Winter

Holy stars above. I just finished Winter. This series is actually over. It's a lot to digest, considering how amazing and genius this series is. Fortunately, I still have the short story collection Stars Above to satisfy my need for the Lunar Chronicles. This is going to be difficult to review, since this is the last in the series, but I'll try. Since Winter is a REALLY great conclusion, with amazing writing and characters, I'm going to break my review up into separate sections so I can really explain in detail why this series is absolute perfection.The Plot: It's time for the final showdown between Cinder and Levana to begin. Cinder must start a revolution, claim her throne, and prevent Kai's marriage to Levana. However, she needs the assistance of the Lunar people to aid her in battle, and must persuade them to join her side and rise against tyranny. Meanwhile, Scarlet is being held captive in the Lunar Palace, barely managing to survive. The only person keeping her alive is Princess Winter, who claimed Scarlet as her pet to save her life. Princess Winter is notoriously beautiful, but what makes her beauty so unique is that it's not generated by her Lunar glamour. Not using her glamour makes Winter a little nuts, but when her childhood friend and soul mate Jacin is around, she is able to handle it. However, Jacin is a lowly palace guard, and isn't fit to be around the princess. Winter is loved by her subjects, but loathed by her stepmother Queen Levana, and so as Queen Levana becomes more desperate and paranoid due to Cinder's revolution, she orders Winter to be assassinated by Jacin himself. Unable to hurt her, Jacin helps Winter and Scarlet escape, leading them to reunite with Cinder and the gang. The group finally launches the Lunar rebellion, despite many sacrifices, and fights to save Luna and Earth from Levana's cruel reign.The Characters: One of the best parts of the Lunar Chronicles series are the wonderful and relatable characters. They are all brave, strong, determined and heroic in different ways, and have each worked so hard to achieve their happy endings. You earned it, guys.Cinder: Words cannot describe how much I love this character. She has been strong, intelligent, courageous, and resilient since book 1. She is not perfect and doesn't try to be. I know she will make an excellent queen. Here's to the best heroine a book series could have.Kai: Not my favorite character, but will still be missed. I love how kind and caring he was, and how he was determined to help his people, but wouldn't marry Levana. Some of my favorite quotes from this book were the snarky comments he made towards Levana. He and Cinder totally deserve a happily ever after together.Iko: She is awesome. That is pretty much the best description that fits her. She was funny and a hilarious fangirl, but was always loyal towards Cinder, and extremely trustworthy. Despite being an android, she was one of the most relatable characters I've read about. (sticks tongue out at Kinney.)Scarlet: I will miss her so much. She was very capable, opinionated, and strong-willed. Just a great female character in general. Scarlet was a valuable member of the crew, and I loved the banter between her and Winter. She really deserves a perfect happy ending after all that she's been through.Wolf: I just want to give him a hug and a can of tomatoes. After everything that he has had to go through, especially in this book, I really need him to get his much needed happy ending. He is so strong and protective of Scarlet, and I love him for that. He had a sad story, but was still a great character.Cress: At first, I wasn't sure if I would like Cress or not, but now I'm ashamed of myself for even considering not liking her. I love how even though she was scared, she was still determined to be a hero, and that's a great personality trait to have. She may have been a little naive at times, but was still amazing, kind, and a talented hacker. I may have to fight her for Thorne, though.Thorne: PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME! Seriously, he was so hilarious, witty, and awesome. He and Iko got all the best lines. And although his character was great before, I really liked his life turn in Winter. Especially the moment between him and Cress in the palace and how he opened up to her. Marissa, you get all the wins for this character.Winter: We didn't get to learn much about her, but from what I know of her from this book and the prequel Fairest, she is extremely beautiful but humble about it, compassionate, and on the crazier side. She wasn't very physically strong, but it takes a lot of inner strength to not use her Lunar glamour, even when it was giving her Lunar sickness. She was a pretty fun character with all of her craziness, and had a really great friendship with Scarlet. Also, R.I.P. Ryu.Jacin: I think Marissa Meyer set his character up really well, considering how locked down and guarded he was. It was a good idea to introduce him in Cinder, bring him back in Cress, and really get to know him in Winter. I also love the relationship between him and Winter, and the fact that they've known each other since they were children. Still, I would like to learn more about him. Hopefully, we get some proper background on his character in Stars Above.The Writing: Marissa Meyer is an absolute genius at writing. The descriptions of Luna, the characters' voices, the intense battle scenes... everything flowed nicely throughout the overall story and it was an incredibly enjoyable read. However, it did get a little confusing at times, because Marissa switched between tons of different POV's. I wasn't extremely bothered by it, but I know others were. So if you get easily confused by multiple POV's, than be careful.The Cover: Okay, I normally don't talk about the cover art, but have you seen the cover of Winter? Spoiler alert: It's spectacular. The way the light hits the apple in the center... just fabulous. All of the covers for all of the books in the Lunar Chronicles are fabulous, especially Fairest and Stars Above. I don't usually judge books by their covers, but with the Lunar Chronicles, it certainly doesn't hurt.The Ending: So, am I satisfied by the overall ending of the series? Mostly. I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't go into detail, but there are still a couple of loose threads that have to be wrapped up. However, there is a spin-off graphic novel series based on the Lunar Chronicles starring Iko, so hopefully that will cover everything. The ending was a bit sudden, though. I mean, four whole books, five if you count Fairest, and then boom, it's over? Then again, it would be pretty difficult to live up to all of the expectations. I just hope Stars Above will clear some things up for me, or everything will be wrapped up in the graphic novel series.In conclusion, this is an absolutely amazing, captivating series with a wonderful, bittersweet conclusion. The writing, characters, and storyline are all phenomenal. I look forward to seeing everyone one last time during Stars Above, and will forever treasure the beloved Rampion crew and their adventures.

How does one read the last book in one of their favorite series much less REVIEW it? Actually, as highly anticipated as WINTER was, I really do have some coherent thoughts. (They’re much more coherent than I was with CRESS, I think, because I’ve been preparing for this!)Let’s start off with the amazing, shall we? I absolutely love that this series adds layer upon layer with the story and the characters. We finally get to meet and spend time with Winter in this book and it was so awesome to have that final piece of the puzzle fall into place. This book had some serious #squadgoals when this team comes together and I adore how they just fit together as a crew so well. Their personalities just mesh, their stories collide, and it’s absolute perfection.I also love how much these characters evolve over the course of the series. It’s really about getting to know each one of them as they’re simultaneously going through the most complicated things of their lives. I really got to see their true character and how much each one of them grew throughout these experiences.ALL THE SHIPSSSS. Cress and Thorne are my absolute favorites and they have some really, really great moments in this book. I’ve been rooting for them since CRESS and their relationship is just too adorable. Things really start to amp up with another one of my new favorites ships — Cinder and Kai. Yes, yes, I know. You guys have been on board since CINDER but I didn’t quite get into their relationship as much until CRESS and then I fell in love all over again with my re-reads. I just love their banter and how much strength each of them has not only individually but together. They had some super sweet moments and some really serious ones as well that really pushed my love for them over the edge! I actually do wish there had been a few more swoony moments? Oh boy were there some big ones… But I’m such a sucker for these relationships that I just want more!The second half of the book really started to bring everything together and this is where the action was at! I actually wished a few more “holy cow” moments had happened in the beginning/middle because as exciting as all that action was, I didn’t quite feel stunned until later on in the book. Naturally, though, the halfway-point is where it’s at! The pacing really picked up and the book took off running and I was so excited and scared and happy all at the same time! I rather enjoyed the take on Snow White and it was really fun to see some very obvious comparisons (especially after hearing Marissa tell us the tale at her WINTER signing!) and then realize much later on that something was totally fairy-tale related and I hadn’t even realized it the whole time (the mining sector, right)! I just loved the ending and how much non-stop action there was. These characters came into their own and really proved how brave they were to stop crazy old Levana from tearing the world apart.So as we know, I’m a huge fan of The Lunar Chronicles. To start reading the final book was a mix of emotions with excitement and sadness dominating them all. I think because I was really not ready to say goodbye, I MAYBE ended up distancing myself from the book so I wouldn’t be too heartbroken when it ended and that could be the reason why I didn’t feel AS connected as I had with the other books. There’s also the fact that there’s just so much going on throughout this finale (it IS over 800 pages, after all) that it is a lot to take in. That’s not a bad thing but there is a whole lot of action, many characters, high stakes, and final countdowns so it really is putting that final sense of urgency on everything. I also have to say that Winter was my least favorite leading lady. It was just really hard to connect with her because of her visions and illness. It’s just a thing for me where I have a hard time connecting to characters who are more childlike or fanciful. Cress was definitely on the naive side but she wasn’t childish, and I felt like it was hard for me to connect with her the way I had with the other girls. Obviously she’s incredibly strong for being able to keep from using her Lunar gift all these years and that’s the reason why she’s been going mad but that aspect still was a bit hindering for me to really love her as much as the other girls.WINTER was absolutely wonderful and while I don’t think it was my favorite of the series (honestly, I don’t think series-enders are EVER my favorites of the series — too much pressure!), I still absolutely loved it. I will forever be in love with the world that Marissa Meyer created and I can’t thank her enough for this beautiful series. It’s brought me so much happiness, allowed me to work with so many awesome people, and has even presented me with amazing opportunities to become more involved in the book community. I’m so joyful that I read it (thanks, Alyssa!) and I’m sure I’ll keep re-reading it for many years to come!