Cress, Cress, let down your hair!

I’m still so far behind in my reviews, I’m starting to get anxious about it. We are leaving for a month-long vacation next week, and I just might not be able to get a chance to say everything I want and need to say. Sorry that these next few might not get the detail that they deserve :(

Even thought it feels like ages ago, I think it was only about two weeks ago that I finished Cress. For those that don’t know (which, really, I think most of you do know), Cress is the third book in the awesome Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer. These books tell the story of a future world where earth is being threatened by the evil Moon queen, thousands are dying of a mysterious plague, and a half-cyborg teenage girl is our best hope for survival.

What I love most about these books is the fun way that Meyer loosely bases her characters on fairy tales, but that they aren’t in any way “princess-y”. In book one, Cinder, Linh Cinder lives with her evil stepmother, falls in love with a handsome prince, and even has a big scene when she’s dressed up at the ball (but here, instead of a glass slipper, she leaves behind her cyborg foot. Potayto-Potahto.). In the second book, Scarlet, Cinder’s adventures continue, and along the way we also meet Scarlet, a girl in a red hoodie sweatshirt who lives with her grandmother, and meets a scary guy who happens to be named Wolf.

The adventures of Cinder, Scarlet, and friends now intersect with a new character — Cress. A girl imprisoned alone in a satellite, circling the earth, Cress has long, long, LONG hair. She only has her computer to keep her company, and she’s starving for some human interaction, especially if it could be with a certainhandsome, rakish, Carswell Thorne.

Cress has been forced to spy on Cinder for the leaders of the lunar colony. It turns out, Cinder is the heir to the lunar throne– long thought dead by the people of the moon. Cress knows Cinder’s secret and decides to revolt against her captors in order to help Cinder and her crew.
Cress has truly convinced herself that there’s more to Thorne than meets the eye, and is willing to do just about anything for him, even without actually having met him.

Meyer is a pro at sharing time between the characters — effortlessly jumping from old characters to new, from Cress to Cinder, from the moon to the Sahara. Yes, there were some characters I wanted to know more about, and some I was less invested in, but I was never bored, and never found myself skimming sections (hello, George RR Martin). These books are really just fun.

I hear that the fourth book will be based on Snow White (I’m guessing the wacky lunar princess holding Scarlet hostage fits that bill). I’m looking forward to continuing with this rare series that has actually gotten better as it goes along.

You can read the rest of my reviews on my blog.