"Winter" (The Lunar Chronicles #4) - Marissa Meyer

Hello fellow bibliophiles! What a last two weeks it has been. Sorry for the lapse the past couple of weeks. It seems like every book I have picked up recently has been taking FOREVER to finish. And then once I finished them, I then ran out of time and didn't get the reviews wrote up. So while I have been reading, albeit slowly, I now have a few reviews to get out to you!! To kick off, here is the latest, and last, installment in The Lunar Chronicles. Check out my review of Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, the first three books in the series. Beware! If you haven't read the first three books, you may not want to read any further as it will give things away for those books!

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar 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?

When I read the first three books, they were easy and I was able to get through them fairly quickly. This book, though, took me forever. I was so looking forward to seeing how all four of the main characters and their stories came together. And yes, while that did happen, everything else you could ever possibly imagine happening, was thrown into this book. I mean everything. There were wayyyy too many things happening in this book. I felt like a big majority of these different things took away from the story and made it drag on and on and on. I understand why Meyer wrote it this way. She wanted to make sure all the strings were tied up nice and pretty. But often she was creating more and more issues for the band of misfits to solve, many that were unnecessary. One positive from the book is that she does a good job wrapping up all 4 of the storylines for Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter and I liked how they all ended. All in all, Winter wasn't what I was hoping for. I still gave it a 3 out of 5 solely because I have enjoyed the series overall.  Gorgeous cover once again! As always, feel free to share any thoughts comments or suggestions.

Happy reading fools :)

"Scarlet" & "Cress" - Marissa Meyer

Hello fellow bibliophiles! As part of February's theme, Unfinished Series, today's review continues with books #2 & #3 of the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. You can find my review of book #1, Cinder, HERE! If you haven't read Cinder, you may want to skip this post and come back as the descriptions alone may give hints and spoilers for the first book. I'll try not to give anything away!

Scarlet
The fates of Cinder and Scarlet collide as a Lunar threat spreads across the Earth...

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison -- even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information about her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner. 

Scarlet has, so far, been my favorite in the series. This book continues the fairytale theme, introducing Red Riding Hood and Big Bad Wolf characters. The story switches back and forth between the parallel stories of Scarlet (Red Riding) and Cinder. So many of my questions from the first book were answered in Scarlet which is probably why I liked it so well. Along with the story lines of Cinder and Scarlet, there is also more dialogue from Kai's point-of-view which I had hoped for after finishing the first book. All the characters are dealing with a lot, a continued theme from Cinder. Plague, an evil queen, a missing princess, mind controlling Lunars, and now hybred-werewolves wreaking havoc. Like Cinder, Scarlet has a slew of things thrown at her very quickly, all at once, completely turning her life inside out. She does all she can to put on a strong, resilient front while dealing with obstacle after obstacle.  She's another brave, independent, all around great female character. I felt this book really helped to set up the next book and give me a better idea where the story is headed leading into Cress.

Cress
In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain  Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wold 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 high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Empreror Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has. 

While this book was still great, I didn't feel it was as good as Scarlet. Rapunzel is the newest fairytale character to be introduced as Cress, a Lunar shell, who has been held captive for seven years on a satellite on her own, doing dirty work for Queen Levana. In Scarlet, questions were answered and things began to come together. In Cress, though, I felt more questions have come up yet it had great direction towards a solution. With Cress' hacking skills and Cinder's band of misfits, they finally start to formulate and carry out plans to take down Queen Levana.

This series, as a whole, has been great. The writing is well done and the characters are full of emotion and rhetoric. While the base of the story comes from classic fairytales, the plot line is completely re-imagined in a whole new light. I like the relationships that have formed, though typical in a classic fairytale way. The fourth, and final, book Winter, is already in my hands. Turning to page one will be a bittersweet moment. I'm anxious to see how everything comes together but sad to let the characters go. A great series for teens! Small amount of violence, PG romance, and a highly entertaining fantasy series! I highly recommend it! As always, feel free to share any thoughts, comments, or suggestions!

Happy reading fools :)

"Cinder" - Marissa Meyer

Hello fellow bibliophiles! I finally started The Lunar Chronicles, something I have been wanting to do for about 4 months now. I have book one, Cinder, finished for you today and I'm hoping to have books 2 & 3 ready for you at the beginning of the week in a combined post. I'm currently waiting for my request of book four from the library! Apparently, I've been swept into the YA science fiction/fantasy realm :)

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

First off, can we just talk about this cover. So gorgeous! And all the books in the series have covers just as amazing. Talk about some cover envy! Okay, back to the reason we're here. Review. What a great start to a series! This book is brimming to the core with new world orders (New Beijing, Luna), technology advancements (androids & cyborgs), and a futuristic spin on Cinderella. Meyer follows along with the classic fairytale but throws spins and twists throughout that kept me reading and begging for more. Cinderella as a cyborg (made of human and metal parts) living in a world being ravaged by a deadly plague with no cure. The Imperial Highness's health hangs in the balance as the Evil Queen from Luna continues to refuse to sign the peace treaty, threatening war with every step she takes. Cinder is stuck in a crappy situation with an evil stepmother and two stepsisters controlling her every move. But she is a strong, honest character, thinking about how her actions will affect others no matter how beneficial it may be for herself. And that goes for other characters in the book as well, always thinking of their actions will affect the rest of the people. I really liked Kai and reading from his point-of-view. I'm looking forward to seeing how his character grows and develops into the next book, Scarlet. 

Meyer is a great writer. While some parts of this new world are not always explained as soon as I would have liked them to be, Meyer does eventually get to it and explains everything clearly. She kept things intriguing and suspenseful throughout until the end. I am anxious to see where the next book picks up from as the end was fairly abrupt. This would be a great series for upper middle school aged kids and older to read. Some violence and a little foul language every so often but nothing too drastic. I will definitely be recommending this series! As always, feel free to share any thoughts, comments or recommendations! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Happy reading fools :)