The premise of Scarlet is interesting and promising however, Marissa Meyer seems to be trying to either a) give too much detail on Scarlet's search for her grandmother or b) have added too much fluff along this storyline. When reading Scarlet's part of the novel I found myself wrestling not to skip ahead to the next chapter.
*****SPOILER***** The fact that she spends most of the time looking for her grandmother yet, there was no actual action until half-way through the novel was problematic for me. I understand that the Wolf pack let her father go to "warn" her/string her along but, the whole idea that no harm would fall on her until 3 weeks later is a little sketchy to me. Which brings me to my next problem with this story...Wolf.
Wolf's character was hot and cold for me. I loved the parts of his personality that were somewhat childlike and curious however, when he got to the point where he became less transparent with Scarlet and started to back away/fall into her advances I became frustrated. Meyer's formation of this character lacked something on this front because, I felt as if Wolf was holding back from the reader. To rectify this issue in further installments, I would suggest Meyer's give Wolf his own chapters so the reader can hear his thoughts and understand his motives first hand instead of through Scarlet's point of view.
Unlike, Cinder and Kai, Scarlet and Wolf's romance while somewhat adorable and promising did not cause me to be emotionally invested in what was happening to them like when I read Cinder and Kai's story. With Scarlet and Wolf I found myself yelling at them (mostly Scarlet) to get it together! Scarlet's mind seemed to be one tracked and outside of that, her likeability as a character was a few notches lower than what I'd give Cinder due to her not really getting a back story outside of the "privileged kid abandoned by divorced parents who gets sent to live with her grandma in the country then has to grow a pair to rescue said grandma from the bad guys" storyline. Usually, when a character's loved one gets taken, you understand their motives but, in this novel I felt as if Scarlet was just searching for her grandma because she had nothing else to do.
I really love Melissa Meyer's creation of Cinder and Scarlet's world and can't wait til Cress and Winter come out. I personally hope Meyer's gives Thorne and Wolf more speaking chapters so that I can get to know them better.
Predictions:
1. I am convinced that the girl who talked to Cinder in the first book through D-COMM is actually the Dr.'s daughter who is also made Thaumaturge Sybil's slave. I think she is Cress and the next novel will follow her on Lunar and show her interacting more with Cinder.
2.I really want Cinder to apprehend an Earthen satellite or even just a netfeed to broadcast to the Earthen nations that she is really Princess Selene. I feel like her doing this BEFORE Queen Levana and Emperor Kai's wedding would totally shake things up a bit and add some kick to the next novel.
Lastly, is anybody else wondering how long it's going to take Kai to figure out who Cinder actually is? I swear something should have clicked in his head 350 pages ago why Queen Levana really wants Cinder. I mean seriously why hasn't she asked for any other Lunar to be returned to her. GET IT TOGETHER KAI!
Stunning review hon! I agree, hearing Wolf's side to the story would be a pleasure within itself. Maybe try to keep the majority of your review spoiler free? Most of your readers probably (and in the future) would want to have help in decided whether this book was for them. This is especially the case when you review ARCs. Other than that, I enjoyed reading your predictions! <3
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