When Red Riding Hoods Kill | Sisters Red

Sisters Red (Fairytale Retellings, #1) by Jackson Pearce
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Release date: June 7th, 2010
Genres: YA, Fantasy, Supernatural
Pages:  344
Source: Bought it
Scarlett March lives to hunt the Fenris--the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack. Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves. She's determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead.

Rosie March once felt her bond with her sister was unbreakable. Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts ferociously alongside her. But even as more girls' bodies pile up in the city and the Fenris seem to be gaining power, Rosie dreams of a life beyond the wolves. She finds herself drawn to Silas, a young woodsman who is deadly with an ax and Scarlett's only friend--but does loving him mean betraying her sister and all that they've worked for?
Review:

I bought this book for one third of the original price at a book fair in my town. I checked the rating on Goodreads and it didn't even reach four stars. I reconsidered on buying this book. But, oh well, how bad could it be? Besides, I'd be able to buy it while it was cheap!

Turned out, I was pleasantly entertained by this Red Riding Hood retelling more than I could've thought possible.


In this retelling, we have two Red Riding Hoods instead of one. And they're both badass! What more could I ask for? The story starts with a flashback. A werewolf—or a fenris, as they called it—appeared in front of their doorstep. It killed their grandmother. Then, the older sister—Scarlett—decided to protect her little sister and killed the beast. But she had to lose an eye and have scars all over her body. From then on, Scarlett decided to dedicate her life to hunt Fenris for the rest of her life to avenge her grandma. The little sister—Rosie—who felt in debt to Scarlett, followed her sister's footsteps and did the same.

There were two point of views in this book, one of Scarlett and one of Rosie. They were practically opposites. Scarlett was a tough, cold, and hardly interested in anything besides hunting, while Rosie was bubbly and, well, so very like how a typical sixteen-year-old would be. Everything Scarlett thought of was hunt, hunt, hunt. Kill all the Fenris. No. Mercy. While Rosie was like, yep, okay, I'll hunt. But, wait, I want to take dance classes and, oh! Origami seems fun! Reading their POVs back to back felt kinda overwhelming, though, at some point. I obviously preferred Scarlett's POV. Rosie's POV was too full of clingy romance and high school crushes.

However, if you are looking for action-packed scenes, then you won't be disappointed. This book has LOTS of them. I particularly liked Scarlett's narration better. Even though sometimes I got sick of her lack of explanation every time she looked at a random boy or guy and thought, He is a Fenris, I just knew it. That was it. No explanation. You want me to buy that? Nuh-uh. I need an explanation (sure, he was actually a Fenris but it was gonna take more than just your instinct to convince me).

The plot was predictable, though, in my opinion. But I was still intrigued to read it. I wanted to see how it would unfold. It was fast-paced too. You just have to read a few more pages to read from a fight scene to the next one. Yeah, I didn't mind that at all.



However, there was nothing special on the writing/literature part. I might as well be reading a diary of two different teenage girls. It was just too...bland. Too straight-forward. And, well, it might have been better than reading a long-winded narration. But still. I love good literature and I didn't get it here.

In all, I think Sisters Red was better than I expected. It succeeded in making me read it in one sit. So that's a plus. However, I gave it three and a half stars because it was more than okay, but definitely didn't make me 'really like it'. See my Review Rating System for specifics.

Do I think you should read it? Well, I'll let you decide for yourself.

My rating:    . 5


Reviewed by Inas

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