Mixed feelings on this one. I liked the beginning of this book and somewhat liked the end. I had a hard time with the middle of the book though. Great premise but not executed well. The beginning definitely caught your attention. With girls out to kick werewolf butt... what could go wrong. And starting out it was great but after awhile the characters started getting whiny and irritating. It would go from fight a werewolf to teenage angst, then fight a werewolf and then more teenage angst. This was what the middle of the book was compiled of. I got really bored with reading it. Finally near the very end it started to get better but by then I didn't really care what happened to the characters because I really didn't like them too much anymore. I really felt that this book could have been so much more.
I loved this book! It was a wonderfully clever modern day twist of the classic fairy tale. It was dark, chilling, and full of suspense. I felt one part of the plot was so blatantly obvious, but then came to doubt it. It is also a book of love, family and loyalty. Very well done.
Jackson Pearce has managed the unthinkable: she's made me wish that I had a sister.
Her novel, Sisters Red, is full of suspense, horror, budding romance and mythology. But it's her portrayal of heroines Scarlett and Rosie March that kept me turning pages well into the night.
Fans of Robin McKinley, Alex Finn and Regina Doman will be naturally drawn to this creative and modernized reimagining of the classic Little Red Riding Hood. But be warned: it's very, very dark in Pearce's woods.
Scarlett March has been hunting Fenris -- werewolves -- since she was attacked seven years ago at the age of 11. That vicious mauling left her without an eye, and without her grandmother and guardian, Oma March. Fortunately, Scarlett was able to save her younger sister, Rosie, the only person she cares about in the world aside from the woodsman's son, her neighbor and best friend, Silas.
Now, as teenagers, the girls don red hooded capes and brave the dark each night, acting as bait for the vicious Fenris. Unlike the Little Red of my youth, these girls don't need to wait to be rescued. Scarlett is deadly with an axe. Rosie is lethal with a knife. And together, they've sacrificed a normal life of school, friends and dating to keep their little town of Ellison safe from the preditors.
Unfortunately, the wolves have come back to Ellison in search of a Potential, a boy or man destined to be turned into a werewolf by a single, well-timed bite. Scarlett, Rosie and Silas must leave their home for Atlanta to fight the massing packs of Fenris on their own ground, and to learn the identity of the mysterious Potential, before more young girls are devoured by the monsters.
Along the way, division, first love and dreams of "having more" become almost as dangerous to the trio as the Fenris themselves. And the way the characters overcome these realistic struggles is almost as magical as the fairy tale they live in.
I loved this book from start to finish. The characters are very real and flawed, and Pearce's use of alternating chapters in Rosie and Scarlett's voices gives readers a chance to get to know both girls better, and see the tragedies unfolding through their own eyes. I was as captivated by the mundane elements of the book as the supernatural ones. Sisters Red is a great YA novel that should not be pigeonholed as a paranormal romance, urban fantasy or the like. It's both of those things, yes, but also so much more.
I've heard rumblings that Pearce has a sequel planned, called Sweetly. I don't know when it's out (I hope soon!) but I can assure you it will be on my "must read" list. In the meantime, don't miss out on Sisters Red.
