Cress – Review

It took me far longer than I had hoped to finish the third book of Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles and to be honest – I don’t know where to start.

Taken from her parents because she is a Shell, Cress spent most of her life locked up in a satellite, watching the orbit, controlling and manipulating for Queen Levana. However, she wants nothing more than to detach herself from Luna’s evil queen and has therefore made contact with the Rampion. The Rampion; a spaceship currently inhabiting Cinder, Captain Thorne, Wolf and Scarlet – the most wanted criminal in the world, the missing Luna princess, a Luna special operative and a girl on the run.

Cinder is trying everything she can to stop Prince Kai’s wedding with Queen Levana, but can she really come up with a masterplan, rescue Cress and Kai himself and overthrow the evil Luna queen all by herself? 

My Thoughts

Wow. This book blew my mind. While I was a big fan of the two pervious books of this series, Cress is definitely my favorite one. And after reading Winter, I’m not sure I can cope with my mind being blown anymore. This book is literal perfection. The characters, the plot, the writing, the atmosphere – everything points toward an epic story, a story fitted for everyone who is ready to be swept off their feet. 

The Characters

Oh, the characters. There are so many divine, unique, special characters that I don’t know where to start. First of all, I loved the MANY main characters, developing from Cinder and Kai, to Cinder, Kai, Scarlet, Wolf, Thorne and Cress. 

Cinder was her typical self. She had doubts but was strong enough to not let her teammates worry. She is the perfect leader and I’m sure her strong abilities, physical and mental, will be proven in Winter. I loved when she worried about Kai, joked with Thorne and argued with Wolf.

Kai wasn’t mentioned as much in this book as in Cinder, but the last scenes with him where pure humor. He is kind through and through, the perfect emperor. What I enjoyed most was that his decisions were displayed for the reader, meaning I read his doubts, fears and all and didn’t just read the wedding preparation details from Cinder’s perspective.

Scarlet didn’t have as many chapters as I’d hoped – but I’m not going to spoil here, don’t worry, I made it sound like she dies: she doesn’t. Wolf however, was really interesting to “follow around”. I loved his concerns for Scarlet and his unconditional love for her. 

Cress and Throne were pure fun and I’m happy they had so many scenes together to fully develop their characters.

The plot

The plot wasn’t at all boring, much more, it was full of action, action and more action. The only time I was beginning to think “this is dragging on a bit much” was Thorne’s and Cress’ chapters walking through the desert, but even those chapters ended shortly before being TOO much. I was happy to have some more fight scenes, as Marissa Meyer always comes up with new turning points the characters are confronted with. I especially loved the last 150 pages, where the crew actually disturbed the royal wedding, so after the whole planning and preparations were over. The book also features a great, MASSIVE end to this epic story with me IMpatiently waiting for the sequel.

The Writing

Marissa Meyer has not let me down so far, and again, with this novel, she has proven her fabulous writing skills. Her dialogues are neither boring nor too long, her fight scenes are precise but not too detailed and her story is the perfect combination of planning and doing. Even chapters where I thought “Oh, seriously, this takes 10 pages?!”, she managed to get me hooked. 

The ATMOSPHERE

The atmosphere throughout the whole book gave me the chills. It was the perfect mix of awaiting danger, fighting, preparing, romance and action. She managed to have me pray for lives, had me nearly crying at certain outcomes and had me smile at certain encounters.

All in all, this book is perfectly pointing toward the epic finale of the Lunar Chronicles and I can’t wait to read the end of Cinder’s great revolution. 

I hope you enjoyed this entry and have a great day!