Winter - Marissa Meyer

Winter by Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #4 
Published on November 10, 2015 by Feiwel & Friends

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?

We are here friends, at the end of the road, we finished this series and now we probably just want more or it is just me? Of course not, no one wanted this to end. I don't really know how to make reviews of last books on a series, I found it hard to make reviews of seconds books already I mean, it's hard to talk about a series because spoilers everywhere and you want to talk about those spoilers but also review isn't the place to it and AGH. But anyway, I'll try to do my best and talk about this book on a more general way, but I make no promises that this will be coherent (who I'm kidding, my reviews are never coherent lol).

First and mostly, I feel like I should praise Meyer for the growth on her writing. I remember that when I read Cinder I thought the writing was more on the young-ish side of YA, it wasn't bad or anything but also it was very simplistic, and the plot twists too were so easy to see a mile away which took some of the story but oh my, this really didn't happened this time around. The writing is much improved, and Meyer overcome all my expectations with the plot on this book, this book is enormous and so many things happen on it, I never felt like it was predicable she really surpassed anything that I could have expect and upped it up turning this story so much more than already was.

Also, I was so so SO scared of the size of this book, I'm not a fan of big books and by big I mean that I become wary of anything over 400 pages, if is part of a series I usually will read it despite it's size but I was fully expecting to take me a month to read this one, instead I read it in about 6 days which for me is equal super speed. The big reason for this is the fact that there was ALWAYS SOMETHING HAPPENING on this book, I'm not kidding, so much happens and I feel so satisfied with it, because I was afraid that things would be solved to quickly or easily since the whole revolution had to happen on this book but no, on the contrary.

These characters had to face so many challenges (as if they didn't already but yeah), now shit is real, Levana is crazy as fuck, like even more than usual, seriously this gurl took crazy to a whole new level and I loved it, I think I never said on my other reviews but she grew to be one of my favorite villains, probably because it's so interesting to read about her. Her mind is so fucked up and twisted on believing this reality she created to herself to deal with her childhood traumas, I think it's a very unique way of picture a villain, they usually have strong beliefs and ideologies but Levana is straight out crazy because of her past, and her only belief is on the lies she created, such a interesting character.

Anyway, I wasn't going to talk about her, I was going to talk about how much I loved the plot of this book. As of this being a fairy tale retelling I didn't know what to expect when they were facing challenges to bring on the revolution, maybe my fear was that it would become too much of a Once Upon A Time kind of thing where the good always wins the bad just because but no. All of our loved cast, plus Winter and Jacin, have challenges to face on this one and absolutely nothing goes smoothly, seriously I would be like HELL YES LET'S GO REVOLUTION TIME BOO LEVANA and them BOOM shit happened, them resolutions for that shit comes and I would go all like YEAH NOW WE GO FULL ON REVOLUTION MODE and them BOOM more shit even worse comes flying and hits me on the face. Seriously there was one chapter at the end that was just plain bad to my heart, for those who already read this is the last scene on the throne room, SUCH AGONY, SUCH A HIGH.

Also, the personal characters stories I was fully satisfied with the ending of everyone, like I said before nothing comes easy and also doesn't end perfectly as in a fairy tale but this was a war so things were to be expected. The couples have time together but nothing over shines the plot, but it's enough to give everyone that ships different things to have their ship feels and feel happy with their otp, mine had such a great kissing scene and finally a declaration and I was giggling the whole time I'm totally normal, I swear.Let's talk a little about our new character, Winter, she is suffering from Lunar sickness which means she is loosing her mind, it was very unique read things through her POV but I really enjoyed how Meyer didn't infantilized her and showed how clever her mind still was despite her sickness. One thing that I do complain is that I needed more Cress POV, actually I need more from like everyone on this series, I didn't wanted it to end when I finally got to the ending and I hope the collection, Stars Above, has short stories from these characters on the future because I need to know about their future, pretty please.

Overall this series ended on a more than satisfying note, I will definitely revisit these characters and their stories on the future, it's kind of funny to see how disappointed I was on the first book and how much I ended up liking this series in the end. Super recommend this series to everyone looking for a YA science fiction series and/or a dystopia that doesn't fit the mold expect after The Hunger Games, if you already read the first book but was let down by it I would say give it a chance to the other books on this series, I think they may win you over.

Cress - Marissa Meyer

Cress by Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #3
Published on February 4, 2014 by Feiwel & Friends

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 high 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.

 Guys, I'm in love with Cress, I really don't think any of the other Lunar protagonists conquered my heart so quickly and easily and it's really clear why. Cress reminded me of Felicity, from the tv show Arrow which is one of my favorite shows and she is definitively my favorite character of it, Cress with her awkward ways around people (because you know is hard to develop social skills when stuck on a satellite most of her life), her insanely good hacker abilities and huge crush on Thorne, won me over in just a few pages, safe to say that the more I read about her and the troubles she passes through this book I liked her more and more, also I feel like she would totally understand my crush on Thorne too and we would spend all the night gushing over him.

Despite starting as a sheltered girl, not having much of a life outside her computers, Cress still manages to go through a lot during this story and grow a back bone while being herself still. I have to say I specially love the way she created to deal with hard situations by imagining stories on her head based on the drama shows she watched all her life, it was fun and showed her naive ways to see the world. She also challenged a lot of common places for heroines, since she is naive while also being a super genius, she is awkward and say the wrong things at times but is completely unique on her hacker skills, she isn't physically strong and does at times need or even want to be rescued by her knit on shine armor (Thorne in case you didn't noticed yet) but is the one that saves the day a lot of times. Yay, for strong kick ass heroines that don't fit the mold YA created years ago with Katniss like heroines.

Since I already mentioned Thorne so many times and how Cress has a crush on him let's talk about their relationship. They end up being together for the most part of the story because of spoilery things and it's a hard situation, physically and emotionally, so this definitely created a bound between them. There isn't much romance properly saying since it's mostly Cress crushing on Thorne and Thorne, well being Thorne all charming and stuff, but I feel like this made them the best couple of the series so far, my biggest complaint whit the others romances where their instalove but this time around there isn't any of that on play. Cress does eventually grows and realizes the distinctions between the Thorne she created on her head and the real one, so even from her side there wasn't any instalove for me. Also their scenes where so cute and I giggled a lot of times, so win win.

I guess there was other characters on this story too, so I should probably talk about them too, hmm, these characters continue to grow on me. I'm actually really surprised by how much I'm caring about Cinder since her voice really didn't stood out for me on the first book but now she grew so much, I'm liking to see how much she grew and how hard she is trying to make everything work while still caring insecurities that make her a character easy to relate. Wolf is still my least favorite character, sorry for all his fans, but I just don't click with the guy I think he's a weakness on their group with his mind control stuff and just no. Scarlet shows up very little on this one, but when she did it was pretty scary stuff, also Winter makes an appearance on this book and I was like !!!!!!!!!! so excited to read more from her point of view that is bound to be very unique.

Overall this was, so far, my favorite of the series, Cress won me over as my favorite heroine of this story and at each book I grew more attached to the rest of the cast, even the ones that weren't my favorites at first. I totally recommend to readers of the series, I mean what are you guys awaiting to finally pick this up but also to everyone looking for a very fun and fast paced YA science fiction series.

Scarlet - Marissa Meyer

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer 
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #2 
Published on February 5, 2013 by Feiwel & Friends

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.

Oh, boy this series is really growing on me, I still had some troubles with Scarlet but I enjoyed it more than Cinder and can say with 100% sure that I'm gonna continue with this series. The biggest development between Cinder and Scarlet was the writing and the pacing, this time around we have a clear build up to the ending despite it being pretty predictable still was much more enjoyable for me to see things clearly building the tension and getting to the final climax. The writing also improved on terms, especially, of info dump, when building the world on Cinder I often found myself thinking how conveniently everything was and how things are being underdeveloped but this time around I didn't had these kind of thoughts, the world Meyer created really started to have a more clear image on my head.

What made this book for me was its characters, I found the characters on Cinder pretty card board and one dimensional but now I don't really see them like that, Cinder and Kai have to face a more lot of challenges on this one, having to make hard decisions that not always will coincide with what they think is the best/right. The new characters Scarlet, Wolf and Thorne also have their time to shine, Scarlet is our main POV on this one (there are multiple ones) and I liked her, she is a fighter, even after everything she went through on this book she didn't back down and is more than ready to join this bigger fight that is building. Wolf isn't my fave, more on that later. Thorne <3 Oh, Thorne is just my kind of character, he is a jerk with a big heart and a even bigger repertory of snark comments.

Now, my problem on this one was with the romance, I just I couldn't guys, it was terrible and I wanted to punch the two of them on the face all the time. So yeah, Scarlet and Wolf  are the supposed couple of this one and first, it was completely instalove (as with was already on Cinder, but at least Cinder and Kai had a few talks and never declared their undying love for each other) but I could get past that, what I couldn't get past was the way Wolf treated Scarlet and how she continued to trust him even after everything, just no. He's violent, lies to her, betrays her, but even after she knows this what does she thinks? "Wolf is different, Wolf is only doing this to protect me, Wolf has something in him that makes me trust him despite everything" just ugh no, big giant no, I thought we had passed this with Twilight.

Overall I liked this one more than Cinder and now this is a series that I would recommend to more people looking for fun YA series, this is a fast paced read with characters that really grew on me and in spite of my reservations I would say for you to give this series a shot if the synopses intrigues you.

Cinder - Marissa Meyer

Cinder by Marissa Meyer 
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #1
Published on January 3, 2012 by Feiwel & Friends

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 some problems with this one but overall I enjoyed and started the sequel right away. My main problems were concerning the world build on this series, it is supposed to be a dystopia with a sci-fi touch, but things never really felt... Natural, none of what was presented here sounds like plausible near (100,200 years from now) future, on the other side it sounded a lot like Hollywood movies taking scientific concepts and putting it on a easier way for the audience and/or for the convenience of the plot; one other thing, this is supposed to be set on Asia, more specific Beijing (that was destroyed and is now the New Beijing), China and honestly, if this passed on any USA or European city it wouldn't have made a single difference because there is no use of the Asian culture which I think it is a shame; also it's said at some point that Commonwealth is a junction of all the past Asian cultures but it's never really explained any cultural aspect of this new world and this citation made me really curious because as of right now on Asia we have very different and opposite ideals on religion and politics which even lead to numerous wars over the history, so how come now they are at peace and which religion is practiced there, the political system is socialism? I honestly have no clue and it bothered me. 

Some other things that also rubbed me wrong are the pacing of the story, there wasn't a consistence for building a climax at least not on my reading experience and the ending was really abrupt. There are some times that I thought the plot was to convenient too and the characters weren't exactly the most complex ones. 

But despite all this I did enjoyed most of my reading, it was really easy to read, most of the time fast paced with things always moving the plot and I'm interested in seeing where Meyer will take this on the next books. Do not recommend to readers looking for something more complex/emotional but to those who want a candy brain read.