'Sisters Red' may well sate the thirst of teens of the 2000s who love hetero romances with pretty boys, but for someone like me who has grown out of that phase and expects more out of her stories, I got bored after a while. So I skimmed the rest. The book is predictable, pedestrian, meandering, overly long, run-of-the-mill YA fantasy fluff; that again, may be like candy for younger readers, but no one else. With its action-packed and tragic 'Little Red Riding Hood' retelling premise, it had massive potential, but unfortunately it's stuck in YA fantasy romance trappings.
Since it's from 2010 there is less of a feminist critical eye, and social awareness, to it: there are shades of slut shaming and "I'm not like other girls" ("I'm not that kind of girl" is actually said in dialogue as early as page 15). As far as I can tell, everyone is white, as well.
And 'Sisters Red' will NEVER let you forget how hot Love Interest Boy Silas is. And of course he always has to be with the sisters, Scarlett and Rosie, and get to save them from time to time. And DON'T do a drinking game for every time a sister mentions in thought or dialogue that he's right. He's the man, so he always has to be right about everything. Progress!
Silas apparently has triplet sisters, too, but I don't think they are ever named, and they never actually appear in the book. They don't do anything, and don't become woodsmen like the men in their family. These sisters are quite literally an afterthought. Female werewolf hunters is all this book will go in terms of feminism, it seems. The wolves/Fenris are all male, BTW. I am so sick of the alpha male wolf pack BS in paranormal romance novels. It's misogynistic, not to mention boring and uncreative.
But on a positive note, the sisterhood aspect - Scarlett and Rosie's relationship - in 'Sisters Red' is decent. Some of the action scenes are well written and exciting, and the bits of banter between the three leads - Scarlett, Rosie and Silas - are quite amusing. Also, how many other YA books star a main female character who is scarred all over her body? Though Scarlett does have a complex, due to her younger sister Rosie being pretty and innocent and thus receiving Silas's attention. *sigh*
Oh well. That cover is still totally irresistible. I'd do anything for it. It's a shame that what looks attractive and promising can't often deliver.
Final Score: 2/5
Confession Time 1: I wanted to read 'Sisters Red' primarily because of the cover. I mean, who can resist that kind of design? It jumps right at you and demands to be looked at!
Confession Time 2: I dislike a lot of modern fairy tale retellings, especially in YA. This is because they can turn out bland with more creativity put into making a new modern world with a story twist than with developing characters. But mostly because their messages tend to get muddled up with the one the original tale intended. Not much thought is put into what is relevant and unacceptable today; compared to when the tale was first told. The retelling can easily end up as sexist or racist as the original, if not more so.
Confession Time 3: I admit that 'Sisters Red' does come close to having similar problems.
But I was drawn into the lives of the March sisters, Scarlett and Rosie, aka the dark and light sides of 'The Little Red Riding Hood'. Their relationship is lovely, and I felt they really cared for each other. Each chapter in the book is told from the POV of either Scarlett or Rosie. Their voices and personalities are easily distinguishable, and they carry the story and its themes well, which is a big plus.
Scarlett fights these werewolf-like creatures called Fenris; she has to, because she knows they exist. One of them killed her grandmother, Oma March, and scarred her by taking her eye out when she and Rosie were younger. She uses knives and axes (I assume these hunters don't use guns because they're noisy and attract attention in highly-populated locations) to kill the Fenris before the monsters can feed off their prey of teenage girls (called "dragonflies" in this book, because they dress and act sparkly at night). Scarlett is obsessed with her life mission of killing all Fenris, and she simply cannot imagine giving up and settling down, not while they are still around. Her character trait of refusing to ever risk relaxing reminded me a little of Katniss Everdeen from 'The Hunger Games'.
Her sister Rosie, on the other hand, is drawn to the normal lives that other teenagers have. She secretly wants her own hobbies and past times that don't involve hunting Fenris, such as joining an art class. She feels guilty about this because she doesn't want to be ungrateful to Scarlett, or worry her sister. Scarlett's clear weakness is Rosie, and soon the younger March sister must consider the consequences of not training and protecting herself - and also being attracted to Silas - her and Scarlett's childhood friend and grown-up hunting partner. Rosie risks being helpless against Fenris when they come in packs...
The writing in 'Sisters Red' is simple, nothing special - though the action scenes are suspenseful. You read through it breezily while taking in the emotional moments. These are when Scarlett, Rosie and Silas face their inner demons. When they interact with one another, their flaws come forth transparently and they inadvertently make their dangerous tasks worse. Stress can do that to anybody. Nobody is perfect.
But 'Sisters Red' as a whole is far from perfect. Throughout the story, there is a mystery which kicks it off that concerns a Fenris bloodline. The mystery is obvious, despite Jackson Pearce throwing in red herrings along the way.
There is the "victim blaming" and "slut shaming" on page 117, when Slias says that the "dragonflies" wouldn't wear skimpy and shiny outfits or put on perfume if they knew about predators. However he is specifically referring to the Fenris attacking them, and he is overly emotional when he says it. Not that I'm excusing Silas if it turns out he is implying that Fenris also means any man - a man who can be excused as not being responsible for his own actions.
And on the page before, Scarlett also feels angry at normal girls who are going on nights-out and are having fun being ignorant while she has to go around protecting them from wolves. But then she reflects:
"Of course I didn't mean it. Ignorance is no reason to die. They can't help what they are, still happily unaware inside a cave of fake shadows. They exist in a world that's beautiful, normal, where people have jobs and dreams that don't involve a hatchet. My world is a parallel universe to theirs - the same sights, same people, same city, yet the Fenris lurk, the evil creeps, the knowledge undeniably exists." - Page 116
She acknowledges her own unfair judgement, and that society is what made the girls who they are. They are young, after all. This is still a flawed outlook I know, but at least it appears that the author is trying to show responsibility and not blame victims.
The romance aspect of 'Sisters Red' could have been better developed as well. But it doesn't distract from the overall plot and action.
So despite its flaws, I enjoyed 'Sisters Red'. It's a comic book in novel form - an action-packed, sad and even a little cute coming-of-age YA story.
Final Score: 3.5/5
""Then," Oma March said, "their grandmother took them outside into the bright, bright sunlight...
It hurt and burned their eyes because it was the first time they'd seen the sun after living in the dark for so long."" - Page 309
"Run, Rosie. You're the only one who can save yourself." - Page 311
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