Cress

To me, Cinder and Scarlet where solid four star books. I enjoyed them, I wanted to read more, but there was just something missing from them that prevented me from giving them that extra star. I don't know what it was about Cress, but that one thing I was longing for was there. This book truly exceeded my expectations.

I'm flying through these books and I have to say, this one has been my favorite so far. I really love this cast of characters and all the connections between them. Cress has definitely moved up there though in terms of favorite characters in this series. I also really love all the interactions between Cress and Thorne and how their relationship developed.

I also really love how Winter was introduced in this installment before we focus on her in the final book. I need to finish a few other books, but then I will definitely be getting to Winter so I can finish this series and see how it all ends.

Já li os primeiros 2 livros dessa saga e ganhei algum interesse pelas persongens! Neste novo livro, conhecemos a Cress (Rapunzel) que está presa num satélite entre a Luna e a Terra, ela é melhor hacker que existe na Luna e, provavelmente, na Terra! Ela descobre que a Cinder (Cinderela - Livro 1) está a ser presseguida pela rainha da Luna e que precisa de ajuda, mas ela está presa na sua “torre”, e quem mais a podia salvar se não o seu príncipe Capitão Thorne, que é tudo menos príncipe!

Nesta nova viagem, as personagens ganham muito mais vida e muito mais está em jogo! Adorei o desenvolvimento da Cress como personagem e acho que em geral, foi um livro agradável de se ler. Neste livro, aparece a minha personagem preferida da Saga toda - o Capitão! Ele é engraçado e tem muita mania, mas não podia não acha-lo engraçado.

Recomendo seriamente este livro às pessoas que leram os 2 primeiros e não sabiam se haviam de ler mais! Recomendo começarem pelo Livro 1 - Cinder, às pessoas que gostam de dramas, romance (young adult) e ação e aventura. Este livro tem imensa ação e aventura, sendo esse o foco principal.

《I think you might be right, though. Maybe there isn't such a thing as fate. Maybe it's just the opportunities we're given, and what we do with them. I'm beginning to think that maybe great, epic romances don't just happen. We have to make them ourselves.》

This book. THIS BOOK OMG!!
I wish I could write anything that would make sense but I feel like it's impossible. Luckily I'm stubborn so I'll try anyway lol I hope talking about the characters will help me out :P

• I feel so bad for Cinder because she blames herself way too much :( I hope she will be more positive and finally happy in Winter because she totally deserves it <3
• Cress is PURE LOVE. She's so cute, so squishy, so.. PURE. If she was real, I'd hug her and cuddle her the whole time <333
• Thorne is.. Thorne. ‘Nuff said. I think he wants to act like a bad boy but I can see how good he is <333333 + I ship him so hard with Cress, LIKE MY HEART NEEDS THEM TOGETHER RN (but I think it's just common sense lol).
• And Ikooooo <333 I was SO HAPPY when Thorne got that escort-droid because I TOTALLY KNEW THEY WOULD HAVE USED ITS BODY FOR IKO!! It feels like she can totally be herself thanks to that and it fills me with joy <3 Anyway, is it possible for her to have a bf? I WANT HER TO HAVE ONE NOW. Maybe the android that looked like Kai lol
• Poor Kai, I felt so stressed during the whole book when it came to him :( I wanted to hug him every time é.è I fangirled way too much when he finally kissed Cinder tho IT WAS ABOUT TIME <3 but of course Levana would have ruined that perfect moment, figures.
• The Doctor, poor baby. I don't know what you think, but I always felt bad for him :( I wouldn't have blamed him for anything he did, honestly. AND WHEN HE SAID TO CRESS HE WAS HER FATHER OMG My heart was dying too in that moment, like WHY DID IT HAVE TO GO THAT WAY?! *cough* Ok, sorry.
• Anyway, here comes the unpopular opinion: I didn't like Scarlet and Wolf in this book. AT ALL. I would have liked to punch her in the face and Wolf was just.. too much. I don't even know how to explain it, but there was something about both of them that was way too irritating.
I hope they will take a grip on themselves because they almost ruined my majestic experience with this book smh
• And about Sybil Mira YOU TOTALLY DESERVED IT, BITCH!! Burn in hell and don't ever come back, sayonara.Like, the only good thing she ever did was throwing herself down the tower. I would have gladly helped pushing her tho I'm too kind, I know <3

Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky and The Princess and the Guard are waiting for me and I HONESTLY CAN'T WAIT to get to Fairest, I bet it will be amazing too ____

I have been working my way slowly through this series, I am determined to get there by the end of 2017 and so although I was a little hesitant I decided to press on and read Cress, the third instalment of The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer.

This fairytale telling series has been hugely popular since its release but I have struggled a little with the first two books. Although containing elements of the different fairytales upon which they are based, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood and in the case of Cress - Rapunzel, the setting has really stretched the boundaries in this series with it being set in a futuristic world where humans are battling against a deadly plague and the ongoing threat from a race known as Lunar's who live on another planet.

The series continues in book 3 with our ongoing heroine Cinder still on the run from the authorities, along the way she has gathered a band of misfits who are helping her to come to terms with the fact she is, in fact, Lunar and to help her to stop the evil Queen Levana from carrying out her plan to marry the emperor Prince Kai and then have him killed. This time around she meets Cress, a prisoner on board a satellite floating through space. With no contact with anyone, her job is to monitor the activities of the rulers on earth and to feed their actions back to the Lunar Queen.

Cress, fulfilling the Rapunzel role, is an interesting addition to the cast of Lunar Chronicles characters. Naive and a little immature at the outset of the book she grows throughout this novel as her story loosely follows the Rapunzel tale. She is likeable and the burgeoning romance between her and Captain Thorne is really wonderful, this brash and cocky captain is not always subtle or romantic but he is so very kind to Cress and her adoration of him is sweet to read about.

This instalment of the series is the longest so far, coming in at over 500 pages Meyer is really packing in a lot of plot to this book. I think with Scarlett that had been one of my reservations, that the story didn't seem to move forward as far as I'd hoped. This time around the plot is more developed. We see more of life on Lunar and learn more about the Royal family there which sets us up for the next book in the series.

I enjoyed this book more than I anticipated I would. Sometimes I find all the spaceships and cyborgs and tech a little bit of a distraction to the parts of the book I enjoy, the real fairy tale retelling parts and at times this has caused me frustration but this time around I managed to put that aside a little more and enjoy the story behind the setting. I am glad I'm persevering with the series but am now keen to read the final instalment and conclude everyone's stories as it now feels about time all the threads started to come together towards its natural conclusion.

What can I say about this series? I could say that the writing is beautiful in its simplicity; I could say that the characters are so well developed and unique that each voice is distinct and strong; I could say that the world is as lush and detailed as stepping out my front door and I could even say that with the addition of each new character to this cast of lovable misfits I grow more and more in love with every single one of them. But I can't describe how every chapter has me on edge. Every turn of events gets my heart racing and my mind spinning. Every word is an adrenaline rush until I finally reached the end feeling like I just ran a marathon of emotions. This series has me so captivated–Enthralled, Enchanted! Spellbound! Mesmerized! Pick your synonym–that I just want the whole world to read it and love it as much as I do.

I'm giving it 4 stars only for the ending. I had been waiting for the Cinder and Kai reunion.
Cress was SO, SO annoying at some points in the book. Ok, I get it, she's been trapped on that satellite for a lot of time, but that doesn't mean she needs to be that annoying and naive and ughhhh.
I really hope that the last book will be better than these ones, I had high hopes for this series but it just doesn't live up to my expectations.

Read this while on vacation. Perfect light read while traveling. The stakes are definitely getting higher for cinder and her gang. And we are getting close to the final show down with queen levana. So far, my favorite in the series was scarlet (book 2), but i can't wait to start winter when i get back home–this lunar princess seems like a very interesting character...

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: Cress

Cress is the story of Rapunzel if Rapunzel were a sheltered lunar hacking expert. Stolen from her parents at a young age, Cress is a lunar shell locked away to live out her days as Sybil's best programmer. That is until Cinder launches a plan to save her and further the team's goals of overthrowing Levana. In the third installment of The Lunar Chronicles, join the characters you've come to know and love as they race to save Emperor Kai and the people of Earth.

Cress' character might weigh on some reader's nerves with her damsel in distress behavior, but Marissa Meyer makes sure to add a bit of humor in about it. Cress has never experienced true social interaction, growing up in front of port screens and entertained by a programmed version of herself to keep company. She is lonely, and lives in a fantasy world she builds for herself until she meets Cinder's crew. Imagine if you grew up only learning about other people from romance novels and TV. You can quickly see how Cress might behave when these are the only role models she had. I let it slide that she was near helpless most of the time. Especially because I have seen how Cinder has evolved as a character.

The only downside was the lack of balance between characters. The storyline was engaging, but there wasn't enough page time for everyone. I had a feeling this might happen, as each book is set to introduce a new main character. There are only so many pages to cram them all in. Scarlet took a huge backseat in this story and it left me unsettled. Especially after the huge build-up of her character from the last book. I wanted to see more of her.

Throughout this series, readers have seen more and more of Levana's cruelty show through. Marissa Meyer peels back another layer in this book, leaving readers poised on the edge of their seat as it unfolds. But Cress still maintains its status as being an appropriate young adult book. With each addition to The Lunar Chronicles, I am further entranced by the seamless blending of fairy tales and steampunk attributes. I honestly haven't seen another series like this one. I love it!

So. This book, in the beginning, was amazing. Pace was good. Action was good. Yay. However, CRESS. Oh god oh GOD i hate HATE crybabies. Seriously? She whimpers, trembles, and sobs in every single chapter or scene she appears. She was boring and uninteresting and made the book UNREADABLE. I went through a slump. I spent one week more on this book simply because of that really unnecessary desert chapter. It was useless. Annoying. Dragged on for too long. The ending, or rather the last action scene, made it for me. I liked it. I hope Winter is better. The only reason why I finished this today so fast was so I could move on to another book.
Edit; I lowered it to one-star because every time I think about a book I hated, this was it