Scarlet

This is Book 2 in Marissa Meyer's "Lunar Chronicles" series, preceded by Cinder. I am officially hooked. I really like the cyborg heroine of the first book and, although she plays a secondary role here, she is, in fact, the driver for the whole series. Cinder, an outcast because she is cyborg in a world of humans, finds out at the end of the first book that she is also the missing Lunar princess, Selene. People have been trying to find her for years, and if Queen Levana does find her, she will finish what she started when she tried to kill her as a toddler. Selene is the rightful heir to the Lunar empire.  Levana has made the moon her launching place for a planned takeover of earth and only Cinder/Selene has ANY hope of stopping her. Scarlet, the title character, gets involved because the kidnapping of her grandmother 3 weeks ago, is tied up with Levana finding Cinder. Her grandmother helped rescue the infant princess and now Levana's minions will torture her and anyone dear to her in order to find out what she knows about Princess Selene's location. There has been a little breakdown in communication, though, because Cinder inadvertently revealed herself to Levana at Emperor Kai's coronation ball. Captured, imprisoned and slated for execution, Cinder is an internationally wanted fugitive. She escaped from prison by using her newly available lunar powers of manipulating bioelectricity--she can manage people's perceptions and feelings. If you have seen any of the Star Wars movies, you are familiar with the tactic exercised by Obi-Wan Kanobi. Along the way, she hooks up with another fugitive who just happens to "own" (OK maybe he borrowed it from the U.S. military) a large star ship. Throw in some lunar super soldiers who have been hiding in plain sight--a bit like werewolves-- and you have a rousing good adventure tale. Will Emperor Kai cave in and marry Levana to stop the bloodshed, even though he knows she plans to kill him? I can hardly wait for the next in the series, Cress, due to come out this year.