Book Review: Winter
Title: Winter
Author: Marissa Meyer
Rating: 🍵🍵🍵🍵🍵
Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend–the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.
Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?
The Lunar Chronicles series are the fairy tales I wish I’d had as a little girl, but probably appreciate a lot more as an adult type person. Our heroine, Cinder, is not a damsel or stereotypical fairy tale princess who needs to be rescued. If there’s saving to be done, she’s going to do it. Along with some scheming and thieving...maybe a little kidnapping or rallying of the troops as needed. All while struggling to come to terms with her own identity. She’s a cyborg, for one thing, and society tells her that cyborg = less than. Rude. I could go on and on about how awesome Cinder is, but this review is about Winter. Although, Cinder is in there too.
Winter is the final book in the Lunar Chronicles series and wraps up the epic journey of Cinder and her crew of outsiders collected throughout the series. This group is flawed and complicated and has no idea what they’re doing, but they care about each other and about making the universe a better place...and they’re legit warriors...so they’re pretty cool.
I love the story and excitement and suspense and world building of these books. They keep you hooked and nervous and make you feel like you’re right there along with the crew...or at least really, really wish you were. I think the characters themselves, though, are what make these books really special.
Winter, whose story this book is framed by, is not my favorite character. Her words are unreliable and confusing. While I appreciate her motives of trying to do the right thing for all at the expense of her own sanity...I don’t necessarily agree with her methods. She frustrates me sometimes and I just want to shake her. This is the genius of Marissa Meyer, though. She tells you other characters see Winter this way, but as a reader you really feel this too…even while reading from Winter’s perspective which, in theory, should make her more sympathetic and relatable. And yet, she plays important roles in the story and they really couldn’t survive without her. Just shows us we shouldn’t judge characters based on how we think they should act or the choices we think they should make. They can still be awesome in their own way even if their ways make absolutely no sense to anyone else.
What I’m saying is the characters are full and real and flawed and awesome and important and I want to join their crew like yesterday. Or at the very least, start reading the series again now because it’s pretty much the best.
And if you’re not a fan of Captain Carswell Thorne...arrogant, flirty, chivalrous when it suits him, thieving, convict on the run with a heart of gold...then what are you doing with your life? He’s basically a pirate with a ship that flies and is definitely more than side character material...he definitely thinks so too.
You really can’t go wrong with this epic wrap-up to what was such an awesome series. It will stick with you long after you’ve finished it and make you feel like you’re missing your friends when you’re all done.
Oh and, just as a bonus, Marissa Meyer randomly drops in some nuggets of wisdom...like this gem from everyone’s favorite Android Iko (who I didn’t mention, but who is also the best). There’s a moment where Cinder is worn out, literally lost the use of some limbs, and is generally struggling to go on in her fight to save everyone, everywhere in the whole universe. She tells Iko, “I can’t do anything like this. I’m broken. I’m literally broken.” Iko responds with something beautiful I think we all could stand to hear from time to time, “Yeah, but broken isn’t the same thing as unfixable.” Have I mentioned I love these characters?
~Elizabeth
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