Tag Archives: marissa meyer

The Lunar Chronicles: Winter (SPOILER REVIEW)

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There’s a definitely a certain amount of pressure, I think, on writing the final book in a series.

It has to wrap up all the characters’ goals, defeat the antagonist, and resolve the overall plot, with no threads hung loose.

Yeah, a lot of pressure.

Does Winter live up to the standard? (Beware of spoilers!)

Winter takes a deep dive into the Winter’s pysche like none of the other books before. I find her to be an extremely compelling character. The mental willpower to hold herself back from using her manipulation even when she knew she would start to hallucinate and lose her mind is impossibly strong. It’s the exact opposite from what the entire Lunar court thinks of her. She is the most powerful of any of them.

Winter went through so much.

I wish there was more of her. She’s such an amazing character but despite the book being named after her I felt like there wasn’t nearly enough attention on her. She almost seemed thrown in, which is the opposite of what she deserves as such a rich and compelling character.

I also don’t think Wolf got a finished ending. The book was all nonstop plot and twists, with hardly any room for the characters. And there’s a lot of characters.

The climax between Cinder and Levana was bloody and dramatic, though it was really a bit of an idiotic move on Cinder’s part to think that the mass murderer wouldn’t try to kill her as soon as she put down the gun.

I have to say, I do love the ending. Cinder dropping it off the same balcony she’d jumped off of? The tiniest reference to the glass slipper? Kai and Cinder’s relationship finally resolved, with hope for the future? It’s all beautiful, tinged with just the right amount of bittersweet, knowing that the battle was far from over.

I do think explicitly having all four main characters end up in a neatly established romance made it feel forced instead of natural. I also have some problems with Cress and Thorne’s relationship, but I might save that for a review on Cress instead.

There was so much good in this book, but also a lot I didn’t like.

Still, everyone has the right to their own opinions. What do you think?

Winter by Marissa Meyer is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.



Book Review: Cinder

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You’ve probably heard of the Cinderella fairy tale before.

But you probably haven’t heard of the story becoming a sci-fi dystopian romance series, have you?

Marissa Meyer’s series The Lunar Chronicles is amazing. Today, we’ll just be reviewing the first book, called Cinder.

Book Blurb

In this novel, Linh Cinder is a talented mechanic and cyborg, living many years after the Fourth World War in New Beijing.

There are laws that demolish cyborg rights to nothing, and her stepmother treats her like trash, calling her junk. Her only friend is an android named Iko, who Cinder built out of spare parts.

A plague by the name of letumosis is raging through the world, killing countless people.

Cinder’s life is routine and repetitive, until Prince Kaito shows up at her mechanic stand with a repair request for a damaged android. Romance, death, adventure, and more await…

This book does contain dark themes, and the series as a whole touches on gore, death, etc. Just a friendly disclaimer!

This book absolutely hooked me right into the rest of the series: which I love to death. But let’s hop into the actual review to see if this book is right for you!

Let’s start with the pros.

Marissa Meyer does an AMAZING job of executing the plot twists, and I just love the dialogue between characters. It flows so naturally.

This story pulls you in with an engaging hook, setting up the absolute masterpieces that are the rest of the series.

The world is so immersive – the book doesn’t throw a ton of exposition at you for you to understand certain parts of the culture, world, etc.

The morality of mind control and influencing others emotions, what makes someone human, and more is tackled in this book and the rest of the series. It’s beautiful to read.

I could not recommend this book more. The series is close to my heart, and Cinder is a stellar hook to pull you in.

You might be wondering – where are the cons?

Books are subjective. Since I love this novel a TON, it was hard for me to find things I didn’t like.

It is pretty lengthy, standing at 387 pages. Cinder is also more tame compared to the rest of the series – and if you read this you’ll want to read the rest, so be wary!

If you’re looking for a dark, yet thrilling sci-fi adventure with a creative world, sparks of romance, and a wealth of references to fairy tales? This one’s for you.

(not sure if there’s anybody specifically looking for that last part, but regardless :p )

Cinder by Marissa Meyer is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

Top Reads of 2016

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Top Reads of 2016

Legend by Marie Lu

It was a book that had been on my reading list since it came out. However, I only just got around to reading it and couldn’t believe the adventure I’d missed. Lu tells an amazingly detailed story about a government soldier tracking down the most wanted criminal in the Republic. You can imagine what happens as the novice, June, and poor robber, Day, cross paths during her hunt. She falls for him on the street, unaware of his true identity, her target. She has to decide if avenging her brother’s death is more important than staying with this stranger she’s grown to love. Lu’s writing intrigues me because she focuses on small details that lead to the end of the story which most readers would find insignificant. This engages the reader to pay attention to the words they’re reading. I loved it so much, I just had to get the second book.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Like Legend, this book has remained on my list but I didn’t put it on priority. So when I found it at the Mission Viejo Library’s bookstore, I knew it was finally my time to discover the story. Hundreds of years into the future, this spinoff of the Cinderella takes place in a New Beijing in a world where androids are normal to help people with daily chores and sometimes cyborgs roam among the crowd. However, it isn’t easy when you’re not considered human and work as lowly mechanic. Especially when your stepmother and stepsister want nothing to do with you to begin with. When the letumosis disease, plaguing the city issues a cyborg draft, Cinder’s stepmother doesn’t miss her chance to sign up her daughter for an experiment no one comes back from. Not long after Cinder’s admission, the doctor finds there is much more to her than just a few missing parts. Meyer tells this dystopian story while still adding elements of the original fairytale, just like the rest of the books in her series.

Welcome to the Dark House by Laurie Paria Stolarz

I’ve done a review on this novel already, but I couldn’t help from mentioning it as it was a very memorable read for me. It was very different from most horror stories and took the word “nightmare” to a whole new level. Of course, this book ended with a cliffhanger and many unanswered questions, so I was ecstatic to find there was a sequel.

Exposed by Kimberly Marcus

A high schooler, Liz, tells the story from her point of view behind a camera lens, a perspective of the world as she sees it. Her life takes an unexpected turn when her best friend, Kate, decides to shut her out without warning or reason, and everyone whispers rumors and accusations behind her back. Suddenly, her world is out of focus and she tries to make sense of it all while still holding onto her friendship. This realistic story is told through a series of poems, which makes the events even more enticing and easy to follow along. I had to finish this book in one sitting because I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the pages without reading what came next. I would definitely read this book again.

Sabrina C., 11th Grade

Book Review: Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

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cinderCinder by Marissa Meyer is a great summer read!  With a fusion of the classic fairy tale, Cinderella, and the futuristic story of Star Wars, Cinder had me on the edge of my seat the entire time!

This sci-fi story takes place in the far future.  In the future Earth has been through two more World Wars, been unified as a peaceful place, and is neighbors to the powerful alien race, Lunars, who live on the moon.  Earth leaders have been trying to negotiate a peace treaty with Lunars.

The protagonist of the story is, Cinder, a teenage cyborg girl who is looked down upon by society and by her stepmother.  When Cinder meets the charming Prince Kai, she finds her world slowly turning upside down.  At the same time, her family is being attacked by the incurable plague.  Devastated from the aftermath of the plague, Cinder’s stepmother volunteers Cinder to the cyborg draft.  The cyborg draft has cyborgs test cures for the plague and no cyborg has come out alive.  At the medical facilities, Cinder unravels the hidden truths about her life.  These truths put herself, Prince Kai, and the entire Earth in danger.  Cinder is soon intertwined with the outcome of every being on Earth and Luna!  Check out this book this summer to live through the adventure of Cinder!

I would recommend this book to every teen! Cinder is an amazing new twist to the fairy tale we all know and love.  There is action, romance, and suspense!  It is filled with so many new surprises!  There is that one big question that haunted me and I didn’t know the answer until the very end of the book.  I couldn’t help but constantly wonder what was going to happen next!  Because of that I couldn’t stop reading it!

If you liked Divergent or The Hunger Games I recommend this book for you!

-Erika T., 8th grader