Review: Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Title: Sisters Red
Author: Jackson Pierce
Series: Fairytale Retellings #1
Pages: 328 (hardcover)
Published: June 2010
Source: purchased
Rating: 1/5

Scarlett 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?

                                                        Reviewed by Danielle.

From the second page of this book when a man's smile simultaneously faded and grew more forced, to the 321st page when the sister's entangled their arms around each other and sniffed each other's hair, I hated every single thing about this book.

Clearly, the writing was a problem. It was awkward, contradictory, and stilted. I wasn't expecting the plot to break barriers, but the big "twist" was so badly telegraphed that I saw it 150 pages before it was revealed. Scarlett was one of the most unlikable characters in the history of literature. There's a difference between damaged human and emotionless sociopath. Hoping your best friend dies because he got a girlfriend falls FIRMLY into the second category.

I had heard the book had a questionable scene involving Scarlett, Silas, and the "Dragonfly girls" [club goers]. Not only was the scene pretty upsetting, with both main characters expressing some disgusting ideas about women, the entire book was. Since the Fenris, a male-only species of predators, attack beautiful, flirtatious women of a certain age, they, intentionally or not, become an allegory for sexual assault. To then spend the whole book talking about how if Rosie had just tried harder and been more aware and less pretty and firty, is truly disturbing.