Book Review: Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date: June 2010
ISBN: 978-0316068680
Source: Library

 

Scarlett and Rosie March are Fenris hunters.  As two of the few people who know werewolves exist, they feel obligated to fight and kill them to protect innocent girls.  Scarlett wants to spend the rest of her life fighting them - it's the only thing that makes her feel whole.  Rosie, however, is finding that she'd much rather live a normal life, especially when their old friend Silas returns and she finds herself falling for him.  But all three of them must focus on defeating the Fenris when they begin to mysteriously appear in greater numbers.

Things I Liked:
I have to admit, there is something so delightful to me about a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood with werewolves.  Perhaps it's that I myself wrote a short story along those lines, though with some differences.  Or maybe it's that I don't in general even like the fairy tale, so the fact that this book made me like it was good.  I loved how the story was about the sisters more than anything else.  Books about sisters always get to me, since I have four sisters myself.  Their interactions were excellent, though I found myself angry at Scarlett more often, even while I sort of understood why she was so single minded.  Interesting and fun story.  I'm super excited to get in on the discussion over at Today's Adventure.  Here is one of my favorite parts:

When we were little, Scarlett and I were utterly convinced that we'd originally been one person in our mother's belly.  We believed that somehow, half of us wanted to be born and half wanted to stay.  So our heart had to be broken in two so that Scarlett could be born first, and then I finally braved the outside world a few years later.  It made sense in our little pig-tailed heads - it explained why, when we ran through grass or danced or spun in circles long enough, we would lose track of who was who and it started to feel as if there were some organic, elegant link between us, our single heart holding the same tempo and pumping the same blood. p 46

Things I Didn't Like:
It ended rather quickly and abruptly to me.  Perhaps it was that I figured out the end before hand and was expecting it, but it came to a rather neat conclusion, considering all the build up.  Still, satisfying nonetheless.

Read-alikes:
Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velde 
and any of a number of other fairy tales (see my Listless Monday list of them)

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !
some

mrg-factor: X
implied mostly

v-factor: ->->->
rather a lot of fighting and stabbing

Overall rating: ****

Do you like sister books?  Why or why not?

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