Saturday, January 16, 2016

Book Review: Winter by Marissa Meyer

Release Date: November 10th, 2015
Read: January 5th-8th, 2016
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Series: The Lunar Chronicles, #4
Format: Hardcover, 824 pages
Source: Bought



Description from GoodReads:



   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:


Contains Minor Spoilers:

   And the wolves all howl, aaooooooooooh...
   The Lunar Chronicles is one of my all time favourite books series, and I was sad to see it go.  Since first discovering Cinder in a magazine article in 2011, my heart has been hooked on this unforgettable series.
   The first thing I noticed when opening Winter was that Cinder and Kai were an item now, I had reread Cress before reading Winter so it was not that I had forgotten what had happened in the third book. It was that after three books of them not being together, it was an odd feeling to overcome. But oh boy, I loved the feeing so much. The same went with the other main characters, all their relationships were at a peak and perfect spot in Winter. It was joyous to see, and the heartbreak and pain that I endured for them to get a happy ending was perfect. Meyer couldn't have ended the relationships for us any better. Although I was not a huge fan of Scarlet and Wolf throughout the first books, I definitely felt a connection to them in this book, I even weeped a bit for them when they reconnected after Scarlets kidnapping. 
   Throughout Winter I had grown a connection like I said above to Scarlet and Wolf, but I also felt the same connection to Winter and Jacin. Already knowing a bit about them from reading Fairestand from meeting Jacin again in Cress, I thought I was prepared when being introduced to them, I was waaaaaay wrong. Jacin's love for Winter knew no bounds, I was instantly in love with them. Although both their situations were terrible, they both endured everything they faced, and they did it together.
  Even if I didn't feel the same connection to both Cinder and Kai's, and Thorne and Cress' relationships in Winter, I still love where Meyer took them. The cute relationship that was Cress', and the serious relationship that was Cinders. In the end the secret moments were my favourite for Cress and Thorne, how they'd be in a dire circumstance but Throne always knew how to lighten the mood. For Cinder and Kai, when Kai found Cinder dying and the very last scene of the book were my favourite, both two totally different moods but both just as great. The tenseness and sadness from Cinders life threatening wound to Kai practically asking Cinder to be with him forever, my heart broke each time.
   With all the build up Meyer had set, I expected the final moments of the book to be intense, Meyer did not let us down, she did one better, she made every moment intense. From start of the book to the very end, it was non stop action on every page. There were moments where I'd get so involved in the story that when I looked up and inspected the book expecting to have read a huge amount of pages, but in reality I had barely made a dent. I don't even know how to explain it, it was like the book was bigger then it really was, like there were pages hidden in the book that just made it seem so much longer then it should have been.
   There were times where'd you'd forget that the story was a retelling of sorts, in moments you'd see things happen that would seem weird or a have a different turn of events but then suddenly everything would click and you'd think back to the original fairy tale and it would all make sense. Meyer had definitely planned her storyline out perfectly, incorporating so many little details that sometimes you wouldn't even notice unless you were looking for them.
   Marissa Meyer concludes the series in utter perfection, having rollercoasters of emotion on every corner, and having the story pan out exceptionally, you couldn't have asked for a better ending. Leaving my heart wanting more, Meyer made the right decision publishing Stars Above, her  bind up of all her novellas for the series, after Winter. With the never seen before novella called Something Old, Something New featuring a wedding with our beloved characters, it will be another perfect epilogue to an already perfect ending.
   Besides Stars Above releasing February 2016, Meyer's next series releases November 2016 which is certainly going to be as exceptional as The Lunar Chronicles if Winter was proof enough, hopefully I'll be able to survive that long until I get it.


Rating:



Favourite Quote:


" We may be animals, but we will never again live in your cage."

" One of these days, I just want to open my eyes and see you."


Recommend to People Who Enjoy:


Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fairy Tales, Retellings, Romance, Snow White




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