Scarlet and Wolf and the four band together to save the world. As all this plays out Kai is under pressure from his people and the world and when Levana's wolf soldiers attack several major cities, Kai calls Levana and tells her that he'll marry her if she calls off the attack, despite knowing it means his death. And that's book two.
I loved Scarlet just as much as Cinder and thought that the street fighter/lunar soldier twist to Wolf was a great play on the Big Bad Wolf. I didn't like Scarlet as a character quite as much as Cinder but by the end I liked her almost as well. I'm definitely ready to see where the series goes and how these characters mesh with others to defeat Levana and save Earth (and Kai). Like the first book, I read Scarlet in just a couple days and finished it on May 31, 2018 and gave it a 5 stars on goodreads.
So there's the first two book reviews. I have six more to do in the next couple days and it'll probably be two at a time. There's also an OwlCrate unboxing coming your way so enjoy!
Happy Reading!
Richelle and Emma
