Cress by Marissa Meyer

Cress
by Marissa Meyer

Read: May 20-22, 2016
Published: January 27, 2015
Genre: Science Fiction, Fairy Tale

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. (Amazon)



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Why did you read this book?
Finishing the series...

What did you like about this book?
I know I've already mentioned this in past reviews for the Lunar Chronicles, but I just love the characters. We got a lot more Thorne in this book, which I was excited about. Cress was also introduced and she is such a precious, awkward, yet insanely intelligent character you can't help but love her. We were also introduced to Jacin, but I'll talk about him later. Again, I love how Marissa Meyer can take this fairy tales and you can obviously tell that they are these fairy tells, and yet, they are still unique. Plus, she just improves her writing with every book. I'm not sure if I like this one or Scarlet better yet, but they are both massive improvements from Cinder.

What didn't you like about this book?
I only have two minor complaints about this book. First, is Jacin. He is the first character that I just don't like. He doesn't breathe out of the pages like the other characters do. He has zero personality. Now, Kai doesn't really have a personality either, but at least I like him. Jacin doesn't have anything I can relate to. Even the awful, evil Queen Levana has at least one trait I can connect with (she just wants to be loved!). Second, while I love Thorne and Cress to death, they seem like almost exact copies of Flynn Rider and Rapunzel from Disney's Tangled. This is a hard thing to complain about, because I love Flynn/Thorne and Rapunzel/Cress, but usually Marissa Meyer has more originality than that and I guess I expected more from her than to read about these characters that I've already meant from a different source. You know what I mean?

Bottom-Line:
Yes. Please read it.



"Maybe there isn't such a thing as fate. Maybe it's just the opportunities we're given, and what we do with them. I'm beginning to think that maybe great, epic romances don't just happen. We have to make them ourselves." -Cress by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet
by Marissa Meyer

Read: May 18-19
Published: February 4, 2014
Genre: Science Fiction, Fairy Tale

Cinder is back and trying to break out of prison--even though she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive if she does--in this second installment from Marissa Meyer.

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. (Amazon)



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Why did you read this book?
....that freaking cliffhanger. I actually put off reading this one for a few days because Cinder wasn't all that exciting...but I'm so happy I finally read it!

What did you like about this book?
          I don't even really know where to start with all of the things I liked. This book was 20x better than the first one. It was just so exciting to read! I'll start first with the characters, I suppose. I really liked Cinder in this book, even though she didn't feature in it as much as she did in the first one. Despite her limited page time, I felt like she evolved as a character. And then she met Thorne, who I adore. I thought there was going to be a possible love triangle between Cinder, Thorne, and Kai, but after finishing Scarlet I don't think that will happen. Cinder and Thorne's relationship is hilarious to read and I love their instant love-hate relationship. Then, of course, there was Scarlet, the focus character of this book. She is easily my favorite character so far. She kicks butt and grows delicious tomatoes. What more could you ask for? The other character introduced in Scarlet was Wolfe. I loved him. I hated him. I loved him again. I even kind of still loved him when I hated him. I'm excited to see where the next book takes him as a character as well as his relationship with Scarlet (I ship it).
         Anyway, aside from the wonderful characters, I love that this book continued Cinder's story as well as introducing Scarlet's. I was worried that each book would be a different fairy tale with different characters. While it does essentially do that, it doesn't leave the previous characters behind. Instead, the story grows and evolves, each character finding their place within the folds of it.
         On top of all that, I am super excited to read the next book.

What didn't you like about this book?
          I don't have many complaints about this book. However, there is always something. And Scarlet's something is Kai. I really want to like him because he's supposed to be Cinder's prince charming, but he doesn't have a personality other than being stressed out and/or lashing out immaturely to the Queen Levana. You'd think being raised as a prince would have taught him a bit of diplomacy, but he doesn't seem to have much of it. Maybe it's because his character reminds me too much of Maxon from The Selection by Kiera Cass. Actually, you know...that is it. All of the other characters feel pretty original, Kai feels like a copy of Maxon with a different name.

Bottom-Line:
          This book is excellent and I would definitely recommend it. I'd recommend reading Cinder just so you could read this book. High marks from me.




"I think I realized that I would rather die because I betrayed them, than live because I betrayed you." -Scarlet by Marissa Meyer