Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Scarlet

What a great second book! We're given new characters that are just as vibrant as book one, and the plot really picks up. The beginning can be a little frustrating/disorienting as you get used to who is who, but it is quickly intriguing. It's obvious that the plot was clearly laid out from the inception of these books because of its intricacies. Some people may be frustrated with the lack of Kai in this one, and it is more gory than book one. Sometimes the new characters can be a bit toxic, but it also makes them interesting.

I do not factor audiobook narrators' performances into in my overall star rating of a book, but I would give Rebecca Soler a 4.5/5. She did better with this one than the last, with a bit more variance in her emotion, although it still drones or falls flat in parts. Her accents were quite good, actually allowing me to know who was talking when. However, I started to wonder why Scarlet has a French accent (typically, though sometimes Soler forgets to use it) but Kai, for instance, has an American one even though he lives in New Beijing.

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modernhobbitvibes's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

2.25

Nearly stopped reading when the twenty year old flirted with the sixteen year old, but my own inner sixteen year old wanted to know what happened to the wolf-hybrid soldier man, so I stuck it out. Not sure if I'll be finishing this series though. Insert Jupiter Ascending joke here.

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caeliaucoin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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lawbooks600's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Representation: Asian characters
Score: Seven points out of ten.

Well. First I have a statement, the last book I read from Marissa Meyer (a hit or miss author), Cursed, was a hit so I headed in with high expectations when I picked up the book and finally read it. When I finished it, I enjoyed it but I didn't think this novel was a step up or a step down from Cinder (it was at the same level as Cinder, which isn't a bad thing) and I'm hoping Cress might be better. It starts with the new main and titular character Scarlet Benoit or Scarlet for short living in Rieux, France. The book cuts to Cinder in the Eastern Commonwealth from the preceding book. As with other long books (like 400+ pages long) it's slow paced but again that let me explore new and familiar characters e.g., Wolf (which I liked.) Speaking of, I liked all the people in this book except Levana but for some reason I couldn't connect to them which didn't ruin my enjoyment of the narrative in any way. The first three quarters of the book had nothing much happen except character dynamics except the last quarter, where the Lunars started a war on Earth, invading and causing human genocide (horrific but understandable; they're the villains after all) which ends the book. The bonus content at the end was intriguing as well including a short story and a sneak peek at Cress.

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thumbeleia's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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msradiosilence's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

TLDR; 5 rating, my favorite, Wolf <3
Content warnings at the bottom. :)

I remember reading this like 4 times in high school. It was my favorite of the series. I love Scarlet and Wolf, I love the French setting, and I hate tomatoes but this book made me want to like them.

Wolf and Thorne are my two favorite characters, and I love them for different reasons. Wolf is the epitome of “I can fix him” and gentle with the people he cares about while being absolutely terrifying to everyone else. This is for sure what molded my love life, at least when it came to men. Thorne is just…he’s a himbo, no thoughts only crime, and he cracks me up.

Iko as the Rampion was fantastic, even if it was a little fatphobic. She didn’t have to talk so bad about how big she was all the time, but Meyer did an excellent job describing how she emotes while an actual ship.

Anyway. Once again, Meyer has a hard time with setting, but with Scarlet and Wolf visiting very specific French places, it’s a little easier to picture, but I wish she would allow herself to be more descriptive with the settings.

Rating: 5
Would I recommend? Yes, especially if you enjoy moon people, quippy robots, and sci-fi fairytale retellings.

Content warnings: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, War, Child death, Medical content, Classism, Death of parent, Gun violence, Ableism, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, Confinement, Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Kidnapping

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