I have been so busy summering (thus a review on a Wednesday rather than a Tuesday) that I haven’t gotten a chance to review this series and I have been dying to!!! I finished this about six weeks ago. They are long books, but pretty easy reads. So, without further delay, here’s my favorite YA series as of right now, The Lunar Chronicles. There are four books in the series:
and Winter.
I actually rated Cinder fairly low and wasn’t extremely excited to read the rest. I thought they wouldn’t live up to the hype, but I have never been more happy to be wrong. This series just got better and better. Before I get going, let me give you the run down. This series is based in a futuristic world. Our main character’s are cyborgs, space pirates, mutants, and awesome human beings. There are four main couples based on fairly tales and the books follow their relationships throughout. Don’t expect happy endings, or even any type of closure until the end of the series. Which leads me back to my low review of the first book.
I didn’t love Cinder for three reasons. I was expecting some form of closure at the end and got nothing. Nothing! I also did not connect with Cinder. At all. There was nothing wrong with her, there just wasn’t anything that made me like her. And there were things she should have suspected long before she did. The last thing was the instant romance between her and the emperor. I didn’t believe in it. Despite all of that, the story is refreshing and different, the world building great, and the set-up for the rest of the series well thought out.
With all my doubts, I started Scarlet. And I fell instantly in love with our spunky Scarlet and the mysterious Wolf. Meyer gave me character’s I could love and Cinder grew on me a little more in this one. I loved the story here. It was surprising and dramatic and heartbreaking and convoluted and so many other great things. The tension in this one kept me awake.
After Scarlet, I quickly picked up Cress. Cress (aka Rapunzel) was such a different character. Innocent and sweet, but so very tough and brilliant. I loved her relationship with Captain Thorne and how they brought out the very best in each other. This is what love should always be. A person who helps you find your best self. The rest of our couples are tried and tested more here and more great secondary character’s come into play. I loved that Cinder steps up as a leader and starts accepting her own strengths. (She’s still not my favorite, but we can’t absolutely love every character).
I read Winter (a 833 page book) in about two days. I was flying through the end, determined to finish before I went on a backpacking trip because I knew I couldn’t last three days not knowing what happened! Suffice it to say, as upset as I was by the lack of closure in the first book, I was equally thrilled by the series’ ending. Sacrifices were made, characters were perfected, and one heck of a story was told. Queen Levana gave us a truly great villain to try to defeat. Cinder gave us the means to do it. Scarlet brought strength and cunning. Cress brought the brains. And Winter gave us heart.
This series is absolutely awesome. Meyer does a great job making everything unique: fairy tales, characters, relationships, setting, story-line. It is all so new and fresh that you won’t even remember the original’s when you get done. The Lunar Chronicles live up to their hype! Happy reading, my friends!
