The story of Scarlett and Rosie March, two highly-skilled sisters who have been hunting Fenris (werewolves) – who prey on teen girls – since Scarlett lost her eye years ago while defending Rosie in an attack. Scarlett lives to destroy the Fenris, and she and Rosie lure them in with red cloaks (a colour the wolves can't resist), though Rosie hunts more out of debt to her sister than drive.
But things seem to be changing. The wolves are getting stronger and harder to fight, and there has been a rash of news reports about countless teenage girls being brutally murdered in the city. Scarlett and Rosie soon discover the truth: wolves are banding together in search of a Potential Fenris – a man tainted by the pack but not yet fully changed. Desperate to find the Potential to use him as bait for a massive werewolf extermination, the sisters move to the city with Silas, a young woodsman and long time family friend who is deadly with an axe. Meanwhile, Rosie finds herself drawn to Silas and the bond they share not only drives the sisters apart, but could destroy all they've worked for.
Review:
This book really brought home to me how subjective reading is. I have read a few other reviews and was eagerly awaiting this book. Imagine my surprise when there within the narrative is a tender and poignant depiction of Alzheimer's. This is some thing very personal to me as my mother passed away from this terrible disease 3 years ago. I think I would have loved this book anyway but this element took it to a completely different level for me. As no-one else had mentioned the Alzheimer's within the narrative I wasn't expecting it and certainly didnt expect to cry in a story about werewolves, lol. Proving that your own life experiences really do effect how you interpret stories. It made me wonder if Jackson Pearce had first hand knowledge of this affliction, her portrayal of it was so realistic.
OK now that I have had my little download back to the book.
The action was adrenaline pumping from the very first page. No more fluffy, do gooder, I would like to cuddle you type Wolves. The fenris are bad to the core, hideous beasts and they smell bad : D The description are so sensory within the narrative that you totally immerse yourself in their world.
All of the characters are extremely well developed with multi-layers to their personalities. Revealed piece by piece through the action they were all very easy to relate to and their interactions realistic. The story showed how one specific incident can shape your personality and interactions. Also the bonds that tie people together were laid bare. Showing that no matter how close you are to another person, you have to be the person that you are and not what they want you to be. I hope that makes sense?????
The parallels between the original fairytale and Sisters Red were truly ingenious. I especially liked the part when Rosie takes a basket of cookies to Silas's house. The description and parallels conjured wonderful images of both stories at the same time. The description of Silas's house really reflected the elements of a fairytale : D
A truly phenomenal read. It has romance, action, adventure, family relationships/bonds and the paranormal. What more could you ask for. I really hope that there will be more books following Rosie and Scarlett's adventures. Count me in : D
Yay! Glad you liked it. This is one of my absolute favourite books of 2010 so far. Apparently the next book set in this world doesn't focus on Rosie and Scarlett, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll pop up again. And what you said about the message (that you need to be who you are for yourself and not who someone else needs you to be) makes *perfect* sense.
ReplyDeleteRe: the portrayal of the character who has Alzheimers, I thought it was excellently done too. Very poignant.
Great! I haven't read it yet but I'm setting this for fall. Alzheimers is not something I have read widely about, and this will be a great start. It sounds like a winter read to me, I wonder why. Very thorough review here, Emma, thank you!
ReplyDeleteOh I hadn't heard about the Alzheimer's aspect of it either. Everyone has amazing things to say about this book, which makes me almost nervous to read it. I think I'm going to wait a bit for this one.
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