Review: Sisters Red (ARC) by Jackson Pearce

Title: Sisters Red

Author: Jackson Pearce

Hardcover: 336 pages

Published: June 2010

Reading Level: YA

My Copy: Around the World Tours

My rating: 3.5 out of 5 wicked stars

Blurb (taken from Amazon.com):

Scarlet March lives to hunt the Fenris--the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack. Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves. She's determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead.

Rosie March once felt her bond with her sister was unbreakable. Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts ferociously alongside her. But even as more girls' bodies pile up in the city and the Fenris seem to be gaining power, Rosie dreams of a life beyond the wolves. She finds herself drawn to Silas, a young woodsman who is deadly with an ax and Scarlett's only friend--but does loving him mean betraying her sister and all that they've worked for? 

My thoughts:

As you read the blurb, you can probably tell that this book is a take off of Little Red Riding Hood.  What I was a little unprepared for was that it is set in the present-day time period, I guess I expected it to be dated back in the 1800's with all the hunting werewolves with axes and wearing red cloaks etc.  That didn't necessarily take away from the book, I just would have thought that there would  have been more people that knew about werewolves and more efficient ways to exterminate them, ha ha.

I was undecided of what I thought about this book most of the way thru it.  The end of the book showed a lot of action and realistic thought processes that I felt was missing thru the first part of the book.  The story is told from alternating view points from the sisters, Scarlett and Rosie.  Scarlett lost her eye and gained ugly scars protecting her little sister from the Fenris (werewolves) when they were younger.  She feels the obligation now to hunt and kill all the Fenris to save the unsuspecting humans who do not know better.  Rosie does not have the drive to kill all the Fenris but feels the obligation because of what her sister went thru to save her.

This book is definitely a testament of sisterly love, almost to the point of creepiness. Scarlett is a girl on a mission and feels slighted if Rosie has any interest outside of the single goal of killing all the Fenris.  She is OBSESSED to the point that got on my nerves in part of the book because I found it somewhat unbelievable that someone would put aside EVERYTHING in their life in pursuit of killing every Fenris they ever encounter.  Scarlett (and therefore out of guilt, Rosie) had given up everything; a life, an education, a career, love...in pursuit of the Fenris.

I didn't dislike the book, but I probably would have enjoyed it more if the obsessed factor was turned down a notch and the romance/action was turned up.  It was definitely an interesting read that makes you question, how much drive is too much? To what point is your goal worth giving up everything you might want and making those around you to do the same out of guilt?