» QUICK OVERVIEW «
Stars: ★★★★☆
Plot: ★★★★★
Readability: ★★★★☆
Characters: ★★★☆☆
Writing: ★★★★☆
Recommend: ✗

» PLOT «
As Levana's reign begins to be more and more brutal everyday, her engagement to Emperor Kai and their impending wedding approaches. While Cinder and her friends fight for their freedoms and happiness, they meet Winter along the way, Levana's stepdaughter. Even with more and more allies, Cinder's fight is just as hard as it was before she'd kidnapped Emperor Kai. As her last chance to take her throne arrives, Cinder must decide if the many deaths are worth the war she is starting.

I read with the audiobook, but there was literally an hour of listening time dedicated to resolutions and endings. This book was way longer than the other in this series. Nearly double the length of the first three books. Was it too long? Kinda. Definitely. It really dragged on halfway through.

» READABILITY «
I both could not stop reading the first half after I started, which is odd, since I waited 5+ years before finally reading this book and did not want to continue. (If you want my extremely biased reasoning for why, read the "overall" section below.)

The second half, however, was not as good. This book was way longer than it needed to be, and it was pretty slow paced.

» CHARACTERS «
Something I mentioned before was the fact that I don't like childish characters. This is in my reviews of Cress and Layoverland, and my opinion has not changed. Iko, Cress, and Winter all have aspects of this characteristic that I don't like, thus I RARELY ever rooted for them (or their respective romances).

Honestly, Cinder, Thorne, and Kai are the best things about this book and 2/3 of them were in Cinder, which, in my opinion is the best book in this series. Not only that, but the relationship between Cinder and Thorne was the only reason I gave Scarlet 5 stars. Clearly I have my favorites.

» WRITING «
The writing in this is pretty good, but going back and forth between two different group perspectives is pretty jarring with the audiobook. However, I loved hearing the two separated groups coming together and meeting. It is no doubt one of my favorite parts of this book and this series.

» OVERALL «
I read the first three books of the series twice, and each time, I've stopped myself from reading this last book, (mainly because I didn't like Cress as much as I did Cinder and Scarlet). I was slightly afraid to read this book because I didn't like some of the "hero" characters (who I knew would eventually get their happy endings [sorry, not sorry that I'm a bitch]), and I was afraid that this book might be on the same level as Cress, but I AM SO GLAD IT ISN'T.

After 5+ years, I'm glad to have finished this book, but now I know for sure one thing: the first book was the best, and it only got worse :/ .