Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer

First impressions

When I first started this series I fell in love with the retelling of Cinderella, and every single new installment of the series has been full of beautiful usage of a known story but making it completely new. This was not an exception.

Final thoughts

At the end of Scarlet we were introduced very briefly to a new character, Cress a lunar who contacted Cinder in order to help her save Kai. She is also the best option Cinder, Scarlet Wolf and Captain Thorne have to stop Queen Levana from marrying Kai and taking over the Commonwealth.

But off course is not that easy, they will have to try and rescue her from the satellite while trying to not get caught by both Earthen and Lunar authorities. The rescue will not end up well and the group will be split in different directions while showing us what is happening in several places on Earth and on the Lunar court.

As the HP series, these books are getting bigger and luckily just as HP is not just empty extra content. I love the story in itself and all the girls, while remaining reminiscent of their inspiration original characters (Cinderella, Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel) are not just ladies in distress waiting for prince charming to come. Sure, this point is arguable in Cress's case, but you have to consider that she has been clustered for ages and even though she might be bit awe stricken she fends pretty well for someone with no prior experience on Earth. I also like Iko, she is a bubble gum type android, but she is adorable and I think she doesn't get enough credit for how awesome she is.

There were a bit of twists, nothing that had me saying oh wow, but at the same time, they didn't felt boringly predictable either. The hints to the upcoming book left me really wanting to continue reading but I will have to wait for 2015. This is the problem when reading a series that is not completely finished!

As always Marissa Meyer's rhythm takes you into the story smoothly so you don't realize you've spent hours curled in your papasan until someone asks you if you are not hungry (yes, I was) or tired (nope, not really). In the mean time I will read Glitches, the prequel Novella.

Scarlett by Marissa Meyer

 

No picture this time, sorry :(

Why I read this book?

This is the second book in the Lunar Chronicles of Marissa Meyer. I really enjoyed the first one, Cinder and decided to continue with the series. It also makes part of my sequel challenge.

What's the book about?

As it was the case with Cinder, this is a re telling of a children story, in this case Little Red Riding Hood. The story follows Scarlet and Cinder in different parts of the world to finally merge towards the end. On her side, Scarlett's grandmother has gone missing and she is sure it's abduction. While trying to find her grandmother she will meet some interesting people along the way.

What was the thing I liked the most? 

Although you know how the story goes for LRRH this re telling takes a few twists that make the book interesting. I enjoyed the way the characters are written. 

What about the main character?

As you probably guessed by now the main character here is Scarlett Benoît, and she is inspired on LRRH, she even wears a red hoodie! Once again, as in Cinder, they have glimpses of the original story, but they are both very strong young women, albeit they are still teen agers and as such they will sometimes take rush decision marked by a pretty pair of eyes, if you know what I mean. In the case of Scarlett, she is also an orphan, even though her father is still alive, but he pretty much walked on her, so its her grandma who brought her up. She is a bit ill tempered, but mostly because she has had to deal with a lot.

Final thoughts

I'm really getting into this series, Meyer takes the fairy tale background, including the origin of the story (in this case France) and incorporates them into the whole tale while adding a bit of futuristic elements without pushing it into sci-fi necessarily. The characters are not dull, although sometimes is a bit predictable what their reaction will be, but never mind that, the books are very enjoyable. 

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Before I jump into the review I want to say that this is the first Audiobook I've ever tried, and boy was I happy that I enjoyed it!

What's the book about?

This is a retelling of the fairy tale Cinderella. It has a hint of futuristic Sci-Fi. Linh Cinder is a mechanic and a cyborg. She lost her family when she was very young and was adopted. Unfortunately, her adoptive father die right after the adoption and her adoptive mother is not precisely thrilled of having her. Unlike the original story, she has a good relationship with one of her step-sisters. At the same time, a big epidemic is threatening the Earth: Letumosis, a strange and deathly plague. To make things worse, Queen Levana, the Moon Queen is pushing for Prince Kay to be her husband and eventually become Empress of the Eastern Commonwealth. 

What was the thing I liked the most? 

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but...I loved Sailor Moon, I watched ALL of the episodes. Well, I would be lying if I didn't mention that I liked the obvious influence that Sailor Moon had in this book. But my favourite thing was the fact that unlike Cinderella and Usagi, Cinder was a strong character. Yes, sure, she had her teenager moments, of course. But she knew how to fend for herself, she didn't seemed helpless to me, and even when things got extremely hard for her, she didn't gave up.

What about the main character?

Cinder, I already mentioned the fact that for me she was a strong character. She was smart and kind. I could've done with a bit less of attitude, but considering her age, I suppose is normal. I guess her "identity" is quite predictable, particularly if like me, you know the Sailor Moon story, but since the book doesn't turn around this part of her story it was ok.

The 10% moment

Cinder has been introduced to Prince Kai, who needs her to fix her android. When she gets home we see the "lovely" interaction she has with her step-mother, or guardian (Linh Adri). We've also met Iko, an android that helps Cinder, and Linh Peony, her step-sister, a teen, very star crushed with the prince, but sweet to Cinder. Also, we've seen the first case of letumosis in the book.

 

Final thoughts

First of all...I hate cliff hangers!!! That's the problem of reading a series that is very recent! Now I want to read the second book but I will have to wait until is available in my library. It will be the physical copy, since the Auidobook is not available. 

I like the book, the characters in general, although not super deep were interesting and had enough on them to keep me guessing about them, except for Cinder off course. I liked the fact that, although SciFi, it wasn't plagued with weird terms, not everything need to sound foreign of high tech for it be SciFi, the fact that the author kept it fairly simple helped for the universe to be consistent with itself. Not everyone can build a huge universe in a first book. 

I've read some people saying that there was not Asian influence whatsoever, and I have to disagree, there is some, not a lot, but is there. Also, people seem to neglect the fact that this is not Earth as we know it now, it was after World War IV so a lot of things had changed, the political divisions have completely changed and that's normal after 2 huge wars.