The Lunar Chronicles

I read The Lunar Chronicles in January 2016 and this is my short review of the books:)

Cinder

Book 1 mainly focused on  Cinder who is a cyborg(half human, half machine) mechanic and her story of how she meets the Prince of New Beijing Kai. This is Cinderella but with a cool twist introducing a bad-ass Cinderella and a cool new Universe. The world is divided in different continents than we are used too, because of world war three. The asian area is called the commonwealth and the emperor is Kai’s father. Earth is in a tricky situaation because they are sort of being threatened by the Lunar race. The lunar race is the people who live on the moon (Luna) and they are ruled by an evil Queen called Levana. THe lunar race have “magical” powers were they can manipulate others thoughts and manipulate what they see. These powers are what scares the earthen most when it comes to the Lunars. We find out that Cinder is also Lunar and has been hidden on earth her whole life. Levana wants her as a prisoner and Kai has to give Levana what she wants so that he can get what he wants from her.. he wants a cure to a virus that has spread on earth that Luna has the cure to. Levana also wants to become Empress and wants to get engaged to Kai.

 

Scarlet

Scarlet follows Cinder again and Carswell Thorne who are captured in prison and escape together. They are trying to find out more about Cinder’s past together. This book also follows Scarlet a sassy french smalltown girl who is looking for her grandmother that is missing and Wolf a ex gangmember. Wolf is helping Scarlet find her grandmother. I absolutely enjoy Scarlet and Wolf’s relationship because they just need each other so much as well as they are really strong characters on their own. It turns out that Wolf is a military member of Luna who has been genetically altered to have wolf-like tendencies. He and other soldiers are being brainwashed and manipulated in packs by a leader but Wolf’s need to protect Scarlet releases that bond that the leader has on him. Cinder and Thorne’s trip to find Cinder’s past leads them to Scarlet and they team up(become a crew) at the end of the book:) This books has many cute WolfxScarlet moments as well as great friendship moments with ThornexCinder.

 

Cress

The Crew are in hiding and  surprisingly have dodged both lunar military and human military. This turns out to be because of a lunar girl named Cress. Cress is a lunar girl without any lunar gifts(magical powers). People who are born like this are called shells and are usually taken from their families and kept away from other lunars because thy are a threat to Luna since they can not be manipulated. Cress has been kept locked up in a satellite all alone under the supervision of a mistress. She is a super hacker and works for the queen to spy on earth. She is an amazing character who has this crazy imagination as a result of being alone most of the time. She helps the crew for a long time because she figures out that Levana plans to kill Kai after she marries him. She is also in love with Carswell Thorne because she reads all these files on him and basically imagines him as a hero who is going to save her. The crew go to rescue Cress and a series of events lead to Scarlet being captured on Luna, Cress and Thorne crashing the satellite in the Sahara dessert and Cinder and Wolf seeking help from a Doctor who has helped Cinder before. He is in a small town in Africa. This book follows the adventure Cress and Thorne have in the dessert getting to know eachother and Cinder and Wolf meeting and getting to know more Lunars, one of them being and ex Lunar guard named Jacin.

 

Winter.  

The gang plan on stopping the wedding and saving Scarlet. They need to go to Luna. Back on Luna Scarlet befriends Princess Winter who is Levana’s step daughter. She is the most beautiful girl on Luna and she does not use her Lunar gift.. People who don’t use their gift well basically slowly become crazy. She is known for being weird but also for her kind heart. Jacin returns to Luna to keep Winter(his childhood friend) safe after betraying Cinder and the gang. The Crew go to Luna but are quickly separated when they are under attack. Wolf leads Cinder, Iko(Cinders robot friend) and Thorne to his childhood home to get help form the factory workers on Luna to rebel against the queen. Winter and Jacing save and hide Cress from the queen. Even when they are apart they slowly start a rebellion against the Queen who isn’t the rightful  queen of Luna. The lost princess of Luna that Levana tried to kill has returned and she is Cinder. Cinder challanges Levana and does it publicly gaining respect from the Lunars who have been mistreated. They stop the wedding and alot of stuff happens leading to Levana’s fall.

Fairest

This is the story of how Levana became “evil”, why she tried to kill her own niece and about her first Love. This is such a tragic story and a must read for everyone who reads this series.

 

My thoughts are that this series is brilliantly written. I love the characters and the fact that you know what character Marissa Meyer uses as inspiration for her characters as this is a retelling story. I love the loves in this series.. the ships. CinderxKai, ScarletxWolf, CressxThorne, WinterxJacin and even IkoxTheguard(what was his name). My favorite is Thress(Thorne + Cress) because I love how in love she is with him and how he doesn’t think he deserves him and their banter is so cute. This book also has really great friendships. Cinder+Iko, Scarlet+Winter, Cinder+Thorne, Thorne+Kai, ect.

 

This is a 5 star series for me and I can’t wait to read Stars above and Marissa’s new series that comes out later this year