Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet's grandmother is missing. The townspeople suspect suicide...what else could it be? No note. No missing items. Just gone. Scarlet refuses to believe her grandmother would do such a horrible thing. Her grandmother, the kind and somewhat strict woman that raised Scarlet after the passing of her mother. No. It was not suicide. But what?

Then she meets Wolf, a cryptic street fighter with information on her grandmother's whereabouts. What Scarlet doesn't expect, after she decides to let him help, is to fall in love.

Meanwhile, Cinder, with the humorous and 'charming' convict named Thorne, escape from prison and flee to outer-space. Cinder is still very apprehensive of her Lunar gift, not just because she doesn't want control people, but that she enjoys it when she does.

Queen Levana is on the move - sneaking her way through Prince Kai's defenses - and is coming closer and closer to having the Eastern Commonwealth in her clutches.  

~

(For my review on Cinder go here: Cinder Review)

~


Here it is folks! My review on Scarlet, the sequel of the amazing book Cinder.

I'll start by saying that this book is just as epic as it's companion. The characters were just as well written and the plot was just as awesome. One thing that I liked more about Scarlet was the plot-twists. Cinder was pretty easy to predict, but Scarlet surprised me more frequently. No worries, I won't give anything away! Just be prepared...(cue suspenseful music...)

The Characters:

Scarlet - In one sentence: A spunky redhead who delivers produce from her grandma's farm to neighboring businesses. That is, until her grandmother goes missing. I enjoyed reading her stubbornly funny character. 

WOLF - Sorry, I couldn't help putting his name in caps, he's just such a bold, strong character. After a few chapters, I thought I had him sorted out, but NO. At first, he's just so mysterious and strange, then that all changes, then it changes again and again, until I barely knew what to think of him. Really neat character here.

Thorne - Now, this man...he's one of my favorites. Made me laugh and want to slap him at the same time. In three words he's: Arrogant (not in a really bad way, he's just good-looking and knows it), Charming (maybe flirtatious is a better word...), and Funny, really funny. 


Grand-mère - Yeah, I forgot to mention Scarlet and her Grandmother live in France...Anyways, this grandma rocks! Even though she's only in a few scenes, you get a sense of who she is: A spunky, stubborn, retired military officer. A woman who may or may not have vital information on the missing Lunar Princess Selene...

Besides these four characters, and a group of villians, there isn't really any new characters - all the rest are from Cinder.


The Plot:

As I've already stated, it's full of twists and turns that left me spinning. The chapter are mostly written in either Scarlet's or Cinder's perspective, but a few are in Thorne's, Kai's, and even Queen Levana's, which I personally liked. I must admit though, I was eager to get to Cinder's chapters more than Scarlet's...


Overall, this book was AMAZING. I can't wait for the next one titled Cress, which doesn't come out until February of next year. *sob*


~



5 Stars

Ages 14+  


  

Starters by Lissa Price

Callie Woodland lives in a futuristic Beverly Hills. Her brother is sick, she's too young to be employed, and they're both unclaimed minors hiding from marshals. The only way Callie can make money is to sell her body for periods of time.

You see, a company called Prime Destinations developed a way to give the elderly a chance to be young again. A way for the old and invalid to do things they might other-wise never have been able to. Sky-diving, snowboarding, racing!

Basically, they get put into the teenagers' bodies.Can anyone say creepy?

So, Callie, with no where else to go, signs the contract with Prime destinations. Then, something causes her to wake up during one of her rentals and she finds herself tangled in a messy scheme that will most likely end with her being killed.



~


Okay.

This book looked really interesting when I picked it up. Distopians are what I seem to be most interested in lately, and this looked like it'd be cool, so I was like 'why not?'.

Plot-line: Pretty well done. I didn't feel dropped into a wad of futuristic terms and complexity, so it was easy to understand what was going on. The over-all idea of the book was cool. I mean, people who know how to put other older people into kids' bodies? Neat idea!

The beginning is slow and took a little getting used to. Callie goes to Prime and decides to go through with renting out her body. She gets a complete make-over, complete with laser treatments. She's insured, of course, and the renter is under a strict 'no doing dangerous things that could harm your rental and no sex' rule. So, what could possibly go wrong? Ha.

The middle is where something goes wrong. During her third rental, Callie wakes up. She receives a cryptic message telling her that, for her own safety, she mustn't go back to Prime. She listens and proceeds to live like she's her renter.

The end was probably the best part of the book. I was actually mildly surprised!

Characters: Hollow. Even the Callie, who should be the most fleshed-out character, was hard to relate to. It was all so messy. For example: I think there's supposed to be a love triangle, but you can't really tell because their emotions aren't portrayed well. Oh, and the Old Man (villain) wasn't...well, scary or threatening. Just mysterious and strange. Personally, I like a villain I can hate, and I can't say I hated the Old Man. I can't say I have any connection at all to any of the characters. It was disappointing.



~


3 Stars

Ages 14+
(brief kissing scene and sexual references)

My Fear Simulation

As some of you know, I recently read Veronica Roth's fantastic book Divergent...and in the book there are these simulations where the characters are put through their worst fears. This made me wonder, what are my fears? At first, I couldn't really think of a lot. I mean, I'm not afraid of heights or water or snakes. None of the big things I hear others say they're scared of. So, what am I afraid of? Even now, as I'm writing this, I still can't think of a lot of things that are scary to me. There are things I'm grossed out by, like bugs and blood, but does that mean I'm scared of them? There's also things I'm nervous about, like performing and meeting new people, but does that make me scared of those things? I don't think so.

Going new places, like a new church, will make me nervous, but it takes me (at max) 30 seconds to start a conversation and talk like I'm bff's with the person. Well, most of the time. There's always that odd relationship that you kind of hide from; that person you skirt around to avoid awkward conversation. I am really bubbly, random, and crazy, so it's usually not difficult for me to jump in to a situation/conversation. Except awkward ones. I can't stand those. Just sitting there, in silence or having small talk, isn't enough for me. I want to be laughing and babbling and having a good time...all the time!

Wow, please stop me next time I decide to go on a totally off-subject rant.

Anyway...What am I afraid of? Well, below is a complex, weirdly reasoned list of the first five to pop into my head.

(Note: These are not greatest to least or least to greatest - it's just a list)

 My Five Fears

1. Falling to my death. I'm not afraid of heights in general, but if it doesn't seem safe to me, then I get nervous.

2. Being alone forever. Now, believe me, I like my alone time as much as the next person. I just have this fear of having no-one/losing everyone.

 3. Icky, crawly bugs. In my bed, or in my closet - laying nests of more icky, crawly bugs.

4.   Being blind. I don't know...I think I'd get used to this one...maybe, but I still have this irrational fear of my vision slowly fading away like Mary Ingalls... (sorry, no gif for this one)

And last, but certainly not least:

5.Statues. Thank you, Doctor Who. Or should I say, Moffat.

(Sorry to any Whovians out there, I just couldn't resist this gif)

~


 There you have it: my top five fears. Honestly, I can't really think of any more things that I'd actually consider "fears"...More like figments of my paranoid imagination...

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Beatrice Prior lives in a society divided into five factions, each established on particular virtues. She's part of Abnegation: the selfless, serving faction. Each year, all the sixteen-year-olds go through simulation to determine what faction fits them best. Then they have the choice to leave the lives they've known, and join a different faction, or remain where they are for the rest of their lives. When Beatrice goes in for her simulation, she gets more than one result. She is told she is Divergent, and that being so is dangerous.

This book is fantastic.

Can I just leave it at that? No?

I guess I'll give you a proper review then, if you insist.

First, I'll explain the factions: Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, Candor, and Erudite.

After the war ended, society divided into the five factions based on what they believe the cause of the war was. For example:The Dauntless believe cowardice was the cause, therefore they are dedicated to bravery. At least, that was the original plan. With new headship, the Dauntless seem to have lost the virtues they were founded on. How do we know this? Oh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot to mention that Beatrice chooses Dauntless and changes her name to Tris. (I promise this is not spoiler! It's very obvious that she's going to pick it)

Now that we've got the factions down (it took me forever to get them all straight) we can take a look at the characters and plot. 

The characters are well written, relatable, and lovable (some of them, not the villains, obviously). Especially Tris. She is smart, brave, and most importantly, selfish. Selfish? Why would I like a selfish character? Well, because that's what makes her human. When a character has unrealistic qualities, it's pretty hard to attach to them because you don't know them in a physical way. Tris is not one of those characters.
 

And neither is Four.

 

I really like him, and that's statement, because I usually don't care for the male love interests. It might be because of my curiosity to learn why he's called "four", which, by the way, you do learn by the end of the book (so I'm not gonna say anything...). But I think it's also because he's portrayed well. I feel like I know him. There's really nothing more to say.

The other initiates were written well too. Even though they have smaller parts in the story, you seem to get a good look at their personalities and pasts. I was pretty attached to one of them, then, of course, he died.

Funny Sad how that works, huh?

Plot: The beginning was interesting, stepping into this society of factions and learning how the story-world worked. The middle was...painful, funny, and sad. Becoming Dauntless isn't easy, and Roth doesn't make it seem so. The end was pretty shocking, sad, and gripping. I cannot wait to read Insurgent! (unfortunately the waiting list at my library is really, really, agonizingly long...)

I'd recommend this book to Hunger Games lovers and people who like dystopian fiction.

Five Stars

Age: 15+
(Violence, brief kissing scene, and sexual reference)

  There's a movie adaptation coming to theaters March 21, 2014! So excited!