Book Review - Scarlet

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Today, I have another book review for you all. As you know, I've been reading the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. Amazing young lady. Love this series so far, and I'm only two books in. I can't wait to see what's coming in Cress. I own it, now I just gotta read it! My tangible books get read alongside my digital ones, and I usually read more than one at a time (as evidenced by the long list I'm now writing reviews for). Anyway! Enough of my goings on and on.

How about we get to the fun stuff, eh? Starting, as always, with details about the book on the chopping block for today:

Title: Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles #2)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre: YA Fairy tale Adaptations - Sci-Fi
Length (print): 512 pages
Buy Link: Amazon Paperback $5.72

Blurb:
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.

Now for the review!

Okay, so I read Cinder and loved the new twist on an old tale (what can I say, I'm a sucker for anything having to do with a fairy tale). I couldn't wait to dive into Scarlet. I ran out to BAM and bought it. Really wanted the hardcover, but they didn't have any in stock, so the paperback is what I ended up with. Someone, somewhere, told me these were going to be a movie (hell yeah!), and I truly hope that's the case. I'm in literary love with these characters and the stories going on. Anyway, now that you know where and why I picked up Scarlet, let's get on to the review!

From a Reader's Perspective:
I was completely entranced by the twist on the classic Little Red Riding Hood. Scarlet is my kind of chick. She grew up on a farm, can work on cars, and believes in the people she loves even when the whole world is telling her otherwise. Win. I loved Cinder in this story, too. She's becoming one of my favorite literary characters of all time. These young ladies are tough, emotional, and willing to do whatever they have to in order to set things right in the world. Interconnection between the storylines is what really intrigues me. I love finding little bits and pieces of how one character's tale impacts another. It's almost as though Meyer sat down with a huge drawing board and sketched out how many different ways she could throw the reader for a loop. Fascinating. World building is well done, and seeing Earth so far in the future is mesmerizing. I could picture everything happening with perfect clarity. Pacing was a little slow at times, but never dragged on for more than a chapter.

From an Editor's Perspective:
This being a trad published book, I expected fewer run-on sentences, comma splices, and dialogue/action tag mix-ups than my usual reads (Indie). I was shocked at the number of oopsies I found. However, there were no storyline snags. See below for rating impact.

Rating:
1 Star for bringing a whole new level of awesome to RRH
1 Star for connecting Scarlet and Cinder so well
1 Star for world building
1 Star for pacing and imagination run amok
.5 Star for no plotline holes
-.5 Star for grammatical errors
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars. I round up, not down, so you'll see 5 stars on my review. Recommended if you're a fan of fairy tale twists!

Have you read the series? What did you think?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Book Review - Cinder

It's Wednesday, and it's time for another book review! I got to meet Marissa Meyer at Utopia in June, and she signed my copy of Cinder. It was awesome. She's very sweet, and if you ever get the chance to meet her, do it. See my interview with her here. Today's review will go in the Time for Books 2015 Review Team pool. So far, the reviewers participating have read and reviewed 310 books! Wow. Check them out here.

Without dallying any more, I give you the book up for review today.

Title: Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Length (print):
Buy Links: Amazon Kindle $2.99  ~  Paperback $5.88

Blurb:
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

***Will not appear in review elsewhere. I love this cover. It screams cyborg and all things sci-fi. Color and imagery are spot on, and need I even talk about that gorgeous font? Hello, harmony! And all women love shoes; am I right? It just fits the genre and storyline perfectly. Well done, book cover designer! Also, if you haven't read Cinder, the interior is set in a sans-serif font (not something you see often) that ties the whole idea together even further. Simply beautiful.***

Let's get on to the review!

I had the great pleasure of interviewing Marissa Meyer on my blog a little while back, and my discussion with her prompted me to pick up a copy of Cinder. I snagged the paperback at a local bookstore, dove in, and was hooked from page one. When I got to meet Marissa at Utopia Con in Nashville in June, it was all I could do not to gush at her over the awesome world she wove. But, enough of that, let's get on to the review, shall we?

From a Reader's Perspective:
Okay, I have to admit, I'm usually a gal who can spoil a book by thinking about it too much while I'm reading. Endings never twist and turn on me, and I have a keen eye for hints dropped in the prose that tell about what's coming. This book wasn't one I could predict. I found myself making guesses, reading on, and being like: Dang, I thought I had it! I love books that captivate me this way. Keeps me turning the pages. Pacing in the book was bang on, and I breezed through it in about a week, never wanting to put it down.

I love the world Ms. Meyer built. I could picture New Beijing in my mind quite well, even though the author didn't bog me down with a ton of description. My imagination was beautifully engaged.

Cinder is a wonderfully complex character with flaws I could identify with. She never felt like she fit in, and she had few friends she really spoke to. Not believing herself worthy or deserving of anything, she reminded me of what I loved about Cinderella most: humbleness. I felt hate for her step-mother and the Lunar queen, and I wanted Cinder to win all the things by the end of the novel.

I so need book two now.

From an Editor's Perspective:
Tiny errors you'd find in any book. Nothing major.

Rating:
1 star for a beautifully complex main character
1 star for pacing
1 star for not bogging me down with fluff
1 star for keeping me guessing (still, even after the end)
1 star for editing
Overall: 5 out of 5 stars. Recommended for those who love a world built around a flawed, charming character. 

Have you read it? What did you think?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Official utopYA Con Author Interview - Marissa Meyer

Happy, happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! This is my official utopYA con 2015 post for the month of January. I’m excited to be bringing you one of the female authors tearing up the book market right now, Marissa Meyer! That’s right, the author of The Lunar Chronicles is gracing you with her presence. *grin* So exciting! She’ll be at the conference in June, and she’ll be speaking on two panels: ClockWise World Building and Gender Roles & Stereotypes. If you haven’t added those to your schedule yet, do that now.

For this month, the official bloggers are bringing you amazing utopYA panelist interviews, information, and awe-inspiring stories. Be sure and visit the other wonderful utopYA blogs:

Week 2 – A Book Vacation
Week 3 – The Paisley Reader
Week 4 – Book Junkie: Not So Anonymous

Remember, I'll be bringing you snippets of those posts with links every Friday so you'll remember to head over and check them out.

Let’s get to the interview! I know you’re all eager to hear what I’m going to ask.

Jo: Welcome to the blog, Marissa. You’re such an inspiration to so many female authors out there, and I’m honored to have you for a few questions. I can’t wait to meet you at utopYA. That being said, for my first question, I’d like to know what the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten on writing was and who it came from.

Marissa: Thank you so much for including me in your utopYA blogger coverage! I’m not sure where I first heard this advice (it’s certainly not unique), but I think the best advice is to write what you’re truly excited about, and what you love. It can be tempting to try and write to the trends or follow the market, but writing can be a long, exhausting process, and you need love and passion to get all the way to the end. And that passion will show through in the final product!

Jo: You’re so very welcome. We're stoked you had the time! That’s awesome advice, and I know a lot of writers will benefit from it. Hear that, everyone? Write what you’re excited about! Question two: Did you expect the wild success of your series, and how did you feel when you realized it was taking off the way it did?

Marissa: Oh, never. When I was writing Cinder I thought it would be a miracle if anyone else ever read it. There were many days when I thought I must be crazy, thinking that anyone else in the world would be interested in reading about a cyborg Cinderella! But that goes back to writing what you love – I was so excited about Cinder’s story from the moment it popped into my head, so I knew I had to write it and try to publish it. Once I started submitting to agents, though, things started to happen fast and I began to think that, okay, maybe I’m not crazy after all! The series ended up going to auction between two publishers, and Macmillan sent us a preliminary marketing plan, which was very extensive and enthusiastic. I think that was the first point when I realized that maybe this was going to be a Big Thing. (Though to this day it doesn’t feel entirely real!)

Jo: I can’t imagine how you felt. Must’ve been one heck of a high! You’re living the dream so many authors have. Congratulations! How awesome. Question three: What fuels your creative process?

Marissa: Ever since I was a kid I’ve lived my life half in reality, half in daydreams. I just constantly have little fantasies going through my head, and over time those start to crystallize into stories, complete with characters and adventures and little snapshots of different scenes. I long ago realized that if I didn’t write those stories down, they would haunt me forever. I might go through periods where I’m not “inspired” or excited about a particular writing project, but that need to write never goes away entirely.

Jo: I’m with you there. So many words, so little time! *grin* I have to know: Did you plot out your entire Lunar Chronicles series before you started writing? If yes, how long did it take you and what were some of the road-bumps you had to navigate through? If no, what’s been the biggest drawback to not having a set plot?

Marissa: I did – I’m big on outlines, and I knew early on that I wanted this series to overlap and intertwine in a way that felt really airtight. So I outlined all four books before I started writing, which probably took a couple of months, and then I drafted Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress all back to back. It was really helpful for getting a feel for the plot and characters and being able to foreshadow some events in the later books. That said, things always change, no matter how much forethought I put into them! So while I may have drafted the first three books early on, they all ended up having to be rewritten once I really started figuring things out. It was worth it, though—having so much written at the beginning of the process gave me a lot to work with.

Jo: I bet that helped when you were shopping book one. I know I’d like to see an author with their stuff together if I were a publisher. That’s quite an undertaking. Fantastic job! Last question! Since time travel is the theme of utopYA con 2015, I like to ask about past and future choices. So, is there anything you’d go back and change in your writing career? What impact do you think it would have?

Marissa: Oh my, good question! There was one novel that I’d started writing before Cinder about a teenage girl who was secretly an assassin. I ended up setting that novel aside for various reasons, but it still has a special place in my heart and I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I’d finished and tried to sell that book first, especially now with the success of assassin books like Grave Mercy and Throne of Glass. This isn’t so much a regret—obviously things have worked out pretty well with The Lunar Chronicles!—but it’s one of those things that I think about sometimes. Who knows, maybe that book will make a reappearance someday!

Jo: Well, if it does, I’m sure it’ll be as amazing as your series! Thank you so much for gracing us with your presence. I know you’re a very busy lady, and I appreciate you taking the time for my interview. I’ll see you at utopYA!

Now you know what kind of amazing people you’ll get to meet at the con. If you don’t have tickets yet, get them here while they’re still at early-bird prices.

Want to read Cinder? Pick up a copy on Amazon here for $2.99 (as of the date of this post).
Already read Cinder? Interested in Fairest? Pre-order it on Amazon here for $9.99 (as of the date of this post). Releases Jan 27, 2015.

Let’s give Marissa a follow on social media, shall we?
Twitter: @Marissa_Meyer
Facebook: Marissa Meyer Author
Website: MarissaMeyer.com

Thanks for reading the interview, and I do hope you pick up a copy of Cinder, book one of the series!

Well, that’s all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo