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Book Review
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, and I love it!
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