Sisters Red, Jackson Pearce

I was given this book by Lauren from FictionTea as a birthday present in 2019 so I thought I was about time I dived into this fairytale retelling.

Themes: Fantasy, Retelling, Werewolves, Young Adult

Reading Format: Hardback

3 STARS // 5.5 CAWPILE

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Sisters Red is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood in modern-day America. Two sisters, Scarlett and Ruby are werewolf hunters alongside their neighbour, Silas. They feel very alone and isolated in their community, but there is a strong sense of unity between the three of them. Each character has their own traits that set them aside from the others, Scarlett lives and breathes hunting, Ruby isn’t sure it’s what she really wants and Silas has had a shot at a ‘normal’ life. These three points cause conflicts throughout the book about doing what is expected of you vs what you actually want.

I enjoyed the trio’s relationships with each other and the balance between having to grow up but still wanting to be children in some aspects. This book represented the struggle of responsibility, money and being a woman alone well. It didn’t hide behind a barrier of glamorising being a woman alone at night in a city, it showed that it can be scary at times and we aren’t always safe.

Each character really wants to be independent and strong and not to need to rely on the others. To start with I enjoyed this, especially that the woman didn’t need saving, but after a while, it felt like it was mentioned every few pages and felt a bit repetitive. Generally, though the writing was easy and smooth for this book, I read it quite quickly and could easily keep up with what was going on. I did, however, find the main plot point quite obvious to guess and figured it out at around 70/100 pages in.

Overall, I enjoyed Sisters Red and found it good fun. It was a different take on a fairytale I haven’t seen adapted very much. It was a really good example of YA writing, especially at it’s earliest stages.