The Lunar Chronicles...should you dive in?

So for years Iv'e had this habit, no gift, of being able to look at a book cover and from that alone being able to tell whether or not I would like the contents of said book. Well I used this same gift in 2015 when I ordered the entirety of the series titled: The Lunar Chronicles. The series consists of 6 books in total and trust me, if you choose to read them, you'll easily wish there were more. Set in the future 126 years after World War 4 in what is called the Third Era. Androids and hover cars and space travel (mainly to the moon) are completely normal and cars with wheels are considered more than antique. In this review I'll be going over each book and honestly there may be a few spoilers so don't say I didn't warn you! I'm very excited to write this review, so let's get started already!

Book One: Cinder

By the end of the first paragraph I was smitten. Normally I'm really not into Science fiction type books, but I knew after the first chapter that this one was severely different from the typical syfy I was used too. Cinder is truly a new take on Cinderella and I love the cyborg twist to the classic fairy tale. It makes for an adventure all it's own and I wouldn't be surprised if at one point Marissa Meyer said that all these books practically wrote themselves, beginning with Cinder and her immense emotional strength. Cinder's story begins at a time in her life when she's starting to wonder about where she could be and what her possibilities are. Getting to know this character is easy and truly a gift and I think on some level or another, practically everyone can relate to her. You also get to meet Kai, the handsome prince of New Beijing. The attention to details that were in the original fairy tale vs. newer versions that were brought into Cinder's story are phenomenal and a treat to anyone who can pinpoint them. Half the fun of reading all the books is finding the nibs of fairy tale within the story. Cinder starts this adventure on a very intriguing note and before you know it you can't wait to move on to the next one.

Book Two: Scarlet

In this book we have the pleasure of meeting miss Scarlet Benoit. A strong and brutally honest redhead with a temper that could melt metal. The really great thing about this series that I was super happy to find out was that though each book the characters all manage to come together, so you don't lose one character and then end up getting attached to another and so on. Instead as each book goes it starts a new characters story, but all the while keeps up with the characters you already know and love (or hate. I promise there are characters you'll really wish you could punch through the book...with an anvil). Scarlet is this stories Red Riding Hood which is made pretty obvious by the fact that she is very attached to her red hoodie and rarely takes it off. She meets an interesting man who immediately catches her eye with his never-ending appetite and fierce green eyes. Of course he is called Wolf, but he has a past that will keep you wondering what he'll do next. You'll get to keep up with Cinder in this one as well and meet another new character who could easily rival Star Lord's smugness. His name is Carswell Thorne and trust me, he'll have you rolling your eyes plenty.

Book Three: Cress

If you thought after the first two books it couldn't get more interesting, you are wrong. Meet Cress, the incredibly intelligent and lovely Lunar that is the new age Rapunzel. Having spent most of her life in a satellite (her tower) her people skills are lacking, but her dreams and hacking skills most certainly are not. In this book you get to follow along with the Rampion crew and their invisible helper that needs rescuing. Falling in love with Cress and her clumsy yet adorable bravery is easy and makes you want to protect her from the harshness of the world. In this book you experience friendship and get to see how many of the characters respond to the pressure of a ticking time bomb. Each book leaves you on the edge of your seat and dying to know what happens next, and this book is no exception. By now you are attached to at least one character and rooting for the good ones. But if you are anything like me, you are also praying that no one (else) is killed off.

Book four: Winter

For me this is where characters got a little more interesting. Personally, I am not a huge fan of Winter, but I do appreciate her silent strength and will power. Winter is based off of the ever fair Snow White, but I love the change from an ivory skinned, red lipped, dark haired classic to a caramel skinned, raven haired, amber eyed kind of beauty instead. Not that anything is wrong with the classic look, it's just refreshing to get something different from time to time. Winter lives on Luna and is falling in love with her life-long friend Jacin who happens to be caught in between duty and love. These two are so opposite, yet you'll be rooting for them in no time. With this book you get more of a glimpse into Luna and what it's all around vibe is. Winter and Scarlet have a friendship that needs a new kind of definition because none out there really describe it very well, Cinder has discovered a new strain of bravery and strength that I don't think she knew she had before, Kai is brazen and wonderful for it, Thorne finds he is capable of much more that he anticipated, Cress and Iko (a beloved android you'll get pretty attached too) become girlish buds, Wolf goes through hell, and well, it's a pretty great ending to the series. To me an ending to a magnificent story like this one is always extremely important and needs to be satisfying. I rate the ending 10 out of 10 happily, but I'm not going to lie, it was missing just a little something.

Stars Above: A collection of short stories for The Lunar Chronicles

I can't tell you how happy I am that these short stories exist! Having them to elaborate on certain characters backgrounds or the best story (might as well be an ever after for my favorite characters) of Cinder and the gang after the book Winter, was a godsend! The story "Something Old, Something New" gave me the closure I needed. Other stories like Wolf and Cinder's backgrounds had me wanting to hug them through the book and excited to see what they would overcome. This book is a must have if you really want to get the most out of this series. At first I must admit I didn't know it was a short story collection and because I didn't know I had them, I looked all over online for the stories so I could read the series in chronological order haha. Then I looked through all my books and realized that Stars Above was in fact the collection I needed rather than what I originally thought it was, which was book five. Sadly not but I loved the small glimpses into the characters.

Fairest: Levana's Story

Finally the book and the character Iv'e been avoiding. You would think that each and every single character in most books would have some quality that you would feel sorry for or have something to sympathize with, but this is the one character that has absolutely nothing to love or like about her. Evil Queen takes on a new and ruthless kind of evil in this whole series. You truly end up loving to hate her and in this book her back story just makes you hate her more. By the end of it I thought, well maybe if she had opened up and blah blah blah, but yeah nope. She was evil through and through. There is one thing you end up feeling sorry for her for, but trust me, that feeling doesn't last long. This is coming from someone who hates to give up hope on anybody, but man oh man, Marissa Meyer really created a villain that rivals most other villains. Fairest was the hardest for me to get through, because it's just such a dark story, and I'm more the happy type, but it was worth it just to really understand why Levana is the way she is. It made the ending of Winter that much more satisfying.

I really had no idea what this series was about or what I was getting into, but I truly couldn't be more pleased with them. Finishing the books was bittersweet and made saying goodbye to the characters very difficult. So difficult in fact that reading the final story (Something Old, Something New) took me 4 days just because I didn't want to say goodbye. This series deserves a movie series and I know many fans say that about their favorite books, but really, there are so many things that make up this series that would make a movie series a huge hit. There are casting ideas all over YouTube, fan art all over Pinterest, and even Instagram accounts people created to give the illusion of the characters being real and great fun to follow. The Lunar Chronicles were so good, I'm having a hard time not reading them all over again...even though I finished the series just last night.

If you are interested in reading this series in chronological order like I did, here is the order you should follow:

Side note: I highly recommend that you get Stars Above: short story collection so you have all the extra bits available to bounce to.

-Fairest

-The Keeper (Stars Above)

-Glitches (Stars Above)

-The Little Android (Stars Above)

-Cinder

-The Mechanic (Stars Above)

-The Queen's Army (Stars Above)

-Scarlet

-Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky (Stars Above)

-After Sunshine Passes By (Stars Above)

-Cress

-The Princess & The Guard (Stars Above)

-Winter

-Something Old, Something New (Stars Above)

If you become a huge fan of Iko, the personality filled android, Marissa Meyer has done us the honor of creating a small series staring Iko and her adventures after the events of Winter called "Wires & Nerves" graphic novels.

Reading this series is something you won't regret, especially if like me, you love a new take on a classic fairy tale.

Thank you so much for reading my review of these incredible books and a big thank you to Marissa Meyer for sharing this marvelous world with us!

-Shelbie Fae