RAD. READERS. OH. MY. GOSH. THIS BOOK BLEW MY MIND!!!!!!!
There is just absolutely no way that I can give a completely spoiler free book talk on this addition the the Lunar Chronicles, because seriously everything that could even possibly be discussed is a spoiler. I will let you know however when it starts getting spoiler-y. That being said, if you have just finished book 3 and you are wondering whether or not you should read the final installment, the answer is ABSOLUTELY YES YOU SHOULD. All of Meyer's books in the Lunar Chronicles are based off of kind of funky retellings of fairy tales, this is a super funky retelling of Snow White!
(Also, I have written reviews to every other book in this series, so check those out too!)
I would like to start off by saying that I read the novella, Fairest after I finished Cress and before I started reading Winter. I think that this is absolutely the best way to do it. A lot that was mentioned in Fairest related to tiny little details in this book, so if you wanted to know more on the background of Levana, (which I thought was very insightful and interesting), I think that Fairest is a great and very interesting read. It really just goes on, proves, and reaffirms all rad reader beliefs that even the most evil evil evil villains have the saddest back stories :(.
Winter is the my favorite character from the series which... actually, I don't know if I can really say that because I love Cinder so much as well... ahh, okay, whatever, I will just say that I love Winter. She reminds me of Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter and Luna was my favorite character from the Harry Potter series. Winter is hilarious and weird and undeniably, unapologetically herself. The people admire her for he imperfect beauty and her grace and kindness, in comparison to Levana who wants the people to think she is beautiful, but it is all a lie, it is all through her glamour. It is really such a clever twist in the Snow White story.
There is far more than a lack of beauty that Levana has to be concerned about though. All across Luna the people are revolting. Cinder is dipping, slipping, and ripping all of Levana's efforts to stop her, and let me tell you rad readers, it is so beyond exciting to read this. Cinder is escaping left and right from the most closest of calls, but then things get certainly a little too close for comfort, and you wonder whether or not Cinder's revolution will continue, and if it does continue will she even be alive for it.
Jacin and Winter are the two new main characters that get introduced and I just absolutely love both of them and especially the two of them together. They are such a dynamic duo and they really just make things work together. I could say the same for most of the characters in these novels too though, becuase the fact of the matter is that not only is this series heavily plot driven, it is also heavily character driven. Not only do we care about the revolution, we care about the characters too and I think that is what makes this series so amazing. The plot was riveting and the characters were phenomenally written and developed. Marissa Meyer could write about these characters going to the grocery store and I would still read it (probably) because I love them so much. The way that they band together one after another more and more as the series goes on is so fun and their dialogue is hilarious. I just can't say enough good things! WHY DOES THE SERIES HAVE TO END! Though, on the topic of it ending, I think Meyer did a fantastic job at wrapping it up.
This is unfortunately the most I can say without spoiling! I highly recommend this book and this entire series! Characters? Phenomenal. Plot? To die for. World building? Sensational. I will absolutely be reading the nest novella, "Stars Above."
SPOILERS COMING, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
I know this is probably an unpopular opinion, but I really truly loved the happily ever after ending. I know there were so many people that said it was too convenient and that someone had to die, but to that I say you are sick and twisted! I would never want a single one of these characters to die and just like all these books are based off of these juvenile fairy tales that end with "happily ever after," I think that it was perfect that everything after was happy. Also, people are being far too dramatic about it. Let us not forget, Scarlet lost a finger, Winter got the PLAGUE and then went into a comma, Cinder was captured, fell out of a building, and lost 100% of her cyborg ability, Cress was stabbed, Wolf was captured and genetically mutated, Thorne lost his vision for a hot sec, then was mind controlled to stab Cress. HOW can someone say this is PREDICTABLE or CONVENIENT!? Please explain to me the convenience of getting the plague... I am genuinely curious.
I loved all the character dynamics, all the new friendships formed, it was everything. Scarlet and Winter became hella homies. Jacin is a totally G. When Levana told him he had to kill Winter and then she believed that he actually would! HA! HAHA! Levana! You are such a fool. Also, you should probably go to a psychologist. Big shout out to Jacin for actually getting the ball really rolling with this revolution and faking out homie Winter's death. What would we do without him? Probably we would still be stuck with Cress hiding in a crate. Anyways, the way he planned and executed this grand escape and revolution and then stayed at the palace for a while all for Winter... I mean COME ONNNNN! That is amazing! Winter is so fun and so exciting and funny and I love her. She has a very positive spirit and it is often exactly what the story needs. Okay, I already praised Winter enough in the beginning of this post.
Poor Scarlet man, that girl has been through the ringerrrrr. Same with Wolf too though. I think they both became more interesting to me (because in my review of Scarlet I was not the fondest) because they kept on getting split apart and they kept on having to make these crazy things work out and make decisions on their own and just reallyyyyy went through it. When Wolf lost his mom... oh my lord the anger that I had and the sadness and just all the emotions that were going on in me were astronomical. That poor poor dude did not deserve all that and neither did his mom :(. In this, honestly I think Wold just did more. In Cress he moped around, in Scarlet I was suspicious he was a bad guy, but when he finally found Scarlet it was like he had a character revamp and was automatically less lame. As for Scarlet, I love her. She is fiery and quick witted and entertaining. The fact that she had been through some CRAZY stuff and still had the gaul to make jokes about it and be sarcastic in the face of Levanna and Aimery was just beyond exciting to read.
Cress and Thorne are also pretty awesome. I was getting tired of Thorne a little bit, he was killing the vibes because Cress was so cool and he just would not recognize that. At least they he came around in the end. That was about it. I love both of their characters so much individually and together, so I don't have much to say about them. I am whole heartedly pleased :).
Okay, now onto the big one, Kai and Cinder... Quite incredible, the ones that started it all... I was very happy with the way that their stories end if I have to say so myself. I absolutely loved how in the end Cinder decides that although she wants to defeat Levana, she absolutely does not want to be Queen of Luna. It really makes so much sense. It was like when Juliette became the ruler in the Shatter Me series and everyone was kind of just like... okay but like why though? Juliette was right to lead the revolution, what the people in charge were doing was maddeningly unfair, but she knew nothing about politics, in fact she had been locked in a basement for a year. Cinder did not make the same mistake. She knew that she had to be the one to catalyst the change, but she also knew that she did not know how to be a queen, nor did she want to and I massively respect that and the fact that the author knows that such an idea would be absurd because in all these young adult novels it truly is ridiculous to assume that a teenager with no knowledge of politics could rule a planet, so I really like this choice! As for Kai, what a great guy! I have always loved his character and I always will. He is so careful and smart and in a story with sporadic and impulsive and not so smart characters he is like a breath of fresh air. They way Meyer wrote him makes me want to be his best friend.
Okay rad readers, that is all I have to say for this incredible series, truly an excellent finale. This will be one that I revisit often. Most exciting 830 pages everrrrrr! It is like the princess version of the Avengers!
Read on, read on!
- C8 ;)