Customer Reviews

Sisters Red

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was excited to read this book when I heard it was a re-telling of the story of Little Red Riding Hood. It's a fairytale with a lot of potential for reworking, so I had high hopes for Sisters Red. Unfortunately, the book didn't live up to its potential.

Sisters Red is the story of sisters Scarlett and Rosie March. Seven years earlier, a werewolf attacked the sisters and their grandmother. The grandmother was eaten, and Scarlett saved Rosie, but at a high price: She was left horribly scarred and she lost an eye. Since then, Scarlett has devoted her life to hunting werewolves, who are known as Fenris and are vicious killers with no souls. Rosie also hunts, although she hopes for something more out of life. The sisters' relationship is complicated by the return of their friend Silas, who was formerly Scarlett's hunting partner. Like Rosie, he wants something more out of life than just hunting and they soon develop feelings for each other.

All the elements of a great story are there, but Sisters Red just didn't work for me. I had a number of issues. The point of view switches back and forth between Scarlett and Rosie in alternating chapters. This isn't a bad device, but in the first half of the book I found myself losing track of whose chapter I was on because their voices just weren't that different. I did find that this improved as the book went on, and the Scarlett and Rosie's voices became more distinctive.

The romance between Rosie and Silas is a bit lacking. First of all, there's a five-year age difference, which isn't much for an older couple, but seems like a lot when the girl is only 16. Rosie seems to be attracted to Silas because he's hot, but all they have in common is that they don't want to devote their entire lives to hunting Fenris. This doesn't seem like enough to build a relationship, and the romance fell flat for me.

There are also some plot holes. For example, Scarlett and Rosie are on their own and they both stopped to school years before, but they've managed to fool the authorities all this time. It's only a small point, but it didn't ring true.

This book isn't terrible, but there are better fairytale retellings out there (The Bloody Chamber, Beauty, and Daughter of the Forest to name a few).

The premise of Sisters Red is fabulous. This is Little Red Riding Hood modernized as two girls hunting down ravenous, girl-eating werewolves. What isn't to love about this? Besides the fact that I think it's incredibly ridiculous for people to wear cloaks in today's society (what is wrong with blood red hoodies? certainly those would have done the job and been less conspicuous?), I love modernized fairy tales and the first few chapters of the book don't disappoint. It's bloody and violent and the characters have some personality. Vim. Vigor. Whatever you want to call it.

Until they didn't.

Scarlett is the eighteen-year-old older sister, scarred from a werewolf attack that left her without an eye and a serious chip on her shoulder. Rosie is the sixteen-year-old sister, a hunter in training whom Scarlett loathes to let out of her sight, for good reason since Rosie seems to forget her weapons half the time or takes ill-timed walks in the woods. Silas, the 21-year-old love interest, has his moments, but really where this book starts to stumble all over itself is when Silas and Rosie start making eyes at each other while Scarlett is over there sharpening her weapons whilst looking down her nose at the girls (glittery "dragonflies," as she calls them) she's putting her life on hold in order to save.

I get Scarlett's anger, and her unrestrained jealousy toward girls who have the gumption to act however they want. Although, there are some scenes that do, in fact, read like she'd rather just slice a few girls up to teach them a lesson about where they can and can't go, or do, or be and this left such a sour taste in my mouth that I felt nothing for her. The scene in which she's "too late" to save a girl is particularly damning. Silas's eventual victim blaming takes the attitude the three have for those they're trying to save to a new level (those girls wouldn't dress the way they do if they knew werewolves were out to eat their hearts...surely! just why is it that people keep manufacturing short skirts, anyway? or make-up. or low cut blouses. or high heels. or perfume. or clothes.) It left me wondering...why the hell do they even care? Why are they so desperately putting their lives on hold to help people they seem to have such a low disregard of? Half the time, Silas and Rosie would rather be taking dance classes and Scarlett seems to literally hate everyone around her. What is the point? Why don't they just get jobs and hunt for sport?

Which brings me to the plot. Rosie and Scarlett drop out of school and are unemployed because hunting werewolves is apparently a full-time enterprise. I fail to see how this even works. Moreover, their quest to find the werewolf "potential" is convoluted, at best, and the whole concept of the potential doesn't seem to work. If the wolves can smell, or otherwise somehow figure out where the potential is, and he's basically one bowling alley down from them, shouldn't the wolves, who are specifically out looking for him have managed to kind of figure out he's eight feet from them? This little plot point is also tritely dealt with, and made me roll my eyes. How...convenient. That is exactly what I thought upon the end.

And the love story. Sixteen-year-old girl, with no resources to speak of other than a supposedly handy knife throwing technique, and a 21-year-old man. Very little time is spent on the age difference here, which disappointed me. Rosie could, at times, be a surprising character in that she manages to save herself instead of crumpling into a ball and waiting for the cavalry to save her, but otherwise her character seemed wasted on the love story. Scarlett, just in general, I disliked.

That all said, I thought the writing was far superior to many other recent young adult books I've come across recently. The bond between the sisters, while melodramatic, was touching. It should have been the component that helped ease the path of the love story, but ultimately Scarlett's demands were too much (seriously, who forces your sister into a lifetime debt because you saved her life when you were eight?) and Rosie's rebellion was a little too hilarious to take seriously (community dance lessons! OMG you can't learn how to tango, we need to hunt werewolves!).

And don't worry. In the end, kids, you'll learn that you actually can't have it both ways. It's either tango or kill monsters. Take your pick.

"I am a hunter. If I can't hunt ... I am nothing." - Scarlett March

"I don't answer, because therein lies the problem. Hunters don't want more - at least, not hunters who are related to Scarlett March. It's sort of hard to justify taking dance classes when your older sister is trying to save the world." - Rosie March

It happened seven years ago, the attack that was the beginning of all this. Before then, Scarlett and Rosie March were normal little girls, living in a normal world. But that changed when the Fenris showed up at their grandmother's country cottage. When the man transformed, when he turned to wolf and attacked, he took everything away from Scarlett and Rosie - their grandmother, their normal life, their belief that their world was safe and free from monsters. And so the two little girls were changed forever.

Scarlett lost an eye and gained a body covered in thick, ugly scars protecting Rosie that day. In the seven years that have passed, Scarlett has honed her hatred and her need for revenge until she lives for just one thing - to hunt Fenris and to kill them. Rosie - sweet, beautiful, unmarred Rosie - can be just as fierce a hunter as her sister, but destroying the Fenris is Scarlett's passion, not hers. Rosie owes Scarlett her life and this is the cost of that debt, to stand beside her sister and slay monsters. But sometimes, Rosie dreams of a different life, a life where she is something more than a hunter, has something more to aspire to than killing Fenris. She feels that ache for what can't be all the more strongly whenever she's near Silas Reynolds, Scarlett's hunting partner and only friend. Rosie loves Scarlett with all of her heart, but that might not be enough to keep them together.

As the Fenris gather and gain power, as the young girls of Atlanta begin dying at an alarming rate, Rosie March will come face to face with the most difficult of all decisions. Will she devote her life to hunting, as Scarlett has? Or will she take a chance on that elusive something more?

I liked this book very much. In fact, there were many passages that I truly loved. So, while I found a couple of flaws with this novel (more on that later), I still feel like it's better than most of the Y.A. paranormals being published these days. Ms. Pearce does a brilliant job building the atmosphere. This is a dark, gritty novel and an aura of tension, and of menace, hangs over every page. The evil of the Fenris is palpable throughout, like the leftover steam from a shower you can't help but to breathe it in as you uncover the fear the creatures both inspire and thrive upon.

The combining of an unique werewolf mythology, the modern world and a very loose adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood is another one of Sisters Red's great strengths. The plot and the setting are fresh and original, yet there are these little pings of familiarity - the red cloaks, a basketful of fresh-baked goodies - that somehow make the action more immediate and intimate.

It can't have been easy to write a 300+ page novel with just three characters and a pack of monstrous villains carrying most of the action, but Ms. Pearce was more than up to the task. Scarlett's world, and perforce Rosie's world, is small, circumscribed by the events of the past and by Scarlett's own need to eliminate the Fenris at all costs. Outside of the hunt, all the world has lost meaning for Scarlett. Only Silas, Rosie and the need to kill Fenris exists for her. Even the unknown girls she seeks to protect - those who live without knowledge of the Fenris - make little impression on her. Silas has seen more of the world and has openly refused to be JUST a hunter. He will hunt and he will kill, but he also wants more from life. He is less driven, and therefore more open to the rest of the world. Rosie March falls somewhere in between Scarlett and Silas, both in her character and in her role in this novel. Just sixteen, Rosie has just begun to look at the world with her own eyes, has only started to regret a future that holds only hunting. The way in which these three characters interact, the way their bonds form and stretch and break and form again, is both the heart of this compelling novel and the core of the narrative plot.

Those are the things I loved about Sisters Red, which brings me to the things I saw as flaws. So, I have to warn you:
**********BELOW THIS LINE BE (MILD) PLOT SPOILERS**********

I have to mention the difference in Silas's and Rosie's ages (21 and 16, respectively), though I wasn't nearly as bothered by it as some reviewers. Taken in the context of the novel's modern setting, the relationship between a young man with some experience of the world and a girl who has been essentially sheltered from all worldly things treads a treacherous border - bad taste on one side, perversity on the other. But, as I said, it didn't bother me as much as it might have, mainly because their love has a sweet, pure feel to it that fits with the notion of a fairy tale romance and Sisters Red is a fairy tale in the best, dark-hearted tradition of the Brothers Grimm.

My second problem with the novel was something that felt to me like a flaw in the logic of Scarlett's character. Scarlett vehemently and repeatedly stresses that those who have knowledge of the Fenris have a responsibility to hunt, thereby protecting those who live in ignorance. Yet no mention is ever made of trying to enlighten the general populace. Scarlett does have a thought, in passing, to the effect that the young girls designated to be the victims of the Fenris would never believe her if she told them about the monsters, but no real effort is ever made to bring the monsters' existence to light, nor is there any indication that such an attempt was made in the past. It seems to me that if Scarlett's sense of responsibility is as strong as she purports, and I have no reason to doubt that it is, than she would have tried, at least once, to let people know that the Fenris exist.

The third problem I had with this book is a major plot flaw, at least to my way of thinking, and it is also where the spoiler comes in so here's your last chance to look away. The reason given for the increase of Fenris around Atlanta, the whole motivation for most of the action in the novel, is that the Fenris packs are actively seeking a Potential - a man who, for one moon phase only, can be made into one of them. Adding this one member to their ranks is so important to the Fenris that every Pack Alpha has sent out all available members to find him. In other words, increasing their membership by just one is vitally important. Yet Scarlett has killed more than 90 Fenris in the past seven years and appears to have made little to no impression on the packs. She's reduced their numbers by more than 90, yet the Pack Alphas aren't even aware of her, aren't seeking her, aren't even trying to figure out what happened to their 90+ brothers. This while turning all of their resources to adding just one man to the Fenris ranks. It makes absolutely no sense.

Okay, I've rambled on for far too long and I've gotten all of my gripes of my chest, so I should wrap this up. I still think it bears repeating, though: this novel is brilliant - flawed, yes, but still brilliant.

I saw the beautiful art of this book and read the synopsis and knew I had to read it. Unfortunately, is disappointed me a lot. I wanted to like it, I really did, but it didn't hold up to its expectations.

Good:
-I liked Scarlett (did anyone else notice the word "scar" in her name?), but mostly because she was kind of a jerk to Rosie and I didn't like Rosie.
-The idea of the Fenris and their packs was cool, even though it's been done before.
-I liked the cloaks, even though they would be way too conspicuous in modern society.
-The few references to Red Riding Hood ("all the better to see you with" and "don't step off the path").

Bad:
-They find Fenris everywhere. Hardly even trying. And it's way too easy to make them change into wolves and try to eat you. I know they said there were lots of murders in Atlanta, but seriously. Everyone would be dead.
-Rosie and Silas's romance didn't make any sense. Their "love" was just a crush based on physical attraction, so they couldn't have cared about each other as much as they did. Which brings me to...
-Rosie had a flat personality. So did everyone else, but hers was the worst.
-The author liked to jump around a lot. I swear, the characters said two sentences during a half hour car ride (suddenly they were at home!) or had one thought while baking cookies. Unless they think/talk reeeeally slow, this was annoying.
-They keep stressing how fast the Fenris are, but these fully human girls easily dispatch them in fights. While the Fenris are lunging at them, they somehow have a chance to toss each other weapons and talk and THEN avoid the attack.
-Also, Scarlett whispered to Rosie some stuff she figured out about the Fenris while one was standing RIGHT THERE talking to them.

It had a lot of potential, and I guess it was a fun read, but it really fell flat.

I went into this book without any expectations, and once I had finished it I was desperate for more. I have always enjoyed re-telling of fairy tales, but this one is the best I have read so far. I loved the relationship between the sisters and felt it was very realistic. The writing in the book was stunning. I loved all of the characters because they were flawed enough to be able to relate to them. Overall this is a fast paced well written novel that I would recommend to everyone!

This is the tale basically of Little Red Riding Hood, in a different version, when she's all grown up and they are sisters. I'm going to try not to give anything away. The summary tells you that the wolf eats Oma March and the woodsman takes the two orphaned girls in until their mother comes home to care for them. She had run away to the circus, but is motherly enough to come back and stay with the girls for a little while. At least until she can't stand to see Scarlett's scars anymore and then it's off to the circus again. But the woodsman looks after the girls, he has many children of his own. And he and Oma March had been good friends.

Scarlett's scars are extensive and criss-cross her entire body. When the wolf killed Oma March, she broke a mirror and pushed her sister under the bed and she fought the wolf. He took her eye and left scars everywhere, except over her heart. This is significant because the girls, though two years apart in age, believe they share a heart. They believed when they were little that their heart broke in two because half of them wanted to be born first, Scarlett, and then Rosie braved the world later. As little girls they believed this but after the attack, the only time their hearts felt as one was when they were on the hunt for Fenris-the wolves that attacked and ate young girls.

This story is basically about the deep love between two sisters, the responsibility Scarlett feels to hunt the Fenris and Rosie's need for something more. There is a lot of guilt on Rosie's part because her sister bears the scars of protecting her and the hunt and Rosie doesn't feel she can separate from her sister. But Silas, Scarlett's hunting partner lures her away from a life of hunting and tries to show her a life beyond just hunting. For Scarlett, anything but hunting is an act of betrayal. For Silas, he can hunt and still have a life. For Rosie ....it's a choice between the two people she loves.

But another story going on is the hunt for the Potential, a human that has all the right things to be turned into a Fenris and the Fenris are on the prowl, first in the girls' small town and then when Scarlett, Rosie and Silas head to Atlanta where there are a lot of killings, they hear Fenris talking of the Potential. But they know so little of this Potential. What makes him what he is and their greatest resource, Silas' father, the woodsman, is in a nursing home with Alzheimer's.

There is a lot of action in this novel mixed with a little bit of budding romance and lots of fighting and gore. Not the kind that turns your stomach, just descriptive enough. I knew who the Potential was pretty early but you may not guess. Pearce just left the hint way too soon for it not to be the person I thought it was no matter how far off she tried to lead. This was fast paced and a great take on the Little Red Riding Hood story. Each character had something to add, but Silas wasn't a fully developed character. However, this was after all Sisters Red and the two sisters were given every other chapter to narrate and let us see into their minds.

I'd love to see Pearce do another fairy tale. I've just recently read Beastly, a take on Beauty and the Beast and the modern telling of the old versions make for really great reading. I love the grown up versions of Red Riding Hood. I definitely recommend this to anyone that loves fairy tales, suspense, mystery, YA, or just a good read. I'd say it's clean enough for any age to read. Just depends on the gore factor.

Scarlett and Rosie March are hunters. They eat, sleep, and breath hunting. We're not talking about rabbits & ducks; these girls hunt Fenris, wolves. These monsters take on men's forms to lure in young girls who they devour. After a horrific Fenris attack that left Scarlett horribly scarred with an eye patch & their grandmother dead, the girls began training with the Pa Reynolds, their neighborhood woodsmen. Growing up with Pa Reynolds's son Silas, the girls do their duty to protect their homeland.

When another wolf ambles by looking for the Potential, all three teen's senses are on alert. They decide to move to the city in search of better luck tracking the Potential & taking down the wolf population in the process. But Rosie isn't really in to it all. Silas, who has just returned from a year long hiatus in San Francisco, can see it in her eyes and encourages her to explore other activities. Rosie discovers that not only does she enjoy these other activities, but she actually has an aptitude for something besides throwing daggers. Scarlett is determined to put a stop to the turning of the Potential. Silas is torn between his heart's desire & his duty.

One thing is for sure, none of these three will ever be the same & the Fenris don't stand a chance against them united.

This was an interesting twist on the Little Red Riding Hood tale. This time though, Little Red Riding Hood doesn't necessarily need the woodsman to save her. These girls are tough and determined. They are presented as two parts of the same heart which is very understandable given their traumatic experience as children. Put together they really would make a dynamic person, but as two individuals they can't possibly remain together forever. Silas really is just there to throw hormones into the mix. I feel like he didn't really add much to the story other than being a catalyst for Rosie & acting as eye candy.

The Fenris were an interesting group. They really were wolf-possessed men with no souls instead of a traditional werewolf. That was an unexpected element as it made the Little Red Riding Hood background make more sense. I really liked the mythology behind the Potential and how the wolves sought him & found it quite enchanting.

Jackson Pearce is really onto something with this kind of storyline and I look forward to her future works as they seem to be heading down the fables & fairy tales path.

I don't know why I kept holding off on buying this book, I guess it was because I bought and read AS You Wish, also by Jackson and didn't really care for it. But this book is great. No, seriously, really, really great! Rosie and Scarlett are fully fleshed and realized characters with real emotions and minds. Their realtionship is beautiful and well written and all of their actions are spot on. This book reminded me of Buffy, especially with the 'Potentials', though instead of kicking vamp ass, they destroy werewolves or I should say, Fenris. Though at times (1 or 3) its predictable, I was never disappointed. Jeez, I really like this book and can not wait for the sequels SWEETLY, FATHOMLESS and whatever comes next!!! Also, the Romance was near perfection.
~-RH

I was very excited to read this book because 1) I fell in love with the cover and 2) it was the first time I was going to read a modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. I am happy to say that Sisters Red did not disappoint. I love the clean and simple prose of the author and the alternating first person point of view between the two sisters. I felt I really got to know their thoughts and feelings and was able to connect with both Rosie and Scarlett in a way I couldn't have if only one of the sisters are narrating.

The story began with the first attack that opened the young girls' eyes to the existence of the Fenris (aka werewolves). Not only did they lose their grandmother that day, but Scarlett (the older sister) also lost her right eye and gained a whole lot of scars marring her face defending her little sister Rosie. Fast forward years later, Scarlett's whole life is now hunting, luring and killing the Fenris. I was quick to side with Scarlett early in the book--as the older sister she is tough, loyal, independent and fiercely protective of Rosie. But as the story goes on, readers will see that she's also demanding, obsessive and a "my way or the highway" sort of person that you almost want to hate but then she shows her vulnerable side, her insecurities, her fears and she becomes this sympathetic character you really feel for. Then there's Rosie who is the opposite of Scarlett but an exceptional hunter herself. She wishes for a life besides the of hunting Fenris but feels obligated to her sister, who saved her life when they were younger, to stand by Scarlett's side. Rosie finds herself falling in love with Silas, a young woodsman and Scarlett's hunting partner and best friend but she knows this love can tear her and her sister apart. Rosie is a likable character and you root for her find the courage to step out of her sister's shadow and to live her life with her love.

This book is filled with tension, action and quite violent (lots of fighting scenes and blood!) but it's also filled with sisterly love and bond and friendship. I really like the whole idea of a "single, shared heart" between the sisters. There's actually a lot underlying themes to this book like finding your self identity, familial obligation and knowledge and responsibility which makes it an absorbing read. The romance between Rosie and Silas (who is a "nice guy" hero by the way) is really sweet and believable. The final battle scene and the ending was well-done with no loose ends which makes Sister's Red a satisfying read.

4.5 out of 5 stars [I received this book from the publisher for review.]

The cover sold me on this one (again) and I wish I could resist based on covers, for I am starting to realize that I loose more often then I win when choosing by cover. And I am struggling knowing that this was the start of a series. The cover art work is awesome, the book inside, not so much.

So we have Scarlett and Rosie - two sisters, who are very close - and they are hunters. They hunt the Fenris (werewolves). Silas is Scarlett's former and once again partner in hunting. Scarlett is scarred from saving Rosie (which happens in the Prologue) and Rosie isn't driven by the desire to hunt the way Scarlett is. For some reason, the Fenris are popping up more then normal. We find out early on that there is a "Potential" that they are looking for. So the trio heads to Atlanta, where there seem to have been a rash of murders that the Trio know are the work of the Fenris. They decide to try to figure out who the Potential is to use him as bait and to take out as many of the Fenris as they can. And then we learn the twist. And of course, there is a love story too. Rosie and Silas. And of course, the Red Capes. But...

It was an awesome idea. A modern take on Little Red Riding Hood - based loosely on the legend. I was intrigued so very much by the prologue. But the writing style changed dramatically with the first chapter. In this book we get that whole alternating point of view style that YA authors seem to be so fond of these days. And this author isn't that great at it (in fact, I am finding that more often then not, this is not a good idea since very few authors pull it off successfully). Not because she doesn't keep the story moving - that is one of the few things she does well here - but because her style is so.... mundane and colorless. There is so little description that it's hard to paint the metal picture of the scenery and surroundings. And the jumping from character to character make that even worse. Even the characters seem very one-dimensional. I can feel that the author wants us to see the Scarlett and Rosie;s emotions, but for as much discussion of those as there is, even that is bland and didn't make me feel emotionally involved in the characters in any way. Even the love story is pretty flat. We get a little of the tension between Rosie and Silas, but it was superficial at best. The butterflies that come with reading a well written love story were missing. So when we are faced with the prospect of Rosie and Silas loosing each other, that too feels a little premature, since there wasn't much of a love story for them to have been invested in.

I love it when an author gives us that taste of the scenery to paint a mental picture, not just of the characters but the environment they are in. And sometimes, the environment needs more details then others. But here, the only scenes that let me paint the mental picture I need to when I read is when the trio moves into the apartment in the city. Otherwise, the story had lots of choppy sentences and abrupt paragraphs. The popped from place to place and scene to scene almost instantaneously. And the "twist" could be seen from a mile away.

I am not sure I will read the "companion" (which I assume is #2, since while goodreads calls this book #1, the author's site lists the next one as a "companion"). Unless I see that the author's writing style has improved. This got 2 stars because the ida and the summary of the story was interesting. But I am totally turned off this author by this book.