Cress

This was such a surprise!!! The first 2 books were slightly meh for me, I did not care for Cinder, and Scarlet was okay until that cheeseball ending. But this book, was so much fun! There was so much happening I couldn't get through the pages fast enough, and yet, I should have tried to read slower. I really liked the relationship between Cress and Thorne, it wasn't out of place or forced. And I was happy to finally see some of what happens ON Luna! The next book has a lot of expectations to live up to, and a lot of story to fill..... I hope it keeps getting better.

Ugh. THIS is why I don't want to get sucked into a series before it's actually complete. I really, really don't like cliffhangers.

I think this is a great series, and particularly enjoy the strong, resourceful, smart heroines Meyer creates with each of her novels. Because I thought the second book in the series was not as strong as the first, I was interested to see how I would react to this third installment - and I think it might be my favorite. Cress is a fascinating character, and it was great fun to watch her learn to embrace her strength. I appreciate that, while each character seems to have a romance, Meyer doesn't let it get in the way of the main action of the plot. Each character makes good and bad choices, and they seem realistic given the situation.

I'm very excited to read the final chapter in this series - Winter seems like another unique and interesting heroine that I can't wait to discover.

Originally read September 14-16 2014
Re-read in October 2015 for the #TLCReadalong!

I have to be fair. That's why, after rating this a four star and thinking about it for another half hour, I had to move the rating up to five. I had no problems with this book. Except, maybe it could have been longer... Yeah, just ignore that up there. Honestly, when I think how close I came after reading Cinder to not even continuing this series... I would have missed out on so much fun. (Pity all books and series don't improve for me the way this one did.)

My biggest pet peeve from the last two books was finally addressed and, while I don't love that take on humanity, it is completely believable. Humans really can be cruel and unkind at times.

Anyway, I love how the girls in this series are pretty darn capable all on their own. (And my cold has made my mind fuzzy enough that I cannot even spell ‘capable' without googling it. So, to wrap things up before my brain quits working.) And can you say ‘ethnic diversity'? Is it a sad sign of the whitewashed state of most popular (and most everything else, too) sci-fi (and fantasy) genres (and the YA demographic) when the fact that there is ethnic diversity in a book actually gets me excited?

I'm really liking all the characters - even Cinder, who I really didn't care for in the first book. This is the true introduction of Cress and, I gotta say, I'm not disappointed. I was really worried that, after what she had been through, she would be normal and well-adjusted. She wasn't. Thank you, Thorne, for demonstrating that quite aptly when you first met the poor girl.

While romance is not usually something I look for in my sci-fi books, I love the character interactions. And the romances, too. Especially Wolf and Scarlet. (Love these two together so much.) I also think I'm going to really, really like Thorne and Cress. They're certainly interesting together. Kai and Cinder however... Yeah, I'm still not really feeling the sparks. I like them apart quite a lot, but together... Meh. I am so looking forward to Winter though, she sounds like her own special brand of crazy. And her love interest Jacin. Am I weird for thinking he sounded hot when he showed up in the first book?

Alright, I would love to write a proper review and, once I can quit being distracted every five keys by various cold symptoms, I might. (However, this is a very long ramble that could totally pass for a review.) I'm so not going to remember what happened in this books two weeks from now. (Hehe. So I'll get to re-read it.)