Book Review: Cress

By Marissa Meyer

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard.

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. 

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. 

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

Meyer does it again; another fabulous retelling, but also a great example of how she has created a unique and individual story and has continued to build it up to a larger climax in this installation.

from Instagram: theelunarchronicles

There are a hundred different reasons why I'm already so invested in The Lunar Chronicles, but just talking about Cress here, I was really only disappointed in a very small number of categories.

First, let's talk about what I really liked:

I loved how strange Cress was, and yet it totally fit her in terms of how she had to grow up and stimulate herself. Her little fantasies to get through difficult times were entertaining, and they were convincing as a coping mechanism for her loneliness.
One thing I was curious to know about was why she was so sympathetic toward Earthens, and not for Lunars. I think what was trying to get across was that her isolation from both Lunars and Earthens led her to seek contact through videos and news reports, which only come from Earth due to Lunars' aversion to photography and cameras. And from that research, she grew to identify more with Earthens than with the Lunars that locked her away in a satellite, but her loyalty was something I was wondering about most of the time.

OMG! The plan to ruin the wedding! (I won't put any spoilers here) But yes! Such a fantastically comical and impossible idea! Loved it, and the execution made me think of Oceans Eleven or maybe even a Sly Cooper video game. Just hilarious.

In this book (and Scarlet in particular to me) Iko just shines. Her personality really brings a lot of comical relief to what could be a really tense reading. I was so upset when I thought that her new body was going to be ruined and she was going to have to be the ship again, but things are great, and she gets to stay mobile! YAY!

And finally, POOR BABY WOLF!! Again, no spoilers, but awwwwwwwww. Every time he comes up, I just want to hug him. I'm pretty sure he's my favorite.

And my only issues remain minor, such as a need for more Scarlet, because she's just plain awesome and badass (but unfortunately, I understand the necessity of her absence -sorry, still no spoilers).

I could have done with a little more insight into Dr. Erland's PoV, especially when he started putting puzzle pieces together at the end.

Things I'm looking forward to in the finale:

I liked the introduction of Princess Winter, and I'm excited to get her story.
Can't wait to see what Luna is like!
Although I'm super nervous about how well Cinder will find Lunar revolutionaries. The team will have to be very sneaky to pull off any sort of "revolution" on enemy territory.

The Blonde Rating: 4/5
Goodreads Rating: 4.5/5
Amazon Buyers' Rating: 4.8/5

That's it for Cress, for other Lunar Chronicles reviews, click here for Cinder and here for Scarlet.

Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano

     Morgan Stockhour knows getting too close to the edge of Internment, the floating city in the clouds where she lives, can lead to madness. 

     Even though her older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. If she ever wonders about the ground, and why it is forbidden, she takes solace in her best friend, Pen, and in Basil, the boy she’s engaged to marry.

     Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially once she meets Judas. Betrothed to the victim, he is the boy being blamed for the murder, but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. 

     Secrets lay at the heart of Internment, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find—or whom she will lose.

     Anyone willing to look back on my reviews of DeStefano's other novels knows that I wasn't particularly a "fan" of her stories, but I always appreciated her prose and style, so I was willing to give it another shot with this new story, especially with the idea of it taking place on a floating city, a la Castle in the Sky.


     I was delighted and enraptured almost immediately, and finished this first installation very quickly. This story gives the reader a wonderful and visual world to step into, with just enough similarities between our own world and customs so as not to lose the reader through extensive world-building. But it was different enough so that we always knew that we were not dealing with something we could handle "down here."

     I liked the main character/narrator of Morgan, and I struggled with her as she tried to appear normal, despite the reputation her brother's mistake landed her with. I didn't, however, really feel the isolation from the other students that the narrator describes. I can understand  how the other students her age might think that a "jumper's" thoughts would "infect" the whole family, but due to the fact that we don't get much insight into that time in Morgan's life, we don't really see or feel Morgan's issues.

      Two of my favorite characters were Lex, Morgan's blind, jumper brother, and Basil, Morgan's betrothed. I loved the complexity of Lex's character and his behaviors, but I wish we had gotten some more insight into how he had changed from his experience over the "edge."  And Basil is such a sweetheart, and loyal to a fault, but we don't get an real idea about why he loves Morgan so much, or why she finds it hard to admit as much back.

     With a character who's father is a part of the law enforcement of this fantastical world, I would have expected a more in-depth knowledge of the law system than what the narrator experienced. One of the opening sentences in the book says "On Internment, you can be anything you dream -a novelist or a singer, a florist or a factory worker", but the character never goes into that sort of process or what she would like to be, despite the fact that she does explain the marriage/betrothal process, as well as the process for requesting to have children. We know what many other different characters hope to have as their career, but I feel like knowing Morgan's wish and what she's good at would have helped the reader understand her a bit more. 

Things That I Liked:

1. Pen; definitely one of my favorite characters, she was complex and interesting, with some serious and interesting family issues, as well as an unwavering loyalty to her friends and her faith, even when they are opposing each other.
2. The subtle world-building.
3. The "jumper culture;" I thought the idea of jumping was really interesting, and I was intrigued by the idea of the rules forced upon those believed to be "high-risk."

Things That I Didn't Like:

1. The "religion;" it started out as an interesting undertone, but I  think it became too much of a main feature towards the end of the book. Just the totalitarian control of King Furlow and the fear of losing that control with the ability to leave for the ground would have been enough. I liked the idea of using this religion to add to the "freedom" of following the rules, but by the end, it got a little heavy for my taste.
2. The royal family was really really weird. I'm hoping they'll be explored more in the second installment (the princess, at least, since they're stuck with her, now).

Overall Impression:

      I really liked this book. I read through it in two days, and I enjoyed it the whole time. I thought the novelty of a story taking place on a floating city in the sky was very interesting and unique. I'm hoping for a bit more personal history for Morgan, Lex, and Basil in the second book, but otherwise, I think this was a solid start, much more satisfactory than the first Chemical Garden book left me. Basically, I'm really glad I gave DeStefano another chance.

The Blonde's Rating: 3.5/5

Goodreads Rating: 4/5

Amazon Buyer's Rating: 4.3/5

Thanks for reading,
The Blonde

The Chemical Garden Reviews:
Wither
Fever
Sever

Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay

In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret...

In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.

Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.

As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.




     I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this book, considering I wasn't a huge fan of the plot in Jay's Juliet Immortal series, but I loved the language and writing style in those books, so I was more than willing to give her another shot. I'm glad I did, because I adored this book. It maintained the fairytale quality of the original idea, but completely turned my thoughts of it upside down in such a good way. 

     I loved the ups and downs of the main character, Isra. She was obviously a girl who took everything she was taught to believe to heart, and tried to be the best person and queen she could, despite the nagging in her head that something was wrong in her homeland. Her struggle with what she was taught to believe and what she felt was morally right came together poetically in the prose and the story.

     The "beast" character of Gem was an interesting personality, and a great antithesis to Isra and her lifestyle. He was unique and I liked how he was constantly battling his desire to escape back to his tribe, his will to stay to save his people, his want to kill Isra and all the other Yuanians, and his attraction to Isra.


Things That I Liked:

1. The use of the roses and the legend that binds them all to the domed city; it was a really cool, very dark, and creepy legend of how the city is kept "alive" and it really helped add another level to the book.
2. The changing PoV narration from chapter to chapter. It really helped capture the inner conflicts of each character, and it made some of what they were doing make a lot more sense.

Things I Didn't Like:

1. The "villain" -the corporeal villain in this story was actually kind of lame. We never actually got to see him be truly villainous, and while he was scheming and clearly evil, in his head, he was doing what he thought was best for his family. But he had almost no character development, and that's lame.
2. The ending; not the happy, fairytale "everyone lives happily ever after" ending, but the one before that, with all the action and city collapsing and everyone dying. Everything happened very quickly and yet very slowly. We find out that Isra has been holed up in her tower for three freakin' months, not doing anything, but also that we have no idea if Gem is alive or not, or where the HELL he is, and then the villain has a chance to do something and then he backs down like wimp to his stupid weakling son, and then EVERYTHING GOES TO HELL OMG!! It was a lot of nothing kind of happening until Isra was out of the tower, and then the fairytale ending comes into play which was great.

Overall Impression:

     I liked this story. It was something interesting and different from an author I wasn't previously enthusiastic about. If you're in the mood for fairy tales, check this one out.

Blonde's Rating: 4/5

Goodreads Rating: 4/5

Amazon Buyer's Rating: 4.5/5

Thanks for reading!

The Blonde