Helpful Score: 2
"Cress" was fast-paced and jam-packed with quirky, memorable characters. This third installment of the Lunar Chronicles continued the pattern of adding more characters to the cast, and new for this book is obviously Cress (aka Rapunzel), an alien hacker stranded in a satellite. The best part of Cress's character throughout the entire book is her reactions to things. She's naive, childish, and sweet like a little kid would be, and her evaluations of common things once she is finally among civilization were realistic and cute.
Speaking of the cast, I'd like to call out how all the characters in the Lunar Chronicles are clearly distinct and unique. Oftentimes books with very large casts suffer from what I like to think of as a doppelganger issue. The author only has so much creative material, so new characters start to become eerily similar to characters they have already introduced. Thankfully, not an issue for Meyer. Each time she introduces a new member of Cinder's posse we are given a well-developed and interesting new voice.
The only thing that really bugged me about this book was the fact that not all the plot lines were given the same amount of face time. While everyone starts the story together, people are quickly split up into several groups. Cress's group is obviously given the majority of the attention since is a new character, but the member of Cinder's posse who ends up on Luna is given almost no part in the story at all. I feel like this was a real misstep for Meyer. This was an amazing opportunity to give readers further insight into Lunar society and customs, and really give the race/planet some depth. Instead, we are given a handful of chapters that tell us practically nothing we did not already know.
In the end, "Cress" is a fine addition to the series, although it is definitely not my favorite. The pace is good, the plot is exciting, and it definitely did not feel like it was over 500 pages long. You can bet that I'll be picking up the fourth book in the series as soon as I can get my hands on it!
Speaking of the cast, I'd like to call out how all the characters in the Lunar Chronicles are clearly distinct and unique. Oftentimes books with very large casts suffer from what I like to think of as a doppelganger issue. The author only has so much creative material, so new characters start to become eerily similar to characters they have already introduced. Thankfully, not an issue for Meyer. Each time she introduces a new member of Cinder's posse we are given a well-developed and interesting new voice.
The only thing that really bugged me about this book was the fact that not all the plot lines were given the same amount of face time. While everyone starts the story together, people are quickly split up into several groups. Cress's group is obviously given the majority of the attention since is a new character, but the member of Cinder's posse who ends up on Luna is given almost no part in the story at all. I feel like this was a real misstep for Meyer. This was an amazing opportunity to give readers further insight into Lunar society and customs, and really give the race/planet some depth. Instead, we are given a handful of chapters that tell us practically nothing we did not already know.
In the end, "Cress" is a fine addition to the series, although it is definitely not my favorite. The pace is good, the plot is exciting, and it definitely did not feel like it was over 500 pages long. You can bet that I'll be picking up the fourth book in the series as soon as I can get my hands on it!
This is the 3rd book in the Lunar Chronicles by Meyer. The 4th book in the series, Winter, is scheduled to release in Feb of 2015. I have loved all the books in this series and this book was the best in the series so far.
Cress sits alone in her satelite, her job is to spy on Earth for the Lunars...she has been given specific instructions to track down Cinder. However she doesnt want to. Cinder, Scarlet, Wolf, and Captain Thorne are determined to stop Kais wedding to the Lunar Queen Levana, hoping to overthrow Queen Levana and save Earth. Cress is their best hope of doing this, so they go on a mission to rescue Cress...but of course things go awry.
I have really loved this series, it is just so creative. While it is mostly science fiction, it does an excellent job of wrapping fairy tale elements, and steampunk elements into the story as well.
This book switches viewpoint between Cress, Scarlet, Cinder, Thorne, and Kai. This works really well for this book and I enjoyed hearing from all of the characters. All of these characters are interesting, engaging, and likable.
This does an excellent job of mirroring the Rapunzel fairy tale. Cress is in a satellite instead of a tower, and the evil witch is one of Levanas minions. Cress believes that Thorne is her true love and that he has come to save her. When they crash Thorne loses his sight from a concussion, again mirroring the original fairy tale. I love how elements from Rapunzel are woven into this action packed science fiction story.
This is pretty much Cresss and Thornes book. We learn a lot more about both of them and watch as they adventure through the desert together and slowly start to fall in love. Cress is an interesting blend of tech-savvy and naivete. Shes been pretty isolated her whole life, but she is daring and an excellent hacker.
Cinder also plays a large part in the book as she struggles to learn and control her Lunar abilities. She struggles with the worry that she is turning into someone like Queen Levana, someone she doesnt want to be.
Most of the time when we hear from Kai, he is planning the wedding with Queen Levana. Kai is struggling to keep things from completely falling apart. He is turning into more of a leader than he was before. He also spends some time trying to unravel Cinders past and figure out what her story is.
The plot progresses nicely with lots of twists and turns, excellent action scenes, awesome adventure, and lots of intrigue. Its an incredibly engaging book. Although it is a long book, it doesnt feel that way. I breezed right through it and never noticed how much I was reading. Its very well written. The book ties up some elements nicely, but leaves us at a bit of a cliffhanger as it sets things up for the 4th book in this series.
Overall this was a spectacular read. I love the creative setting, the complex story, the engaging characters, and the writing style. There is so much here to love. I really enjoy how the fairy tale of Rapunzel was subtly woven throughout this story as well. I love the science fiction and steampunk elements throughout the book as well. I highly recommend this whole series to everyone, it is just so different from most of the YA books out there. I cant wait to see what Winter holds for us!
Cress sits alone in her satelite, her job is to spy on Earth for the Lunars...she has been given specific instructions to track down Cinder. However she doesnt want to. Cinder, Scarlet, Wolf, and Captain Thorne are determined to stop Kais wedding to the Lunar Queen Levana, hoping to overthrow Queen Levana and save Earth. Cress is their best hope of doing this, so they go on a mission to rescue Cress...but of course things go awry.
I have really loved this series, it is just so creative. While it is mostly science fiction, it does an excellent job of wrapping fairy tale elements, and steampunk elements into the story as well.
This book switches viewpoint between Cress, Scarlet, Cinder, Thorne, and Kai. This works really well for this book and I enjoyed hearing from all of the characters. All of these characters are interesting, engaging, and likable.
This does an excellent job of mirroring the Rapunzel fairy tale. Cress is in a satellite instead of a tower, and the evil witch is one of Levanas minions. Cress believes that Thorne is her true love and that he has come to save her. When they crash Thorne loses his sight from a concussion, again mirroring the original fairy tale. I love how elements from Rapunzel are woven into this action packed science fiction story.
This is pretty much Cresss and Thornes book. We learn a lot more about both of them and watch as they adventure through the desert together and slowly start to fall in love. Cress is an interesting blend of tech-savvy and naivete. Shes been pretty isolated her whole life, but she is daring and an excellent hacker.
Cinder also plays a large part in the book as she struggles to learn and control her Lunar abilities. She struggles with the worry that she is turning into someone like Queen Levana, someone she doesnt want to be.
Most of the time when we hear from Kai, he is planning the wedding with Queen Levana. Kai is struggling to keep things from completely falling apart. He is turning into more of a leader than he was before. He also spends some time trying to unravel Cinders past and figure out what her story is.
The plot progresses nicely with lots of twists and turns, excellent action scenes, awesome adventure, and lots of intrigue. Its an incredibly engaging book. Although it is a long book, it doesnt feel that way. I breezed right through it and never noticed how much I was reading. Its very well written. The book ties up some elements nicely, but leaves us at a bit of a cliffhanger as it sets things up for the 4th book in this series.
Overall this was a spectacular read. I love the creative setting, the complex story, the engaging characters, and the writing style. There is so much here to love. I really enjoy how the fairy tale of Rapunzel was subtly woven throughout this story as well. I love the science fiction and steampunk elements throughout the book as well. I highly recommend this whole series to everyone, it is just so different from most of the YA books out there. I cant wait to see what Winter holds for us!
I'm still shocked by how much I love this series! Meyer took such a crazy concept and made it incredible with her world building and complex plots. Each character has a time to shine in each book so they all grow on you. They're all complex enough that they don't fall into clichés and Meyer somehow got me to root for every couple she set up. Like others have said, this was the best of the series by far as all the plots start to layer together. it killed me to see Wolf and Scarlett apart, but I loved the growth of Thorne and Cress' relationship. I can't wait to see all that she's set up for Winter!
Just a quick review: Of the first three, assuming the first (Cinder) is always a favorite because it introduces characters you enjoy enough to read more about (i.e., I LOVED Cinder), I have to say that Cress is probably the best novel of the three. Finally the "gang" is pulled together and they accomplish and survive some really wild adventures. Cliffhanger ending leaves you with anticipation not annoyance (if you know what I mean). I cannot wait to read Winter. I think I'm going out to buy a copy because I really don't want to wait!
This was my favorite of the series thus far (and probably will remain as such)!
I was really impressed with how the story captivated my attention the whole time. I liked that the setting changed regularly and that I got to experience learning more about the characters as well as meeting some new people.
We finally got to hear a little more from Kai, because I feel he was left out of the last book a little too much. This book left Scarlet out a bunch, but she definitely had a few chapters devoted to her.
Let's talk about our Rapunzel who is Cress. I will admit that my favorite "princess" story since I was a child was Rapunzel (my second favorite faerytale though). It didn't help that before I started this book my husband was reading it and kept telling me that she reminded him of me in ways and that I'd like it (he knows me well). She was a great character. I really don't want to give anything away so I'll just say that she is sweet and smart and has a sad tale.
Kai + Cinder though - <3 I love them.
I was really impressed with how the story captivated my attention the whole time. I liked that the setting changed regularly and that I got to experience learning more about the characters as well as meeting some new people.
We finally got to hear a little more from Kai, because I feel he was left out of the last book a little too much. This book left Scarlet out a bunch, but she definitely had a few chapters devoted to her.
Let's talk about our Rapunzel who is Cress. I will admit that my favorite "princess" story since I was a child was Rapunzel (my second favorite faerytale though). It didn't help that before I started this book my husband was reading it and kept telling me that she reminded him of me in ways and that I'd like it (he knows me well). She was a great character. I really don't want to give anything away so I'll just say that she is sweet and smart and has a sad tale.
Kai + Cinder though - <3 I love them.
