Guest Review: Blood Red

BLOOD RED

by Mercedes Lackey

Pages: 400

Publisher: Titan Books

Publication Date: July 14th 2014 

Received From:  Titan Books

Summary 

Little Red Riding Hood's real name is Gretchen Schwarzwald, and she isfrom the Schwarzwald (the Black Forest) in Germany. Ten years ago, she was orphaned by an evil Earth Master who wanted her parents' land and killed them all with the werewolves he created. She was rescued by a Fire Master, a member of the Woodsman's Lodge, and taught how to use her own Fire Powers. Now another werewolf pack is ravaging Exmoor, and she has come to help London's White Lodge eradicate it and find and destroy the Elemental Master behind it.

Review

I was very excited about reading this book. I absolutely love retellings of fairy tales and in the past have come across some very good versions of the classics. Hoping that this would be the same experience I picked the book up enthusiastically…

Unfortunately, for me, this experience was not as I was hoping. I really struggled with this book, hence my rating above. My main reason for this was that I found the book really difficult to get into. By this I mean the not-being-able-to-wait-to-read-what-happens-next feeling. I found that the characters were confusing as their relationship to the main character Rosa was not always made as clear as it sometimes needs to be in a book like this and the general storyline was not something that excited me as much as I was hoping it would.

To give the book its dues, the idea behind the book was originally what excited me and made me want to read it in the first place, however as mentioned above, I just found this difficult when actually reading it. The storyline took a long time to really get going and I found too many things were happening for me to really enjoy the book.

However, one positive thing I do need to mention is that Mercedes Lackey’s portrayal of Red Riding Hood is a very flattering portrayal any young modern woman would aspire to be. Against the tradition of the young, naïve girl who talked to strangers, Lackey presents a young, strong woman who has endured terrible horrors and learned from these to come out fighting, against all odds of her society where women are deemed fragile and incapable.

I think this book would be suitable for a majority of young adult readers but for those like me who read older books on a regular basis, you may struggle with this book. On the other hand, that may only have been me =)

**I received this book as an ARC from Titan Books to read & review. This is a 100% honest review.**