Cress by Marissa Meyer Series: The Lunar Chronicles #3
Published by Feiwel & Friends on February 4, 2014
Genres: Dystopian YA, Science Fiction
Pages: 560
Format: ARC
Also in this series: Cinder, Scarlet, Cinder, Fairest
Also by this author: Cinder, Scarlet, Cinder, Fairest
Source: a fellow blogger (thanks for sharing!)
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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.
Friends, I’ve been sitting on this review for months now, but barely. I BARELY CONTAINED MYSELF. There was no doubt in my mind after reading SCARLET that The Lunar Chronicles was one of my favorite series, and CRESS, the third book in Marissa Meyer’s exceptional series, did nothing at all to change my feelings. In fact, it cemented them. Honestly, these books are amazing. They are excellent on their own, but together? OMG LOVE LOVE FOREVER AMAZING *flails* CRESS takes the action in the big arcs and propels it–like, legit hurls it–forward while introducing us to new characters and giving us deeper looks at characters we already knew (THORNE. Hubba hubba.)
So it’s hard to recap two books for you guys, but in a nutshell, I’d say it’s Queen Levana 1, Earthen Union 0. The good guys can’t seem to get a leg up, and if they manage small victories, they always seem to be too late or not enough. Slowly but surely, though, things are beginning to come together for them, even though some sacrifices are demanded that everyone was hoping to avoid. Cinder, Thorne, Wolf, and Scarlet are armed with some important information about a certain missing princess and are going after Levana when they meet Cress, one of Sybil Mira’s hacker spies. Basically, shizz is hitting the fan from chapter 1, and it doesn’t let up once.
I have to start off talking about CRESS‘s namesake. I LOVED Cress. She’s idealistic and naive and sweet, but she’s also very smart and savvy and she’s got gumption. She’s different from Cinder and Scarlet, but amazing and brave in her own way. One of the things I love about this series is that there’s no character wasted, and Cress brings something important to the crew led by Cinder and Thorne, and she has a pretty meaty back story as well. She spent so much time alone on her satellite, daydreaming about life on Earth, so getting to see things with her fresh eyes is fun and warm-fuzzy, even when the story in CRESS is not.
But since I mentioned Thorne (SWOON), let’s just chat real quick about the romancey business in CRESS. Cress & Thorne–I love their relationship and their closeness. They both take care of each other, which isn’t something I’d think that Thorne would tolerate from just anyone. But he’s protective and charming, and Cress is sweet and unfamiliar with social interaction, but she’s got good instincts for it. The relationships in this series are as different as the characters themselves, which is real and excellent. Thorne is flirty and aloof on the surface, and Cress is all feelings. I LOVE THEM TO PIECES.
The romance is not, of course, the biggest thing going on in CRESS. THE DRAMZ OMG. Things are happening at a breakneck pace, friends. I could not put CRESS down even if I wanted to, which I didn’t EVER. The conflict with Levana is finally coming to a head and HOLY CRAP, it’s going to be bananas. I’m worried for people in WINTER. For real. And I love how Marissa Meyer is able to add new characters without taking away from the existing ones. For sure, Cress is a major factor in CRESS (obviously), but Cinder and Kai have huge roles as well, and Thorne plays a bigger role than ever before. Wolf and Scarlet have some pretty legit obstacles, and they spend a good deal of CRESS apart, unfortunately. It’s pretty much hell on Wolf, which makes me heart him even more, but it also puts Scarlet in a really interesting position. One that gives us our first glimpse of Princess Winter. WORD. It’s truly an impressive feat, the way Marissa Meyer is able to subtly move pieces into place without slowing things down.
One of the more fascinating new characters we meet is Jacin, a Lunar soldier. LOTS to learn about him. What are his loyalties? Well, they aren’t clear at first, and they aren’t clear by the time we get to our climax. Cinder trusts him out of necessity, but there’s definitely something between him and Princess Winter, who OMG guys is SO INTERESTING and we literally only meet her for maybe 5 minutes. WOW. I CANNOT WAIT FOR REAL.
I know I haven’t talked a great deal about the plot, but I’m trying not to be a huge spoiler. Suffice it to say that Marissa Meyer’s story is outstanding. There are new revelations, deaths, tons of action, heart, hints of things to come, and a real sense (for me at least) of anxiety. Trying to puzzle out how things will end up is both exciting and really, really hard.
I want to be in Marissa Meyer’s head, guys. I feel like it’s a really awesome place where genius creative things are born. I love this series wholeheartedly, and CRESS amps up EVERYTHING. I’m both DYING for WINTER and not ready for this amazing series to be over.
Check out some other reviews of Cress by Marissa Meyer!
Brittany @ The Book Addict’s Guide: “I don’t think I’ve loved any series as much as this since Harry Potter…”
HOORAY! I just got a copy of Cress in the mail the other day and am DYING to attack it! Of course, I’m debating a reread of Cinder and Scarlet first… but that would mean delaying getting into Cress! Oh decisions. I’m very glad to hear this one didn’t disappoint!
I’m listening to Cress via audiobook, and seriously OMG. I’m not too far into it – I’m at the part where Cress and Thorne are in the bathroom of the Satellite. And I NEED to find out what happens. I love Cress so much already. I like Throne – he’s funny, and I know there’s more to him than we see right now.
Also, now I AM SO excited to read those five minutes with Winter. I don’t know how Marissa Meyer does it either – how her books keep getting better and better, and how she weaves the story together so well, even with the addition of new characters.
Glad to see you like it. I really liked Cinder but for some reason never continued this series. To see your love for it definitely makes me want to pick up Scarlet! Great review! You have a hilarious “voice.”
I have GOT to read this series! All I see is positive review after positive review for all three books! I actually have the first one, just need to bump it up in my “to read” list.
I love your enthusiasm, like it makes me feel more enthused even though I think that I loved Cress, but ended up a bit sad that there was not enough Scarlet and Wolf for me. ALSO, I feel like Winter is going to be crazycakes and I cannot wait! CANNOT WAIT.
and yes yes yes Thorne was the best. He’s like a total rogue, I feel. AND I LOVE THAT.