"Sorrel in Scarlet" might be defined in a single word: refreshing. The way it handles fantasy is at once engaging, familiar and completely new. Instead of the same old rehashed plot, you get an interesting story set in an interesting world evolving in an interesting way. The one thing that keeps Sorrel from getting a 5-star is the cover. The image in the novel doesn't look like the way Sorrel is described at all and it's even a bit hard to say it's supposed to be a woman. However, the great writing more than makes up for the cover.