books by s.r.

Genre: YA Dystopian Fantasy

*Warning: Mild Spoilers

I’m so excited to talk to you guys about the last half of The Lunar Chronicles series!  I am still happily sucked down the fandom hole right now, sending my friends memes and finding many more to laugh over privately.  Fair warning that there will be just as much, if not even more, fangirling in this post than the last one since this blog post wraps up my thoughts on the final two books.  😉

Cress‘s Synopsis (copied, once again, off the back of the book to avoid spoilers): “In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who’s only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.”

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a higher price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.”

OKAY SO I DID NOT THINK IT WAS POSSIBLE FOR ANY OF THESE BOOKS TO GET BETTER THAN SCARLET.  I l-o-v-e-d Scarlet and the way her and Wolf’s struggles and relationship were portrayed.  I didn’t think it could get better.  I thought, “Yep.  This is my most favorite ship in the entire series.  I will love them till the ends of the earth.  None of the other couples can get cuter than these two, and none of the other characters can be half as good.”

I.  Was.  Wrong.

Cress quickly sucked me in and became my favorite character in the entire series.  Of course, I’ve mentioned this before — it’s hard to truly pick a favorite character.  But I really connected with Cress, and I was pleased that Marissa Meyer portrayed a quiet, nervous girl that has just as much strength as her louder, more take-charge female friends.

AND CRESSWELL.  (Tis the ship name, if you haven’t read TLC yet.)  Cress and Thorne are literally the cutest beans in the entire freaking universe.  They deserve nothing but happiness and a lifetime of adventures.  And since Cress has been living on a satellite away from humanity for most of her life and Thorne is American, perhaps he should get our girl some pizza too.

One of my all-time favorite parts about Cress was her and Thorne’s trek through the desert.  Thorne cannot see because reasons, so Cress — who once again has never been on earth before and never seen anything but space and satellite walls — has to lead the way in hopes they come across civilization.  The dynamic is absolutely wonderful.

Also, I can’t talk about this much just because of spoiler reasons, but I love love love how Meyer expertly twists the original fairytales on their heads.  The aspects she takes from the original Rapunzel and twists them into something new in her own story is truly remarkable.  4.5/5 Swords for this lovely book.  Gosh, just talking about it makes me want to read it again.  *sniffs*

Winter‘s Synopsis (copied off back of book): “Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mark her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend–the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters? Fans will not want to miss this thrilling conclusion to Marissa Meyer’s national bestselling Lunar Chronicles series.”

And how on earth do I sum up one of the best series ends of all time???

I read Winter in a month, which is pretty good for me considering books over 450 pages scare me and I take forever to read them.  In all honesty, I probably would have finished this book sooner than that, but I was trying to draw it out as long as I could.  I knew the moment I finished, I’d want to read the whole series over again immediately.  I wasn’t wrong.

There is so, so much I want to say about these books, but I also don’t want to spoil them, so I’ll do my best to be as discreet as humanly possible.

All of the characters finally joining up in this book made me so, so happy.  The reunions between some that had been separated for a book or two were perfect and actually brought tears to my eyes (that never happens).  The plot was expertly placed — there was never a moment I got bored or wondered when the characters were going to “get on with it.”  Oh, and another thing I loved about this book is that while it takes place most of the time on Luna (a new setting), Meyer seemed to have a better grasp on how much description vs. plot/characterization should be shown.

Winter, herself, was such a unique character.  Some people could argue that she’s a bit much, but I really appreciated the level of mental health rep shown, especially in regards to the other characters.  The friendship Winter forms with Scarlet is beautiful, and I love how Cinder never looks down on Winter because of her mental illness.  And most beautiful of all is the relationship Winter has with her guard, Jacin.  Not once does Jacin ever lose his patience with her mental illness or think less of her because of her mental illness.  He is always there to offer his help, but also let her be independent and not coddle her.  HUGE props to Meyer there.

And the ending.  *swoons*  Of course I won’t spoil the ending, but you must read it if you haven’t already.  An amazing conclusion, to say the absolute least.  5/5 Swords.

Have you read The Lunar Chronicles?  What were your thoughts on Cress and Winter?  Were you able to pick a favorite character/couple?