Winter by Marissa Meyer

Published: November 2015

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Pages: 824

Copy Provided by: Bought

Summary: Goodreads

Summary:

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?

Review:

This was an incredibly long book.  I had it on my reader and I felt like it took me SO LONG to finish.  I don't read as quickly as I used to when I was younger.  Nor do I have the time (I tend to read on the train to and from work).  At first I thought I was losing interest but there were a lot of different events happening as the previous settings began to come together - Cinder, Scarlet, Cress and even Fairest (I would recommend reading this to get a COMPLETE understanding of Levana).

I am going to list some of my notes as I was reading but you should read this series or else my ramblings will make no sense at all.  Plus it will probably definitely have spoilers. 

The ship that Cinder and her  crew are on is called the Rampion but with this rag tag crew, it reminded me of the Millennium Falcon!!  Some of the interplay between characters was similar to the relationships from Firefly and Star Wars.

Artemisia is a little bit like the zones in Hunger Games.

I love how Jacin calls Cress Shortcake. She is a about half sweet and half crazy and it is so cute how Jacin loves her for all of it.  He is so accepting of her crazy bits and just believes in the good in her.  How she fights and wants to be a good, strong role model for her people.

Iko is one of my favorite characters in this series and makes me laugh out loud.  For an android, she has SO MUCH personality and such devoted loyalty to Cinder.    I would love to see her as a character in a movie or TV tie in.

This was a great end to a fantastic series!  I loved how Melissa wove elements of the fairytale re-tellings into her series.  For instance, Cinder loses her foot as she ran down the staircase from the ball, Winter is emmersed in a glass case because she is dying and Jacin comes to her rescue with an antidote.  

Overall, I think this would be a fantastic series to use as an ISU. There are so many factors to draw between the fairytales we know and "modern day" society.  Marissa masterfully integrated aspects of each fairytale into her sci-fi world and made them mould together.  I don't know how she did it because it seems like an impossible feat but she did.  I will be putting this entire series on my bookshelf as a top 10 to re-read again. Now...if you are more into the comic-book side of things, you should know that Marissa Meyer is working on a graphic novel series for the Lunar Chronicles.  To be honest though, I wish someone would make this series into a movie.  What an incredible movie it would be!!  The series ended exactly the way it was meant to be. As a reader, you always want a happily ever after but you want it to unfold and be placed at the exact right place. Miss Meyer found the sweet spot in her story and allowed the reader to make assumptions and imagine their own ending. If you haven't already started reading this series, you really, really should.

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

Published: January 2015

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Pages: 222

Copy Provided by: Bought

Summary: Goodreads

Summary:

In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told.

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now. 

Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series.

Review:

God I love this series....Fairest is a novella telling the story of Levana and how she became all wicked and twisted.  Because as a child, she never really seemed to be that way.  Do they ever??

She was brought up in a household all alone with a cruel sister.  We find out why she must always glamour herself and how she came to receive no love from anyone.  How she used her Lunar gifts for manipulation and how she really does love her country but does not save them in a good way because of the way she was raised.  She lacks compassion and understanding for her people because she herself did not grow up with it.  

We also learn the backstory of young Cinder and how her presence had threatened Levana.  Plus, we learn a little about Winter's story.  

How Marissa Meyer managed to combine the stories of Rapunzel, Snow White, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood all into one complicated sci-fi mashup is beyond me but BRAVO!!! It works and I love it!!  How can you make us wait until the fall to read WINTER though??  There was a 5 chapter teaser in Fairest but really, in the end, I think they should have named the book - Unfairest because we have to wait so long....

If you haven't already started reading the Lunar Chronicles, you are TOTALLY missing out.  I am going to have to say that it is going to be added to my top 10 series list.  I love it THAT much!!

- Christinabean

Double Header - Cinder and Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Published: January 2012

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Pages: 387

Copy Provided by: Library

Summary: Goodreads

Summary:

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.

Review:

I received an ARC of this title a few years back and didn't end up reading it.  When I moved, I had to give it away, thinking I wouldn't have time to read it.  Now I am kicking myself for giving it away!!  A few days ago I downloaded the first few chapters of Cress from NetGalley.  It sounded so intriguing that I decided to give the series a go and bumped it up my TBR list.  Awesome decision!

Cinder has so many parallels to Cinderella but in such a modern way.  New Beijing is such an interesting place to live with so many social castes and planetary societies to deal with as well.  I love the character development of Cinder as a young, innocent cyborg who is quite obviously gifted but whom still retains her own sense of right and wrong.  As the story unfolds and her true identity is eventually revealed, Cinder begins to blossom, picking up allies along the way.

This novel had everything I was looking for - romance, a fairytale re-telling, action, adventure and the story was so well-developed, leading nicely into Scarlet.  Well done Ms. Meyer!

Published: February 2013

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Pages: 454

Copy Provided by: Library

Summary: Goodreads

Summary:

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. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to 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.

Review:

I was incredibly lucky to have book #2 ready and waiting to read once I finished Cinder.  I'm not sure I could have waited 8 - 12 months for the second book to come out...Scarlet explores the life of Scarlet Benoit as she searches for her missing grandmother.  Obviously this is a play on Little Red Riding Hood however instead of eating the grandmother, the wolf befriends Scarlet.  So how does this tie in with Cinder? Good question.  I asked myself this throughout the novel...just as we are learning more about Scarlet, Cinder is also making friends with her own male companion, Thorne.  These two couples run parallel until eventually their paths cross and we begin to see how Queen Levana's reign really IS threatened by Cinder's existence.  

Scarlet was a fantastic read and the reader saw the integration of the two storylines fuse quite seamlessly.  I LOVE how Cinder is slowly developing her own secret network of supporters (Go Team Cinder!) as she tries to establish a plan to prevent the Lunar Queen from taking over Earth.  I hope you have Cress hot in your hands and ready to read after this one...it's another fast-paced, action packed title with a cliff-hanger of an ending...

Here's something interesting - 

Did you know that Marissa Meyer began writing Cinder on NaNoWriMo??  That is amazing!  Although the chances of someone getting published from this challenge are slim, I'm so impressed that this is where her story began!  

Fantastic Fairytales - Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Published: January 3rd 2012

Publisher: Fiewel and Friends

Pages: 387

e-copy: Courtesy of Netgalley and publisher

Summary: Goodreads

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. 


I had so much fun reading Cinder.  It was so much more than I had expected in a retelling of Cinderella.  Yes, we have an orphan with a wicked stepmother and two stepsisters, and there is a ball and a handsome prince.  But that is where the similarity ends.  Think futuristic, dystopian, space-operatic Cinderella, and you might be a little closer to the mark. 


Ms Meyer has managed to take a well loved fairy tale and turn it completely upside down.  At the same time she has managed to keep everything we all love about the story.    Cinder is a wonderfully complex, mysterious character whom you just can't help but love.  Circumstances fly out of her control at every turn, but she manages to pull herself to her feet, literally and figuratively, and make the best of every bad situation.  Prince Kai is just swoon worthy.  I love the fact that he escapes from the palace wearing a hoodie! 


I could tell you more, but really I just want you all to go out and read Cinder for yourselves.  Fairy tale fans will love it, dystopian fans will love it,  mystery fans will love it too.  The only negative thing I have to say is that we have to wait until some unknown time next year before we can find out what happens to Cinder.  May'be it's not ' happily ever after' after all! Give yourself a treat in the New Year - January 3rd to be exact - and buy a copy.  You will not regret it.