Buddy Reads-Mini-Reviews
April's buddy read was: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
Stephanie's mini review:
I absolutely loved Scarlet! It was a definitely 5 star book in my opinion! I loved Thorne so much! And I was SO happy that Iko was back even though it wasn't her original form :] There was so much in it and I cannot wait to read Cress when it comes out next February!
Click here for a look at my entire review
Megan's mini review:
I loved Scarlet just like Steph did-- five stars, which is really rare for me. But it was completely worth it. Scarlet was a totally kick-butt character that surpassed Cinder in my opinion, and I couldn't help but swoon over her boy, Wolf. That is a beautiful man-- and an especially interesting twist. Hopefully, Cress will be better. (Oh, gosh, can you imagine my fangirling?)
Read my full review here, and check out an audioclip sampling here.
Sarah's mini review:
Scarlet was amazing. Like Megan I thought Scarlet far surpassed Cinder. She was completely awesome. And Wolf, seriously I didn't see that coming with him but I love him anyway. I can't wait for Cress, it's way too far away!
My full review can be found here.
Angela's mini review:
Scarlet was not a 5-star book for me. Almost, but not quite. I liked it much more than Cinder, but like the first book, it was lacking. The characters from Cinder that reappeared in Scarlet were completely different from how I saw them in the first (talking about Kai here). Nonetheless, this was a great book. Marissa Meyer creates totally swoon-worthy boys. I only hope Cress exceeds my expectations. I don't doubt it.
Read my full review here.
We had the amazing pleasure of interviewing Marissa Meyer during our Buddy Reads month when we read Scarlet. It was such an awesome and exciting event for us. So, without further ado, here is the interview with the talented, brilliant Marissa Meyer!
1. How do you think you relate to Scarlet? There must be some way that you’re alike, right?
I think every writer has to put a little bit of themselves into their characters, even if it’s just a tiny thing! With Scarlet, I think we both have a very deep appreciation of home, and a desire to live a pretty simple, uncluttered life. Even though Scarlet is whisked away on an adventure, all she really wants is to get back to her farm and be with the people she loves, and I can relate to that a lot. (Even though I don’t live on a farm…)
2. What made you want to do a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood?
I love LRRH because it’s a tale that everyone is familiar with, and yet it hasn’t been retold to death like some other tales have (like, er… Cinderella.) On top of that, when I started brainstorming different ways I could futurize some of my favorite tales, I loved the idea of the “Big Bad Wolf” being a genetically-mutated creature akin to a paranormal werewolf, but… you know, more scientific. So that’s really where the idea started.
3. What was the hardest part in writing Scarlet?
Definitely striking a good balance between the two storylines – Cinder’s and Scarlet’s – and making sure that both plotlines had good momentum and engaged the reader’s interest. I was concerned that readers would be so in love with one story they would want to completely ignore the other, so I did a lot of finagling to try to make each of them very different from each other, while still being interesting and exciting in their own ways.
4. What books or authors have influenced you the most in life?
The Lord of the Rings was huge – they were the first books that showed me that writers could create entirely new universes and we didn’t have to be stuck with our normal time and existence. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld was also really inspiration for this series in particular, because it was doing really in a time pre-Hunger Games, when a lot of people thought teens weren’t interested in science fiction. So seeing the success of that series encouraged me to pursue this crazy sci-fi fairy tales idea I had.
5. What made you change the personalities of Scarlet and her grandmother from the original story?
One of the great things about retelling stories is you have the freedom to do whatever you want with it! I’m not so interested in protagonists that wander around without a purpose or let themselves get gobbled up by wolves without a fight, so I chose to write about female characters who are strong-willed and courageous instead. Of course, I believe that strength and empowerment comes through in different ways, so I hope my female characters will demonstrate that throughout the series.
6. How did you come up with the dynamic between Scarlet and Wolf?
It was pretty clear early on that Wolf was going to fit the “bad boy” archetype (he does have that big, bad wolf thing going for him, after all), but real people aren’t archetypes. They have eccentricities and contradictions that make them human and interesting. So with Wolf, I started to question who he was and how he came to be in this role that he’s in, and I realized that he would probably have some really awkward, shy tendencies… especially when it comes to Scarlet, who is about as frank and brash as they come. So it became a lot of fun to throw them together and see how they react.
7. How do you create such swoon worthy guys and can we expect even more in the upcoming books?
Thank you, I’m so glad you think so! I’m not really sure that there’s a trick to it - I just write about male leads that *I* swoon over, and hope that my readers will too! There is one more hero that readers have yet to be introduced to in this series, so I hope you’ll adore him as well.
Thank you so much Marissa for letting us interview you! You have been such a great inspiration for us here at The Raven Readers and we CANNOT wait to see what you create for the rest of this series and for future books!
If you read Scarlet, let us know what you thought in the comments!
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