The Lunar Chronicles is a highly entertaining series which all fans of YA fantasy fiction will enjoy. I can’t wait for the next installment! 4/5 stars.
What it’s all about (thank you Wikipedia): The Lunar Chronicles is a series of YA fantasy novels. Each book entails a new take on an old fairy tale. The story takes place in a futuristic world where humans, cyborgs, and androids all coexist.
My take:
I’m so glad I waited until a few weeks before the last book in this series comes out to read the first three. As each one ended I was really looking forward to picking up the next. If I had to wait a year for Winter I’d be annoyed!
This is a fun, entertaining series which uses the well-known tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White in original and sometimes irreverent ways. However, Marissa Meyer doesn’t over-rely on the old stories; instead she builds her own fantastical world and twists the tales to reinforce the many strands of her fast-paced, just-complex-enough plot.
Meyer also deserves credit for giving her readers a group of capable heroines. Cinder is a gifted mechanic, Scarlet’s a farmer and Cress is a computer programmer. That said, the author does well to give us her most likable heroine first and build the rest of the stories around hers. Cinder is refreshingly pragmatic and the fact she is physically incapable of crying or blushing is fantastic (although she would like to at times). Meanwhile, Scarlet is a little shouty and needs to calm down. Cress will hopefully toughen up with time – I was willing to forgive her for being a bit soppy as this seemed a realistic result of being imprisoned for seven years. We haven’t seen much of Winter yet, but she seems delightfully bonkers – we’ll have to wait and see.
Of the three books, I think Cinder (Book 1) is the strongest. However, I enjoyed them all. The plotting is impressive: I would guess Meyer planned a full series arc before writing Book 1. This means we’re not subjected to any “magic coincidences” but rather get to watch as fate steadily draws the characters together and apart in expected and unexpected ways.
These books aren’t ground-breaking and won’t change your life. But they will provide hours of absorbing, page-turning escapism – and what’s better than that?!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to pre-order Winter!
Art and Soul 
I am so excited for Winter, I wish I had done what you did and read them closer to Winters release date because it has been a brutal wait and I’ve only been waiting since March I can’t imagine waiting for a whole year!
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I can’t imagine having to wait between them 🙂 I’ve pre- ordered Winter – not long to wait now!
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I’ve got it pre-ordered too! I’m curious to see how it all wraps up
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I won a copy of Cinder, so its good to hear that it was your favourite. I hope I enjoy it too, maybe then I will get the rest of the series.
Amanda.
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I managed to get them all at the library but wouldn’t have minded paying for them – you get your money’s worth on entertainment! 🙂
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That’s good to know, if I enjoy I can get the other ones from the library then. Thanks.
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I loved all three books, Is it weird that I’m a Wolf kinda girl… 😉
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Not weird at all! I’m quite fond of all the young men in the series. Not sure at what age that becomes creepy! 🙂
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I agree. All the men are well rounded characters, but Thorne is a little too Channing Tatum for me. I’m a Hugh Jackman fan … Wolverine.
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ME TOO! Am sad that soon he will no longer have the part but I guess he couldn’t play it until he keels over! 🙂
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This is not a genre or a series I would normally go for but I like the sound of this very much! Maybe a good read for christmas break…will add to the ‘to read’ list! x
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It is highly entertaining. If you can get them from the library you have nothing to lose 🙂
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These books sound like fun! Escapism is just what I need around x-mas time, so I’ll keep “Cinder” in mind. Thanks, Claire! 🙂
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A very good bit of light reading for Christmas! 🙂
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Ahhh, you lucky gal!
I wish I had waited to start this series. Still, I only just read them last fall, so I didn’t have to endure an agonizing wait as long as some.
At least that wait is almost over. 😀
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I do feel lucky because I hate waiting. I can’t imagine having been in on this since the start and having to wait a year between each one. As you say, not long to go now 🙂
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I am waiting for Winter to come out and then I’m just going to read them all! I read Cinder and Scarlet a while back and enjoyed them but I think I do need a refresher! Glad you enjoyed them.
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Thanks! That’s a great idea. I definitely think I enjoyed them more because I could read them back-to-back and keep the momentum going. 🙂
Really looking forward to all the excitement around Winter now that I can join in!
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Sounds like a good reason to read the series. Guess I’ll be bumping it higher up on my TBR list.
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It’s very enjoyable. It’s not “deep”, but it’s great fun 🙂
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Sometimes that’s all a book “has” to be.
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