Review - Cress by Marissa Meyer

 Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard.

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

Amazon
Amazon UK

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2014! Based on the fairy tale of Rapunzel, this action packed third instalment in the Lunar Chronicles brings in Cress, a genius hacker who has been imprisoned on a satellite her entire life, trapped into serving as a spy for Queen Levana. But when she decides not to give away the location of Captain Thorne’s ship to the Lunar Queen, she ends up on the run with him. In the meantime, we also follow the continued adventures of Cinder, Scarlet, Wolf and Prince Kai, plus a number of other characters. Despite the book’s length, I read it in only a day – it’s a fast-paced, gripping read from beginning to end, and I couldn’t stop turning the pages!

Cress has become my favourite of the heroines of the Lunar Chronicles, and her interactions with Prince Thorne – who she’s imagined as a fairy tale hero – are hilarious and touching at the same time. Cress is a shell, a Lunar without powers, and therefore useless in the eyes of the other Lunars. I love the creative and original worldbuilding in this series. One thing I love about this series is that the books flow seamlessly into one another, and all the characters’ journeys are interlinked wonderfully. Fans of Prince Kai will be pleased to know that his character plays a bigger role than in Scarlet, as he has to deal with the crisis of an impending war and marriage to Queen Levana. Without spoiling the plot, suffice to say that this is an action-packed volume, and the only downside is we now have to wait a year for the fourth book, Winter. Five stars!

Rating: *****