Meyer creates a spooky horror atmosphere in her sophmore adventure of The Lunar Chronicles that continues the adventures of fugitive Cinder and takes on the Red Riding Hood tale.

Scarlet is a hotheaded girl whose grandmother has gone missing and the detective have dropped the case after only two weeks. Scarlet is sure that something is wrong and her grandmother must be incorrectly caught up in something bad. This fear is only strengthened by the sudden reappearance of her neglectful father. A crazed and fearful father who has been tortured by the same men who have kidnapped her grandmere.

By her side is the mysterious street fighter, Wolf who Meyer aptly depicts as a soft, awkward soul who also possesses the ruthlessness and ferocity of a man unhinged when fighting. He is vulnerable yet close-off which is an odd dichotomy to describe a character but Meyer balances those traits well enough to make him a compelling character even before his backstory is revealed.

Meyer’s quickfire one day romance between them simultaneously follows the lines of Red Riding Hood as Wolf presents a mysterious danger to Scarlet that she is unsure she should trust him throughout their journey. Yet it is also a Beauty and the Beast tale as Scarlet manages to see past Wolf’s harsh demenour and killer instincts to see the human beneath it all. Furthermore, she certainly fits the Belle-character by being more savvy than Wolf believes with handy gun and hover skills. She’s also considered “crazy” just as her grandmere is as she chooses to look beyond the hype/rumors assigned to Linh Cinder and cyborgs in general. She wants to form her own opinion thank you very much.

Together though their time is short, their romance is sweet and believable and very enjoyable.

As for Cinder, she manages to quickly access her Lunar gifts and use her new cyborg hand to break out. She unexpectedly picks up a partner in crime too, the snarky, flirty dishonorably charged thief Carswell Thorne who is a few steps behind others. While that may annoy Cinder, I love him.

Anyway Cinder learns a bit more about the eleven years she has no recollection of and how exactly she came to Earth. Additionally, as she begins to wield her powers more, she fears how easy she can take advantage of others. How similar she could be to her evil aunt Queen Levena if she let herself cross all her moral lines. But there may come a time when she’ll have to step up as Levena’s secret army of mutants come to the fore and threaten Earth once more, making Kai come to an awful decision in order to save his people.

Like I wrote above, this book takes a more horror-like turn as Scarlet and Wolf face off against Grandmere’s kidnappers. There’s a lot more bloodshed and the disconcerting shadows stalking the abandoned Parisian opera house Grandmere is held in, add to the mood. There is also body-horror and moral horror as the climax commences showing that Meyer will pull no punches as the threat of war looms over Earthen society.

Unfortunately, I still find the romance between Cinder and Kai to be unbelievable especially how emotionally gut-punched Cinder is when Kai is in danger when there are other greater concerns. At least Scarlet acknowledged that with Wolf and shook herself off to focus on bigger things.

Anyway, this is thrilling book that will keep people at the edge of their seat.