Review: Cress

CRESS by MARISSA MEYER 

RELEASE: FEB. 4, 2014

SOURCE: ARC FROM PUBLISHER

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In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. 

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only 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 goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

Cress got me out of my reading slump.

It's a huge hunk of a book, but I devoured those pages--one after another, until I reached the end and my heart was so full of love for Cinder and her gang.

The Lunar Chronicles is a four-book series that mainly follows a young cyborg named Cinder--as in Cinderella, the fairytale. In this futuristic society, cyborgs are seen as less than human. When a disease begins to spread across New Beijing, cyborgs are used to experiment on. Scientists are scrambling to come up with a cure, but the solution rests in the hands of a very deceptive and cruel dictator of Luna. Luna is very difference from earth, though. It is a moon empire, where its citizens have mind-influcing powers (referred to as "glamor"). The following books introduce us to characters that are inspired by three other fairytales. Scarlet follows the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and Cress follows the story of  Rapuzel. Winter, the final book, will introduce us to a character inspired by the Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

For most of her life, Cress has been locked up in a satellite orbiting earth. She's a lunar without glamor--what they call a "shell"--so she becomes useful by gaining intelligence on Earthen people. And then her life changes when she makes contact with Cinder and her gang. What follows is an exciting adventure through the African Deserts. In this installment, Cinder attempts to find answers that a certain doctor can answer.

I honestly loved every moment of this book.

What makes the Lunar Chronicles stand out, though, is how Marissa Meyer manages to PERFECTLY weave the stories of six main character into a much larger one: the conflict between Earthen and Lunar people. I also love how she manages to weave aspects of the original fairytale into these books. By no means are these books perfect representation of the fairytales that inspired them, but the influence is clear.

I would also like to give a special shout-out to my favorite Lunar Chronicles character: Captain Throne. He is not perfect, by any means, but he makes me smile and I am so happy that he's more prominent in this book. Iko is, still, just as fun and amusing. And Cinder just as fantastically determined to overthrow Levana. I admire the growth in Cinder, as she comes to terms with who she is. As for the main girl, Cress: she is naive and optimistic, but without being so nauseatingly childish. She's just a young girl who lacks real-life experience. Throne and Cress just compliment each other SO WELL. I do wish there was more of Scarlet and Wolf in this installment, but I am still completely and utterly satisfied.

Marissa Meyer's books are, to put it simply, fun and addictive. Cress has been my favorite installment, and reading it has made me that much more desperate for Winter. I am so nervous and excited to see how things go down in the final book. I am also very excited to read about Winter. From what Marissa says, she's a bit…unstable. She's a lunar, the step daughter of the Lunar Queen, but she doesn't use her glamor. And that makes her go a bit crazy. It should be interesting...

To make my review more succinct, read the Lunar Chronicles. If you've already read Cinder and Scarlet, read Cress. Marissa Meyer is an utter genius for writing this series, and I will gladly read ANY book she writes. Thank you, MacMillian, for providing me a copy for review. And thank you Marissa for pulling me out of my reading slump with this book.