Cress
In one way, there’s nothing better than holding a book you’ve longed to read for a while, knowing that you have everything in front of you. You’re holding it all in your hands; the characters, the chapters, the story itself. Pages of pages of something you’ve looked forward to for so long. And in another way, there’s nothing worse than finishing said book and having to lean back and wait for the sequel. More waiting. But you do it, because you know that in the end, when you have the next piece of the story, it’ll all be worth it. And Cress was certainly worth the wait.
Cress is a Lunar shell incarcerated in a satellite orbiting around Earth, a satellite she’s been living in for the past seven years. She is, in ever aspect, a damsel in distress. But not an ordinary one, she is an exceptional hacker and the Lunar Queen's spy from above. Cress sees everything, hears everything and knows everything. At least everything that happens in and around Earths leaders, especially emperor Kaito. But Cress has never been on Earth. She doesn’t have a single memory from a Lunar city. And she has spent the mere part of those seven years alone in her satellite. Which has given her more than enough time to daydream.
During the previous two books in the Lunar chronicles we’ve met Cinder, the fugitive cyborg and Scarlet, the most ordinary of girls from the smallest of towns in France who just happened to end up in the middle of everything when her grandmother decided to help save the lost Lunar princess Selene. Now another girl appears, trying to help Cinder and young emperor Kaito but getting a bit more than she bargained for.
I’ve said it before but I absolutely love this story and the way Marissa Meyer writes it. I’ve mentioned in previous reviews of Cinder and Scarlet that I felt horrible for once saying that I wasn’t sure that I would give Cinder a chance since the story was about a cyborg. It was never the cyborg part in itself, it was the fact that I thought I knew myself so well that I could say that no, a book about a cyborg was nothing I fancied. I was so wrong and it feels good to admit that and even better, actually, to have read Cinder, proven myself wrong and coming out on the other side having found a story I love so much. Cinder, and thus the rest of the Lunar chronicles (well, the three books I’ve read anyway) are some of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s a story, almost like a fairytale, set in the future with people living on the moon, cyborgs and androids in every other corner, that still feels so very believable. And I love those stories. Where you can escape everyday life diving right into this unbelievable story that still feels so true. There is no New Beijing and there are no androids and no Lunars, but it feels like it.
Yes, the Lunar chronicles are something extraordinary. They are fun and sweet, cheeky, witty, colorful and exceptionally interesting. But they are also serious and in some aspects even horrible. The way Lunars can use people like ragdolls, turning them into puppets, forcing them to do whatever said Lunar wants them to do. There are a lot of sacrifices, a lot of hard decisions to make and a lot of death. Though the books are based on fairytales (Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel in that order) they are not for children. These are strong books about strong women, strong men, strong androids, strong characters. You can still find traces of the original fairytales, but spun in a new, exciting way. There is never a boring moment in either book and definitely not in Cress. I, for one, are already longing until I hold the next book in my hands.
Cress is a Lunar shell incarcerated in a satellite orbiting around Earth, a satellite she’s been living in for the past seven years. She is, in ever aspect, a damsel in distress. But not an ordinary one, she is an exceptional hacker and the Lunar Queen's spy from above. Cress sees everything, hears everything and knows everything. At least everything that happens in and around Earths leaders, especially emperor Kaito. But Cress has never been on Earth. She doesn’t have a single memory from a Lunar city. And she has spent the mere part of those seven years alone in her satellite. Which has given her more than enough time to daydream.
During the previous two books in the Lunar chronicles we’ve met Cinder, the fugitive cyborg and Scarlet, the most ordinary of girls from the smallest of towns in France who just happened to end up in the middle of everything when her grandmother decided to help save the lost Lunar princess Selene. Now another girl appears, trying to help Cinder and young emperor Kaito but getting a bit more than she bargained for.
I’ve said it before but I absolutely love this story and the way Marissa Meyer writes it. I’ve mentioned in previous reviews of Cinder and Scarlet that I felt horrible for once saying that I wasn’t sure that I would give Cinder a chance since the story was about a cyborg. It was never the cyborg part in itself, it was the fact that I thought I knew myself so well that I could say that no, a book about a cyborg was nothing I fancied. I was so wrong and it feels good to admit that and even better, actually, to have read Cinder, proven myself wrong and coming out on the other side having found a story I love so much. Cinder, and thus the rest of the Lunar chronicles (well, the three books I’ve read anyway) are some of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s a story, almost like a fairytale, set in the future with people living on the moon, cyborgs and androids in every other corner, that still feels so very believable. And I love those stories. Where you can escape everyday life diving right into this unbelievable story that still feels so true. There is no New Beijing and there are no androids and no Lunars, but it feels like it.
Yes, the Lunar chronicles are something extraordinary. They are fun and sweet, cheeky, witty, colorful and exceptionally interesting. But they are also serious and in some aspects even horrible. The way Lunars can use people like ragdolls, turning them into puppets, forcing them to do whatever said Lunar wants them to do. There are a lot of sacrifices, a lot of hard decisions to make and a lot of death. Though the books are based on fairytales (Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel in that order) they are not for children. These are strong books about strong women, strong men, strong androids, strong characters. You can still find traces of the original fairytales, but spun in a new, exciting way. There is never a boring moment in either book and definitely not in Cress. I, for one, are already longing until I hold the next book in my hands.