Book Review: Sisters Red

Sisters Red
Jackson Pearce

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?



Star Rating:


Review:
As a lover of fairytales-retold, I adore the idea of this book, but found myself overall, disappointed. Pearce's attempts to tell an old story in a new and interesting way are only partially successful in that he falls back on too many of the same old cliches. It's one thing to be able to predict a movie ending (and, ironically, the movie that comes to mind is Red Riding Hood, whose greatest secret I had called before the first fifteen minutes passed) but it is entirely a different thing when you are able to call the ending of a book. I almost put it down several times - a dishonor which I have bestowed on very few books - simply because the events were only proving time and again that my theory was correct. It's no fun to already know the ending of a mediocre book.

That said, it does get two stars, because cheesy romance and 2/3 ridiculous cliched characters aside, Pearce did do some interesting things with the retelling - such as having the Hunters instead on exclusively weak little pixies. It also just may be the fact that I am good at finding the wolves crawling out of the woodwork - many others are may not be able to predict it as well as I did, and for them, this book will certainly be enjoyable.