Fairy Tale

Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4) By: Marissa Meyer

Winter

Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4) By: Marissa Meyer

Plot:

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

Review:

I had no idea how she was going to wrap everything up in just this book, but Meyer managed to do it and I don’t feel left wanting. Well—I would have preferred an epilogue more like from Harry Potter, but I understand why she did what she did and I’m fine with it.

So much happened in this book, so much, and there were like fifty characters to manage, but I never forgot who was who or got lost or confused. It was over eight hundred pages of shit going down.

Worlds were changed and romances were kind of taken care of. Actually, that might be my least favorite part about the Lunar Chronicles, apart from Cinder (book 1 not the character) romance takes a back seat to politics and worlds stuff. It’s there in every book, but it’s not the driving force. It’s a nice change for a fairy tale re-telling, but I just wish there’d been a little bit more.

Overall, the series was awesome and this book was a satisfying conclusion so I’m happy.

5/5

Peter and Max (Fables Novel) By: Bill Willingham Illustrator: Steve Leialoha

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Peter and Max (Fables Novel) By: Bill Willingham Illustrator: Steve Leialoha

Plot:

This story stars Peter Piper and his incorrigible brother Max in a tale about jealousy, betrayal and revenge. Set in two distinct time periods, prepare to travel back to medieval times and learn the tragic back-story of the Piper family, a medieval-era family of traveling minstrels. Then, jump into the present to follow a tale of espionage as Peter Piper slowly hunts down his evil brother for a heinous crime, pitting Peter’s talents as a master thief against Max’s dark magical powers. Based on the long-running and award-winning comic book series FABLES, PETER AND MAX is its own tale. Readers don’t have to be familiar with the comics to fully enjoy and understand this book.

Review:

I’ve read several of the Fables graphic novels and I’ve had this book on my to read list for years, it’s crazy that it took me this long to read.

I found it fun to read this universe in novel form and I think it worked very well, however I don’t know if someone who’s never read the comics would appreciate it as much. There were several references to things that you wouldn’t fully understand if you hadn’t read the comics. I think someone who had never read them could understand what was going on, but I don’t think they’d fully appreciate it all.

It’s been a while since I’ve read the comics and I honestly don’t remember Peter and Bo, but after reading this I wouldn’t be adverse to finding out more. Peter was a master thief and Bo was an assassin, is that something you’d ever think Peter Piper and Little Bo Peep were capable of? That’s exactly what Fables is like though.

Some people call it an adult Once Upon a Time, but I don’t think that’s a good comparison. The writing in Fables is creative and entertaining and there are all kinds of twists. As much as I enjoy watching Once Upon a Time they just started another season with everyone losing their memories. Fables has taken the concept adult fairy tales and created an interesting and complicated world.

Anyways, back to the book. I did enjoy reading a novel in this world, but I thought there was a ton of build up with a couple paragraphs of payoff. It wasn’t enough for me. I understand why they couldn’t do a more detailed epilogue, but the ending was lacking and left me feeling unsatisfied, never a good feeling.

I would certainly read more novels written in this world and one day I will own all the graphic novels, but I’m a bit disappointed with Peter and Max and I bumped it down half a star.

3.5/5

Side note: Illustrations were great

Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3) By: Marissa Meyer

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Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3) By: Marissa Meyer

Plot:

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.

Review:

Cinder just can’t catch a break. Well, the people around her can’t catch a break, Cinder is doing alright by the end.

Cress was a great addition to the team, she brought a lot of needed skills, and although I knew she was going to wind up being the daughter of someone special it took me a minute to catch on to who it actually was. She also brought a very romantic point of view that wasn’t already in the series.

Scarlet and Wolf have still got a lot of issues as do Cinder and the Emperor. The world is going crazy, the Queen is still super evil, and I’m not sure if we’ll be able to resolve everything with the next book.

Speaking of next book, oh my god why did I have to catch up? Now I’m waiting and waiting for the next to come out. I’m also like number 93 on the wait list. Sad. I should probably buy them all. That’s what I should do.

5/5

Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2) By: Marissa Meyer

Scarlet

Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2) By: Marissa Meyer

Plot:

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison–even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Review:

After Cinder’s ending I didn’t expect Scarlet to start off with an entirely new character. It took me a little bit to get into it because of that. However, once I did I ended up liking Scarlet more than Cinder.

The world keeps on growing in this series with Scarlet taking place in France. It’s incredibly interesting to see the tech and how wide reaching the fear and prejudice is for Lunars. The Queen makes a great villain and you discover more about her in this book.

Honestly, my only complaint is that while a lot happened I’m impatient for a final resolution. It took Cinder the entire book to basically man up and even then she was kicking and screaming the entire time.

I had to force myself not to buy the next book in the series, only because at this point I’ve checked them all out from the library so it doesn’t make sense to just randomly own the third book in a series. Thank goodness I was able to pick it up fairly quickly. Very excited to see what Meyer does next.

4.5/5