Winter – Marissa Meyer
*Warning – may contain spoilers*
Author: Marissa
Meyer
Publisher: Puffin
books
First published: 2015
Cover: Paperback
Pages: 823
Blurb: Winter
is admired for her grace, kindness and beauty, despite the scars on her face.
She’s said to be even more breath taking tan her stepmother, Queen Levana.
When Winter develops feelings for the handsome palace guard, Jacin, she
fears the evil Queen will crush their romance before it has a chance to begin.
But there are stirrings against
the Queen across the land. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her
allies, Winter might even find the
power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.
Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress and Winter claim their happily-ever-afters
by defeating Levana once and for all?
History of my copy: After seeing The Lunar Chronicles all over
Bookstagram, I knew I needed to try the series. I don’t regret it at all and as
I made my way through each book, I’ve desperately gone out and bought the next.
Sometimes I go into the final book of a series worried that,
whilst good, it doesn’t bring the satisfying ending I craved. Winter was no exception here, and I
couldn’t help but be kept at the edge of my seat, terrified that one of the
main eight (Cinder, Kai, Scarlet, Wolf, Cress, Thorne, Winter and Jacin) wouldn’t get their happy ending. However, my
fears were unwarranted as this book was a fantastically amazing end to the
series. In fact, it’s one of my favourite books of all time and the series has
managed to join others such as Harry Potter by Rowling and The Infernal Devices
by Clare as one of my all-time favourite series! Honestly, why did no-one make
me read these books before?!
Plot: Winter, the fourth and final instalment in The Lunar Chronicles, follows the gang as they infiltrate Luna with
3 goals in mind: to rescue Scarlet, to stop Levana’s marriage to Kai and to
start a revolution, thus placing Cinder aka long-lost Princess Selene
rightfully on the throne. As with the three previous novels, Winter is a loose retelling of a fairy-tale,
this time Snow White. Whilst we get the main events from the traditional story
(beautiful step-daughter, faked murder and being poisoned by an apple), once
again the story takes on a whole mind of its own in the epic climax of the
series.
At
first, I thought that there would be too many main characters to handle but, as
the plot develops, each earns their individual place in the group and helps
bring down Levana’s regime both from the inside and out.
I’m going to keep quiet about the tiny
details of the plot, leaving you to discover the story yourself, but I am going
to mention possibly my favourite romance scene of all time. THAT MOMENT BETWEEN
CRESS AND THORNE WAS SO GODDAMN BEAUTIFUL I WAS LEFT BREATHLESS.
I need to know what happens after Winter though. I want a catch-up on all
the characters (hopefully Stars Above will help with that). And I need to know
what happened to Luna after Cinder abdicated and what happened once she became
Empress of the Eastern Commonwealth. Ahh I need to know every single thing that
happened in each of their lives.
Setting: For the first time in the
series, the book takes place on Luna. I actually really love the concept of
Luna and how Meyer has created this wonderful world on the moon. One thing I
would love is both a map of the sectors on Luna and perhaps a history of its
relationship with Earth. It’s clear that a lot of thought went into the
designing of Luna from the transport systems through to the different sectors. Artemisia
is described beautifully, mainly focussing on the palace and the seemingly
never-ending Lake.
Characters: In my reviews for Cinder,
Scarlet and Cress, I covered most of the main characters so I’m going to switch
things up a bit and perhaps write about the ships throughout The Lunar Chronicles.
First
of all, we are introduced to Cinder and Kai. I really like Cinder and
everything she stands for and, whilst I wasn’t so keen on Prince Kai at first,
I am now totally in love with the pair of them as they are with each other. The
duo complement each other so well and, now that an alliance is needed between
Earth and Luna, what better way to do so than to unite the pair!
Scarlet and Wolf are couple
number two. I really love the character of Scarlet and think she also works
with Winter really well. However,
although I found Wolf intriguing at the start, I think he’s become a bit too
forced. Is it bad that I kind of wish he had died protecting Scarlet or
something? His life seemed a bit too tortured and difficult to be ‘real’. Maybe
I seem a little harsh with this but, if I were to give any of the couples an
unhappy ending, it would be Scarlet and Wolf. Besides, Scarlet is strong enough
to survive on her own.
Cress and Thorne! Are there even
words to describe my love for these two? From the very start I’ve shipped them
so hard and Winter certainly didn’t
disappoint in that department. In fact, the scene where Thorne sort of finally
declares how he feels about her is one of my favourite scenes ever. It was so
breathtakingly beautiful! Wow I so need a Carswell Thorne in my life. Honestly,
I’d protect these two precious babies to my death.
Last but not least, we have Winter and Jacin. I never was a huge fan
of Jacin but he earned some respect in this book, especially for protecting
Cress. His devotion to Winter was
sweet, but a little too over-powering at times. Winter, however, I love! She wears her scars, both physically and
mentally, without batting an eyelid, and I do believe that is mainly down to
Jacin’s help. One thing I really loved is her refusal to use her Lunar gift and
her reasons why. Queen Levana and the thurmatages, especially Aimery, really
tortured the poor girl so is it any wonder why she ended up so crazy in her own
beautifully unique way? I couldn’t help but grin whenever she howled like a
wolf and sang that silly song. I also admire the faith that Jacin and Scarlet
had in Winter and how they never
purposefully let her down. I have nothing but respect for her courage
throughout the book, especially when she finally used her Gift to protect her
friends.
Now, if you’ve read any of my
other reviews of The Lunar Chronicles,
you will know that I have an undying love for everyone’s favourite
android/spaceship/escort droid, Iko! I love how funny she is! Whilst I do miss
her as The Rampion, it’s great to see how much help she is now as the beautiful
escort droid. And she has an important part as she contains the information
regarding the chip that can protect humans and Lunars alike from the Lunar
gift! Yes Iko!
Finally, I feel as if I should
talk about the Lunar royalty of the series: Queen Levana and Queen Channary. I
so desperately want to know more about these two and cannot wait to get my
hands on Fairest which, as far as I’m aware, does contain the pair. I know not
much is learnt about Channary, and I’m not sure if I can believe Levana after
how horrid and deceitful she is, but I actually think Channary is worse than
Levana so I can’t wait to read about her! As for Levana herself, underneath it
all I can see a very damaged, confused and bullied character, but that doesn’t
excuse her actions. After all, Cinder too had her share of bad upbringing and
familial torture, but has become a good person. Yes, I pity Levana, but I also
admire Meyer for making a truly terrifying villain who still has emotions
underneath all that. It’s a hard job to do, but Meyer successfully created a
wonderful villain who creates this vibe of pure evil and manipulability.
To read or not to
read: Read. Like right now. Read the
whole series and never stop reading it. Winter
has it all. Powerful, pure evilness in the Lunars, a bunch of badass heroines
and heroes, a super awesome revolution, moments where your heart is in your
throat, and you can’t form sentences and you just don’t know how they could all
possibly survive. And, of course, it has our favourite android Iko who makes us
laugh even when we’re crying.
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