Title: Cress

Author: Marissa Meyer

Series: The Lunar Chronicles, #3

My rating: 5 of 5

(Book read on September 16th-17th, 2014.) 

  

 

 Summary:

 

 

In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

  

 

 

 

 My Thoughts on the Book:

To be honest, I don't know where to start... Cress is another addicting sci-fi adventure, that made me laugh, made me smile, made me cry (and just might have broken my heart a little), and most of all, made me love the characters even more. So, yes, Marissa Meyer has done it again.

I won't go into details about this story, but I loved every second of it. I loved all the different PoVs. I actually loved that the author didn't concentrate only on Cress & Thorne (like she did with Wolf & Scarlet in Scarlet - and even though that was perfect in that particular book, I don't think it would've worked in this one, so I'm glad she didn't), but we got to see the story develop through different eyes, and I loved it. I loved the addition of the new characters, and I can't wait to get my hands on the next book, and to see how everything will finally end in the final book. I know it will be fantastic, and the finale that all the characters deserve.

Cress as a character is adorable. She's brilliant & so smart, and brave & funny, and mostly sweet & so adorable. Her crush on Thorne even before she met him was adorable, and I loved her interactions with Thorne, they were fun, sweet & yes, I'm going to say it again - adorable! As for Thorne, he'd be one awesome con man (then again, I guess he already is, even though he doesn't think of himself like that). He is funny (of course), brave, charming, and so lovable as a character, even with all of his faults.

As for the rest, I loved the glimpse we saw of Winter (can't wait for more), and I loved Kai, Cinder, Iko, Wolf & Scarlet, though I wish there was more of Scarlet. And I loved the few tiny surprises here & there, and as always when it comes to this series - I didn't mind the predictability of it. It's so entertaining, that I just don't care that it's predictable. I just let myself go & enjoy the journey.

Cress as the 3rd addition to the Lunar Chronicles is a book filled with adventure, action, humour, danger, fun, romance & tech, inspired by fairy tales, that will take you on a roller coaster ride you just wouldn't want to miss, and I highly recommend this book & the series!

 

 

 

Challenges: 

 

September is for Sequels Challenge

Summer Bookish Bingo

Last year, Tt @ Never Ending Stories... hosted the Cinder Read-Along, and I participated, and got hooked on the series, and this year when she announced she'll be hosting the Scarlet Read-Along, I knew I had to join, despite already having read Scarlet in 2013.

Actually, I decided to re-read both Cinder & Scarlet, as well as their prequel stories Glitches & The Queen's Army, and once again I loved re-visiting the world & the characters.

 

I'm really glad that I re-read Cinder, because apparently some details that were mentioned in it, I've missed the first time (or probably just forgot about them, not realising they'll be important in the future books). Anyway, that was so awesome, and I think it's obvious that Marissa Meyer had thought through the series and what will happen in all the books before starting the series, and I just love when authors do that. I love all of those crumbs in the different books in a series that will lead to the finale, even if they are minor ones.

That being said, I loved Cinder the first time, although I thought it was a little bit too sweet, and I loved it once again, although now I've changed my mind & I don't think it's too sweet.

And the characters, I love them so much: Cinder, Iko, Peony, Kaito, even Dr.Erland, as for Queen Levana - I hate her so much, and I loved hating her ;)

Glitches is actually a prequel story to Cinder, where we follow Cinder's first encounter with her family & Iko, as well as the following few weeks of her trying to adapt to her new life. This story was sweet & fun, but also so, so sad, and if you loved Cinder & you can't get enough of The Lunar Chronicles, read it. It's available for free online on Wattpad HERE.

The Queen's Army is a prequel story to Scarlet, but it's not about Scarlet, it's about our 2nd main character in the book - Wolf. This story is amazing & so, so sad & heartbreaking. You don't have to have read Cinder or Scarlet to read this story, it can actually stand as stand-alone, but I think at the end you will get hooked & want to know more. This story together with Scarlet last year got me totally hooked on the series, and it made me understand & love Wolf even more. The Queen's Army is also available to be read for free on Wattpad HERE.

And now for Scarlet, the actual goal of the read-along. I decided to stick to the reading schedule & read 2 chapters a day, and I managed to do that, although it wasn't easy, until I caved on January 17th & finished it. To read only a chapter a day - no way!

Once again I loved every second of Scarlet. I love the way the author incorporated Scarlet & Cinder's stories, and the twist on the fairytale in Scarlet was even better then the Cinder one.

 

In Scarlet, we got more action, more suspense, more evil, and more amazing characters. I love Scarlet as a character, and Wolf is actually an unexpected sweety, too, and I loved their interactions, they're great together. Another amazing addition is Captain Thorne. This guy is something else - he's sweet, yummy, funny, sometimes silly, sometimes smart, but loyal, and I want to hug him & never let him go. Seriously, the moment the description for Cress was revealed, I totally started fangirling over Thorne & Cress (and I never do that), so that's how excited I am about the series & its characters.

 

 

 

What I love about The Lunar Chronicles?

 

First of all, the world-building. I think that if the world-building wasn't as great as it is, the series wouldn't have been that awesome. I love the futuristic world the author has created, and on top of that, the way she has implemented classic fairytale elements in it, it's amazing. I never would've thought this would work, (especially about the cyborg Cinderella), but it totally does. 

 

Adding to the great world-building a great & interesting story, that implements the futuristic world perfectly, and you've got yourself a winner! Even though the overall storyline (both in Cinder & Scarlet) is predictable, the execution of it isn't, and it's highly entertaining, and funny, and sad, and addicting, and you almost won't be able to stop yourself from flying through the pages.

 

And of course the last thing I absolutely love about The Lunar Chronicles are the characters. Cinder, Kai, Iko, Thorne, Scarlet & Wolf - all of them has found a special place in my heart, and I can't wait to read more in Cress, The Little Android (I think this one might be about Iko, maybe, just a speculation) and of course Winter (I'll have to wait a lot more about this one, since it comes out next year, but it's the final one, so yeah, I can't wait!).

 

I highly recommend the series to everyone to try, because I think everyone would enjoy these books!

 

Title: Cinder

Author: Marissa Meyer

Series: The Lunar Chronicles #1 

My rating: 5 of 5

(Book read from my own copy  from January 15-29 for a read-along)

 

Summary:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl...

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

 

My Thoughts on the Book:

Ok, so I absolutely love sci-fi, I always have. Maybe it's because I grew up watching the Star Wars trilogy again & again, I couldn't get enough (and I still can't I guess) ;) I also love fairy tale re-tellings, so you'd think that the moment I heard about Cinder, I'd read it right away the moment it was published, but I didn't. Why? I have no idea. I kept reading such an amazing reviews, and I still haven't read it. So, when I saw the Cinder Read-Along, I decided it's time :) I also decided to stick to the schedule (it was mostly 2 chapters a day) but that wasn't an easy thing to do, so I'd read 2 chapters some time before midnight & then I read 2 right after midnight & then wait until it's time to read another 4 ;) until I failed a few days ago & read it through to the end.

And what did I thought about Cinder? I absolutely loved it! First of all, I loved the world. Yeah, I love sci-fi, so it wasn't a surprise I loved the world Marissa has created :) So, great world-building >>> checked! I also loved Marissa's writing style! And I loved the story, even if it was just a story, without the Cinderella re-telling elements, I would've loved this book. But, yeah, I loved the way Marissa incorporated the fairy tale elements in a futuristic world, it was done perfectly! And the pacing of the story was perfect, too. And I loved all the characters, they were all so fun & sweet & so, so great! Even Iko, she was an android, but she was so funny, she made me laugh more then once :D So, yeah, I loved everything about this book!

But, I'll say this, although I wasn't at all surprised from everything that happened, I didn't mind it, because I loved the journey. As I said, I loved Cinder as a character, and I absolutely loved Kaito, he was such a sweetie, I can count on one hand the boys in YA books that had been so sweet & amazing, so yeah, he kinda stole my heart a little ;) And the interactions between Kai & Cinder - so sweet & amazing, I loved every second of it!!! Mostly I had a smile plastered on my face while reading this book, good thing I only read it at home, or people would've thought I was crazy ;)

I can't recommend enough Cinder! It's a must-read for everyone! One of the sweetest stories, and definitely one of my most fav books now, and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of Scarlet, because I need more from that world & those amazing characters!!!

Challenges:

2013 Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge

2013 TBR Pile Challenge

2013 Books-In-A-Series Reading Challenge