Review--Winter by Marissa Meyer

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?

Marissa Meyer brings us the ultra amazing conclusion to her Lunar Chronicles we've all been waiting for! Winter has come at last! LOL! But seriously, Winter was nothing short of epic and amazing! And with it's slightly intimidating 823 pages, this book reaches Harry Potter length in it's epicness! I was first a little amazed, I was thinking Winter will have one heck of a story and yet, still bring in everyone else we've met to date, Cinder included, to wrap up the series. And Marissa does this incredibly well!

I loved how everyone we've met was in this book, and the best part was that they all get about equal page time. We see tons of Scarlet, Wolf, Cinder, Kai, Iko, Cress, Thorne, Winter, and Jacin. I mean the switching of narration (third person) happens so seamlessly, it's remarkable! Even better, the chapters aren't even straight up one focused. I mean, we'll be sticking with a group of characters for a good 3-4 chapters before moving onto another set. And I say set, because really, the group and couples at large are pretty much separated throughout! Just when we see a reunion between one, one or the same one gets separated again, as does another couple. It's agonizing, because you really start to care about these people and you want them to be together!

Winter, as you might imagine, takes on our Snow White role. Being Levana's stepdaughter has not been the best life. I mean, you've all gotten a good idea of Levana's character by now. Even with her mini novel in between this and Cress, she's still the villainess. I still felt sympathetic to her in a sense, but still, she's made her own choices in life and they haven't been the best. She's still evil and vile. I was amazed that Winter turned out so well. True, she's got a bit of Lunar madness about her, but she's no more damaged than another abused child would be.

In this book, all our beloved characters are joined together and are working hard to get Cinder back on her throne that's rightfully hers. But it's going to take a lot of work and a lot of planning! And just wow...seriously wow! I was afraid that this 800+ page book would have some lagging in between the ready for battle, the battle, and then the aftermath...but we see NONE of that here! This book is pretty much action filled from page to page! There are different levels of action of course, some not as amped up as others, but still when all rolled together, I would've happily read another some odd hundred pages had Marissa wrote it!

There were several times in the book that I was overcome with the feels. The romance aspects, the danger, and of course, the laughs! This book moved me so much! And to think...I almost passed on this series when Cinder didn't completely WOW me, I liked it, but the whole sci-fi/space setting took a bit of getting used to. I'm glad I was eventually gripped into this series after reading Scarlet! Best decision ever! Which is rare for me, because if I am not gripped by book 1, I move onto the next book in my TBR Mountain of Doom. I think at this point I just had a terrifying TBR Pile, hence the reason I relented in moving onto book 2!

So much happens in this series, I wouldn't even be able to come close to summarizing it! In Winter alone, we see a LOT happen! I mean it's 823 pages for crying out loud! Definitely my longest read of the year to date! I was quite pleased...heck, overjoyed...with how the series ends. There was perhaps one lingering question I sort of had, but I don't know what the answer would be. But it's pretty minor in the grand scheme of things, I'll just go with the answer I'm hoping for, that way I am completely happy! 

If you're at all a fan of fairy tales and fairy tales retold, and enjoy the futuristic/space age setting, than this series was made for YOU! The Lunar Chronicles is a truly magical read and must be enjoyed!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars