Fairest: Levana's Story (The Lunar Chronicles #0.1) by Marissa Meyer - Paul's Review

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Title: Fairest: Levana's Story
Author: Marissa Meyer
Recent Release Date: January 27, 2015

My Fairest Pre Reading
My Cress (#3) Review
My The Little Android (#2.5) Review
My Scarlet (#2) Review
My The Queen's Army (#1.5) Review
My Cinder (#1) Review

Ashley's Cress (#3) Review
Ashley's The Little Android (#2.5) Review
Ashley's Scarlet (#2) Review
Ashley's The Queen's Army (#1.5) Review
Ashley's Cinder (#1) Review



Synopsis: In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told.

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now. 

Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series. 

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Review: I cannot get enough of Marissa Meyer's writing! Fairest may look like a fullsized book, but it's more like a hardback novella, being only 220 pages. The chapters are not numbered, but just breaks in the text. Cinder, the first book in the series, is 390 pages. And with each subsequent book, the length has increased. 

This was an originally unplanned book and although it is very enjoyable, it just adds some background to the main series. Fairest follows Levana's whole story from when her parents first passed until she rules over the moon as Queen. Seeing a villain's story is always interesting. 

I liked seeing how much of the Queen Levana in Cinder came from her environment and how much was just her. There's definitely a combination. I was prepared for a contrived sympathy-inducing story, but Levana's background matched her character very well. 

There are many references to the many characters of The Lunar Chronicles. It is cool to see them younger and to learn more about their origins. This book got me really hyped for Winter, which won't be out until November. 

The evolution of Levana's glamour was probably my favorite part of this book. 

I give this book a 4.5/5, only because I wanted more. The story seemed so short compared to the other books in the series. I didn't feel as close to Levana as I felt to each of the protagonists of the other books after reading them. I highly recommend this to fans of The Lunar Chronicles series, especially for those waiting for Winter so anxiously like I am. 


--PAUL

Fairest: Levana's Story (The Lunar Chronicles #0.1) by Marissa Meyer - Paul's Pre-reading

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Title: Fairest: Levana's Story
Author: Marissa Meyer
Recent Release Date: January 27, 2015

My Cress (#3) Review
My The Little Android (#2.5) Review
My Scarlet (#2) Review
My The Queen's Army (#1.5) Review
My Cinder (#1) Review

Ashley's Cress (#3) Review
Ashley's The Little Android (#2.5) Review
Ashley's Scarlet (#2) Review
Ashley's The Queen's Army (#1.5) Review
Ashley's Cinder (#1) Review



Synopsis: In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told.

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now. 

Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series. 

------------------------------------------------------------

Why?: I have ABSOLUTELY LOVED every book in The Lunar Chronicles! An ensemble sci-fi YA series based on fairytales! There is nothing about that I dislike. This book follows Queen Levana. I'm super excited to discover her origin. Even though she is super villainous, I'm sure by the end of this book I'll be at least somewhat sympathetic. I think this will really contribute to the emotions of the last book Winter. 

Expectations:   I'm expecting a tragic origin story that lead Levana to who she is in the rest of The Lunar Chronicles. I'm sure I'll see Levana become more villainous from the events in this book. 

Judging a book by its cover: I love this cover. It is perfect. The inside flap is also perfect. 


--PAUL

Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer - Ashley's Review

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Title: Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3)

Author: Marissa Meyer

Year Published: 2014

My Cress (#3) Pre-Reading

My The Little Android (#2.5) Review         

My Scarlet (#2) Review
My The Queen's Army (#1.5) Review
My Cinder (#1) Review

Paul's Cress (#3) Pre-Reading

Paul's The Little Android (#2.5) Review

Paul's Scarlet (#2) Review

Paul's The Queen's Army (#1.5) Review
Paul's Cinder (#1) Review

Synopsis: Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard. 

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

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only 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 goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

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Review: I don't understand how one series can be so incredible. Each book gets progressively better, and I wasn't sure that was going to be possible after Cinder. Everything about The Lunar Chronicles is just so good that I don't know why everyone hasn't read these books! I had ridiculously high expectations for Cress, and Marissa Meyer blew every single one of them out of the water! 

My favorite part about Cress was the ensemble cast. It reminded me of a Joss Whedon show - everyone is somewhere in the world doing something, but it never feels like one character is left out because they're saving a different part of the world. It also never really feels like there's one main character. Sure, Cinder might be the most important character and the one who brings everyone together, but this group wouldn't be successful without each and every person. And not a single member of the ragtag crew is left underdeveloped. Somehow we jump all over time and space and I never felt overwhelmed or like things were just thrown together. Every single detail is important and comes back in some way. 

Even details from the first book! We're given more background in this book, and I think it's crazy how well some of the reveals were set up. We've known Cress since book 1, and we've even been hearing bits and pieces about Winter since book 1. And characters are connected in ways that I would not have imagined. I could guess some of the relationships, but it was still really neat to read about how the reveals are made to the characters and to see their reactions. 

Although this book, and the series really, are very character heavy, the plot is still pretty intense and moves along at a pretty good pace. I was never bored and I didn't feel like there were parts where I was trudging through just to get to the next part. Like I said before, every detail is important. As upset as I was at times about characters being split up, I really enjoyed reading about what was going on in other parts of the world. Or worlds, I guess? And I thought it was really interesting to read things from the perspective of pretty much every character. We see things from Cinder, Thorne, Scarlet, Cress, Kai, Sybil, Levana, Dr. Erland... Pretty much everyone gets at least a chapter's worth of story to tell.

I could talk about this book forever and discuss all of the theories I have about what will happen in Winter (speaking of Winter, I think she's going to be my favorite character. She's kind of awesome in the few scenes she's in), but you should really just read it for yourself.  I would recommend this series to basically everyone, but especially to fans of Joss Whedon, Sailor Moon, fairy tales (I loved all of the subtle and not-so-subtle nods to the original fairy tales too!), and sci-fi YA. Actually, just sci-fi in general. It's not too bad for a younger audience either, although I think it might be a little overwhelming with all of the characters. If you've read Cinder and Scarlet, read Cress ASAP! If you haven't read the first two books.... what are you waiting for?! 5/5!

--Ashley

Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer - Ashley's Pre-Reading

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Title: Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Year Published: 2014

My The Little Android (#2.5) Review
My Scarlet (#2) Pre-Reading
My Scarlet (#2) Review
My The Queen's Army (#1.5) Review
My Cinder (#1) Pre-Reading
My Cinder (#1) Review

Paul's Scarlet (#2) Pre-Reading
Paul's Scarlet (#2) Review
Paul's The Queen's Army (#1.5) Review
Paul's Cinder (#1) Pre-Reading
Paul's Cinder (#1) Review

Synopsis: Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard. 

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

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only 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 goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

Why?: I read and absolutely loved Cinder and Scarlet and have been waiting (incredibly impatiently) for this next installment. I want to know how the story continues for Cinder and Scarlet, I want to know how Cress will be involved, I want to know more about Levana, and I just have so many other questions that I am looking forward to having answered!

Expectations: If this were any other series, I would say that my expectations are probably unrealistically high for this book. But, since Marissa Meyer has proven that she does, in fact, know what she is doing, I feel like my ridiculously high expectations are probably justified. I want so much out of this book and this series!

Judging a book by its cover: I really like this cover... a lot. I love how it matches the rest of the series, and I love how it showcases Cress' most recognizable trait. I also love the colors and how the title looks and I'm just really excited to finally have this book on my shelves. 


--Ashley