Heartless / Marissa Meyer / 449 pgs

I went into Heartless thinking that I wasn't going to like it as much as the Lunar Chronicles. In a way, that's still true. The Lunar Chronicles is the pinnacle of the YA Fantasy/Sci-Fi Fiction Series genre. Heartless is a stand alone novel, which is good because the story, in my opinion, is complete and needs nothing added to it. I had read the first chapter in a sneak peek preview that appeared at the end of Winter and wasn't sucked in, hence why I wasn't as excited about Heartless. However, the book was way better than I imagined. I bow down to the greatness of Marissa Meyer and I intend to never doubt her again. 

Heartless is the story of how the evil Queen of Hearts from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland came to be the cruel woman she is in Lewis Carroll's story. Before she was the Queen of Hearts, Catherine is the daughter of the marquess and marchioness of Rock Turtle Cove. Catherine dreams of opening up her own bakery, but finds that her parents are not as agreeable. They have bigger plans that include the King of Hearts. Catherine wants anything but the king's hand in marriage. What she doesn't count on, however, is falling in love with the court joker, Jest.

Marissa Meyer does a wonderful job of writing romance, and you will pull for Catherine and Jest, but this is a book about how Catherine becomes the Queen of Hearts, so don't expect a happy ending. Things do not wrap up as nicely as they did in the Lunar Chronicles

Stars Above / Marissa Meyer / 369 pgs

This is the end. The last book in the Lunar Chronicles universe. I'm really sad. I loved these books so much. I've seen a lot of people complain about Stars Above and say that some of the stories were unnecessary. Obviously, none of the stories were necessary, but they were all perfect. A lot of them flesh out what was only mentioned in passing in the previous books, including Carswell Thorne's interactions with his high school crush, Kate; how Winter chose to stop using her Lunar gift and how she got her facial scars; how Cinder came to live with the Linh family; how Wolf was taken from his family and turned into a special ops soldier in the Queen's army; how Cress was taken to the satellite when she was very young; and how Michelle Benoit was roped into helping keep the heir to the Lunar throne safe for eight years. Other short stories were new, like Kai's perspective when he first met Cinder and "The Little Android", which is based on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid", but the best story of all was the last one, which goes forward a little over two years into the future and gathers all of our favorite characters together as they celebrate a certain two characters' wedding. To tell you who would be to give away plot points. Suffice to say, it was an awesome epilogue to what is definitely now my favorite YA series!

Winter / Marissa Meyer / 824 pgs

I would say that I was upset that the series has ended, what has become my favorite YA series, and indeed one of my favorite series period, but then I would be forgetting that I still have Stars Above and I'm so excited about that! Winter was a bit long, but I still gave the book 5 stars because the ending completely satisfied me.

Winter is considered Book #4 in the series, although with Fairest (Book #3.5), it's actually the 5th book in the series. Everything comes to a head as Cinder, Captain Carswell Thorne (easily my favorite character), Wolf, Emperor Kai, and Cress take on Queen Levana. Scarlett still needs saving. And Princess Winter must learn to overcome her Lunar sickness if she wants to help in the revolution against her evil stepmother. Like the other three main books, a bit of romance for Winter occurs as she deals with her attraction to her childhood friend, now royal guard, Jacin Clay.

Of the four women in the series, Winter was my least favorite and her romance with Jacin was probably my least favorite to read, but that didn't detract too much from all of the action and the final showdown between Cinder and her friends and Levana. That said, I did like that the story of Winter probably most mirrored the original fairy tale (this time it was Snow White) than the other books mirrored their respective fairy tales. All in all, I loved this series and will be sad to finish with Stars Above this coming week.

Fairest / Marissa Meyer / 220 pgs

I just finished listening to Fairest, and loved it almost as much as the previous three books in Meyer's Lunar Chronicles. The reason why I say "almost as much" is mainly just due to the fact that it was completely heart wrenching. Hearing about the tragedy that strikes Queen Levana makes the reader pity the character, but how Levana justifies her horrible behavior and actions makes the reader equally hate her too. This makes for a disturbing book, short though as it was - the book is really a novella. However, the book is a must read if you want to understand the motivations of the Queen of Luna. After her parents, the King and Queen of Levana are assassinated, Levana is the teenage younger sister of the cruel, new Queen Channery, who was responsible for causing Levana's disfigurement. This causes Levana to always be conscious of her appearance. At the same time, her love for a royal guard goes unrequited. What Levana does in response will affect her for the rest of her life.

Cress / Marissa Meyer / 550 pgs

I am absolutely in love with all of the Lunar Chronicles books I've listened to so far. Fair warning, I have not read any of these books yet, rather they have all been listened to on my commutes to and from work through CD Audiobook. Rebecca Soler continues to do an amazing job with all of the voices. She adds the voices of new characters like Jacin Clay and Princess Winter (the latter of whom sounds exactly like Harry Potter's Luna Lovegood).

In this, the third book in the series, Cinder, Wolf, Scarlet, and Carswell all decide to rescue Cress, a Lunar Shell who has been stuck on a satellite for the majority of her life. However, things go extremely badly and our group of heroes are soon torn apart. If I say any more, I shall definitely spoil it for those who have yet to read the series. Suffice to say, I feel like each book I've read in the series so far has ended up being better than the last. I am a huge Marissa Meyer fan now. I've already started Fairest and can't wait to finish the series with Winter.

Scarlet / Marissa Meyer / 452 pgs

A few weeks ago, I profiled Cinder, the first book in the Lunar Chronicles and I raved big time about it. It had been my favorite book I had read thus far in 2016. That was supplanted by Scarlet, the second book in the series (which will probably be supplanted with Cress, the third book, once I've finished it). Like Cinder, I listened to Scarlet on audio while commuting to and from work. Rebecca Solner, the narrator, is called upon to do even more accents and voices in the second book, and she does a wonderful job. We are introduced to more characters, including my favorite, Captain Carswell Thorne, as well as Scarlet Benoit, her grandmother Michelle Benoit, and Wolf. Unlike Cinder, in which almost all the action was centered around the main character, Cinder Linh, the action transitions between Scarlet and Wolf's story, Cinder's continuing story, and Emperor Kai at his palace in New Beijing. This diversity in action really makes for a better book, and I was far more on the edge of my driver's seat than I was in the first book. I HIGHLY recommend this one, but start with Cinder first.

Cinder / Marissa Meyer / 390 pgs.

For the PopSugar book challenge, I fulfilled the "read a book based on a fairy tale" challenge by listening to the audiobook version of Cinder by Marissa Meyer, the first book in the popular YA series, The Lunar Chronicles. The narrator, Rebecca Soler, does a wonderful job of making all the voices of the characters come alive and sound interesting. The book is a perfect mix of fairy tale and futuristic sci-fi dystopia and I enjoyed it immensely. I'm already listening to the second book of the series, Scarlet.


As you can imagine, Cinder is based loosely on the tale of Cinderella. A cyborg 16-year old girl, Cinder, is a virtual slave to her step-mother and two step-sisters in New Beijing. She works as a mechanic, fixing droids and portscreens when she meets the handsome Prince Kai. Although Earth has enjoyed over 125 years with no wars, it has succumbed in the last decade to a deadly plague. Prince Kai must deal with his ailing father, the Emperor, and an evil queen from the Moon with the ability to "glamour" people into doing exactly what she wants.