The Girl in Red is a book that makes you think, plan, and admire how resourceful Red is. It’s a book that will sweep you away and I made time to read this book so I could finish it in one day!
Summary
It’s not safe for anyone alone in the woods. There are predators that come out at night: critters and coyotes, snakes and wolves. But the woman in the red jacket has no choice. Not since the Crisis came, decimated the population, and sent those who survived fleeing into quarantine camps that serve as breeding grounds for death, destruction, and disease. She is just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that doesn’t look anything like the one she grew up in, the one that was perfectly sane and normal and boring until three months ago.
There are worse threats in the woods than the things that stalk their prey at night. Sometimes, there are men. Men with dark desires, weak wills, and evil intents. Men in uniform with classified information, deadly secrets, and unforgiving orders. And sometimes, just sometimes, there’s something worse than all of the horrible people and vicious beasts combined.
Red doesn’t like to think of herself as a killer, but she isn’t about to let herself get eaten up just because she is a woman alone in the woods…
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
The Girl in Red is a book that immediately transports you to another world. It will cause you fear in the pit of your stomach, a list of things you want to buy to prepare for the end of the world as we know it, and ways you can be more like Red. You can read and peek at the bare bones of Red Riding Hood from the beginning – peeking out from below the surface, the promises of what lies under the skin.
Cordelia – Red
This post-apocalyptic Red Riding Hood re-telling features a biracial bisexual disabled main character, Cordelia – nicknamed Red – and you will fall in love with Red. (I’m not sure about the accuracy of the representation in the book as I am not an ownvoices reader and I couldn’t find reviews from ownvoices readers). She faces the expectations of herself as a woman, and alone in the disastrous wasteland. The dangers of rape, of being overpowered, and more. She’s grown into someone who has adapted, who is incredibly intelligent, who has taken what she lost and continued moving while holding it inside her. She talks a lot about how people underestimate her because of her disability, how they talk over her, and don’t believe her.
Overall,
The Girl in Red is a book about loss and change and what has happened to scar the world, to make it one of running water and dangerous campsites. It deals with a future which isn’t always about what happens, the thing that twists the world into wrought iron and sharp edges, but it’s about after, how you walk among the wreckage, where you lay your head at night, and what new monsters emerge from the shadows. The Girl in Red is clever and perfect for anyone who loves Henry’s style of writing and a fierce heroine.
Find The Girl in Red on Goodreads, Amazon (UK), & The Book Depository.