Cress (The Lunar Chronicles, Book Three)
by Marissa Meyer
So, I read Cress when it was published and wasn't impressed
– I quickly gave up, probably due to book series exhaustion. Given the
opportunity to review Fairest, a kind of interlude between books three and four of The Lunar Chronicles, I came back and re-read Cress, and I’m so glad I
did. My second reading entranced me, and
I began to realize what a master Meyer is at entwining all of the characters
without losing plot-lines or world-building.
Cress is ensconced, against her will, in a satellite around
Earth doing the bidding of Sybil, a power player in Queen Levana’s
entourage. She spends seven lonely
years essentially spying on Earth and all its wonders, including the royal
family and Kai. Like the fairy tale, Cress has floor-length tresses and a sonorous singing voice. As she sits at her screens and watches videos of the goings-on down below her, Cress begins to
sympathize with the plight of Earthens; when presented with the opportunity
to defect to their side, she takes it without hesitation.
What follows is a fast-paced, well-written,
and sometimes romantic journey through the Earth’s atmosphere, the Sahara,
Europe, and back to the Moon. Meyer is a
master at committing to her details without losing the effect of the
storytelling. Scarlet is my least favorite
character, probably because she is the only one of whom I cannot form a clear picture, and thankfully she was not featured that much in this particular
book. The ending of this novel leaves me
wanting more, more, more Meyer. And, if you haven’t read
Fairest yet, you must!
