Summary:
Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl trapped 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 being forced to work for Queen Levana, and she’s just received orders to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.
When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is splintered. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a higher price than she’d ever expected. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai, especially the cyborg mechanic. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.
Rating: 4.5/5
Review:
As an avid fan of the Lunar Chronicles Series so far, I am happy to say that Cress (Book 3) has only continued to improve upon Marissa Meyer’s incredible science-fiction/dystopian universe. In a world of kick-butt cyborgs, powerful Lunar warriors and royals, The Lunar Chronicles Series is a hit for anyone who loves the fantasy genre. The series as a whole focuses on the lives of four main characters: Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter (in the upcoming Book 4) as well as their relationships with one another and their intertwined goals for a peaceful relationship between “Earthens” and “Lunars,” cyborgs and humans, empty “shells” and the magically powerful. This series chronicles an overlapping theme of equality between people of power and those without. The four main character, each based on original Disney stories (Cinder – Cinderella, Scarlet – The Little Red Riding Hood, Cress – Rapunzel, Winter – Snow White), bring to life our favorite stories in an entirely new and futuristic universe with all the same themes of justice, equality and peace.
Cress, continues the story of Cinder and Scarlet and their friends Iko, Captain Thorne, Wolf, Jacin, and Dr. Erland. Cress, a “shell” who has no magical ability, has been entrapped by Mistress Sybill in a satellite that has orbited Earth for seven years. Forced to spy on Earth for the Lunars, she secretly gives aid to Cinder and her friends while endangering her life in the process. She eventually escapes with Captain Thorne and joins Cinder and her crew on their journey to stop the upcoming marriage between King Kai and the evil Queen Levana as well as save plague-ridden Earth from the Lunars.
The best parts of Cress encompass the well-developed relationships between each of the many characters as well as their individual growths from people of broken pasts into powerful leaders in a quest to ultimately save the world. A huge part of this novel was watching Cress develop from an almost childish, socially-awkward bystander into a full-fledged agent of change. Overall though, the best part of the book was its riveting plot consisting of kidnap, betrayal, rescues, flying, fighting, and more fighting. Somehow, Marissa Meyer has managed to further capitalize on suspense with the release of each book. In short, Cress was an excellent addition to the series and I look forward to the final novel, Winter, which continues the story with the addition of Princess Winter of Luna in a Snow White-based story.
Thanks for Reading!
The Society of Bookworms
The Society of Bookworms 