Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
May. 10th, 2010 10:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
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.
The lives of Scarlett and Rosie March changed forever when a strange man called at the house they shared with their grandmother. The man was a Fenris (werewolf) who hungered for human meat, particularly young, female human meat. The attack leaves the girls’ grandmother dead and Scarlett horrifically scarred from her efforts to defend her younger sister.
Since then both girls have devoted themselves to learning how to spot, attract and kill the Fenris. However while Scarlett has made it her mission to rid the world of all Fenris, Rosie wants something more from her life – something more normal.
The return of their friend Silas to their neighbourhood coincides with a rise in the number of Fenris attacks in the small Georgia town. They realise that they are looking for a Potential – a young male bearing the Fenris taint but who won’t become a Fenris until he makes his first kill. However as they search for the Potential, the bond between the sisters begins to break and soon it’s not just their lives that they’re fighting for, but their very relationship.
Pearce’s second novel is a gripping riff on the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale. Scarlett and Rosie are utterly believable characters – Scarlett in particular with her scarred face is driven by a need to exterminate the Fenris and while she’s aware of what they’ve taken from her and how her appearance affects the way others see her, she is not ashamed of who she is and the bitterness that sometimes manifests does not make her pitiful. Rosie is also an interesting character – her desire for a normal life is well depicted and completely believable and the simple joy she gets from taking classes in drawing and dance really makes her come alive.
Best of all though is the fact that they are believable sisters. The guilt that Rosie feels at having been responsible for her sister’s scars and Scarlett’s failure to understand that her sister wants something else are what keep the tension in the story but never descend into soap opera or trite cliché.
If I’ve got a quibble it’s that the identity of the Potential was a little obvious. This is a minor quibble though because the story had me hooked from start to finish and the ending was utterly satisfying. Check it out – it’s worth your time.
The Verdict:
This modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood had me hooked from start to finish with its utterly convincing relationship between two sisters and its scary spin on werewolf mythology. In a YA fiction world where the werewolves and vampires are there to be loved and redeemed, this book isn’t afraid to make them the big bad guys and it’s all the better for it. Check it out – it’s worth your time.
SISTERS RED is published in the UK on 3rd June. Thanks to Hodder Children’s Books for the ARC.
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.
The lives of Scarlett and Rosie March changed forever when a strange man called at the house they shared with their grandmother. The man was a Fenris (werewolf) who hungered for human meat, particularly young, female human meat. The attack leaves the girls’ grandmother dead and Scarlett horrifically scarred from her efforts to defend her younger sister.
Since then both girls have devoted themselves to learning how to spot, attract and kill the Fenris. However while Scarlett has made it her mission to rid the world of all Fenris, Rosie wants something more from her life – something more normal.
The return of their friend Silas to their neighbourhood coincides with a rise in the number of Fenris attacks in the small Georgia town. They realise that they are looking for a Potential – a young male bearing the Fenris taint but who won’t become a Fenris until he makes his first kill. However as they search for the Potential, the bond between the sisters begins to break and soon it’s not just their lives that they’re fighting for, but their very relationship.
Pearce’s second novel is a gripping riff on the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale. Scarlett and Rosie are utterly believable characters – Scarlett in particular with her scarred face is driven by a need to exterminate the Fenris and while she’s aware of what they’ve taken from her and how her appearance affects the way others see her, she is not ashamed of who she is and the bitterness that sometimes manifests does not make her pitiful. Rosie is also an interesting character – her desire for a normal life is well depicted and completely believable and the simple joy she gets from taking classes in drawing and dance really makes her come alive.
Best of all though is the fact that they are believable sisters. The guilt that Rosie feels at having been responsible for her sister’s scars and Scarlett’s failure to understand that her sister wants something else are what keep the tension in the story but never descend into soap opera or trite cliché.
If I’ve got a quibble it’s that the identity of the Potential was a little obvious. This is a minor quibble though because the story had me hooked from start to finish and the ending was utterly satisfying. Check it out – it’s worth your time.
The Verdict:
This modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood had me hooked from start to finish with its utterly convincing relationship between two sisters and its scary spin on werewolf mythology. In a YA fiction world where the werewolves and vampires are there to be loved and redeemed, this book isn’t afraid to make them the big bad guys and it’s all the better for it. Check it out – it’s worth your time.
SISTERS RED is published in the UK on 3rd June. Thanks to Hodder Children’s Books for the ARC.
