Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Winter

As sad as I am to let this series go for a second time, I’m so glad everyone got their HEA 🥹🫶 The Lunar Chronicles is one of the first main series I read back in middle school when I started getting into more fantasy and world-building chapter books so the nostalgia I feel rereading it as a 20-year old is palpable.

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laneelizabeth's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Firstly, the level of sarcasm, sass, and overall snarkiness from every single character in this book is so incredible. Marissa Meyer deserves so many awards just for that. Also, the found family is unmatched in anything else I've read. The set up of Luna and how it is run is reminiscent of Panem from the Hunger Games, and I actually appreciate that because it gave me something to compare it to in my mind and made it easier to understand.

Incorporating Adri and Pearl back into the story was seamless and so important to the ending. I didn't see it coming and I had no idea where she was going with it, but boy did she make it work!

Getting Levana's point of view more often in this book, especially after "Fairest" really solidifies the dislike for her character and we can see how twisted her thinking is and how delusional she is even from her own point of view.

I am glad that in the end, the revolution became as much Winter's as Cinder's. She deserved it so much. And I am glad that we got to see Cinder and Levana finally have a civil conversation (even if it didn't end very well). Also, we all knew Cinder was a great leader- we saw it- but now shes proven to be an amazing ruler as well, and especially because she's not afraid to be new at it. She's okay with asking for help and i think that is really important for someone who didn't grow up royal i think the people will respect her more for it.

Working Émilie back into the story was such a thoughtful touch that Im really glad she added.

I didn't want this story to end. I want to stay in this little fictional world. Also, with someone who has a chronic illness that has complicated so many things in my life, I really feel that this is one fantasy world I could survive in (if only with the support from the Rampion crew)

Now. Mrs. Meyer. I need a novella for Iko and Kinney to fall in love as well. Please and Thank you

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btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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msradiosilence's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

TLDR; 3.5 rating, killed by the power of ugly (apparently), and just a lukewarm end to something that started off really well.
Content warnings at the bottom. :)

Listen, Levana was wrong. She was bad, she killed LOTS of people, and she deserved retribution, but the way they defeated her was just horrible. So she

has burns, because Cinder’s mom pushed her into a fireplace, but we’re supposed to believe that

we’re allowed to throw Levana’s looks in her face, and ultimately kill her, but Cinder should be celebrated for overcoming the same injuries?

What the fuck? Very double standards, I hate it a lot. I’m not saying they should have given Levana grace, but the way she went out defeats the whole characterization of everyone.

This book is also like 200 pages too long. The rest of them just kept running and hiding and separating and it kept happening. Twice is redundant, three times is annoying, and four times is fucking ridiculous. Talk about tedium.

And somehow, even with the book being too long, Winter and Jacin’s relationship was too rushed. How can a book be too long and have the main romance be so quick? Yadda yadda, that’s how. Those 200 pages of the same shit could’ve been dedicated to building Winter and Jacin’s relationship.

The one thing that we had a decent time of was the setting, at least. Meyer did a grand job describing the moon and its colonies, which…if you could do it well in this book why didn’t you in literally all the other books? Ugh.

Rating: 3.5
Would I recommend? Not really, unless you enjoy hypocrisy, 16yo moon queens, and long drawn out action sequences.

Content warnings: Genocide, Medical content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Classism, Car accident, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, War, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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ameydireads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

"Selene. She was meant to die thirteen years ago, yet here she was disastrously alive. And just as Levana had feared back then, she would take everything from her. Everything that Levana had worked so hard for."

The revolution has started and damn, what a nerve-racking story. Nobody expected it to be easy and they had to endure a lot! They get separated from each other so many times. I really enjoyed how Marissa Meyer has brought the story from so many different perspectives. Winter is based on Snow White and we see many aspects of the fairy tale returning in this story. I loved most of the characters! Cinder is just badass and she and Kai are perfect together. Iko and Thorne are the funniest and somehow manage to lighten the mood. They might be my favorite characters.

"Her eyes suddenly rolled up into her head and she collapsed onto the floor. Kai jumped back. "What happened? Did I hit her power button or something?" Frowning, Cinder took a step closer. "Iko, what are you doing?" "Kai hugged me," said Iko, eyes still closed. "So I fainted."

"Did you see any rice in there? Maybe we could fill Cinder's head with it." Everyone started at him. "You know, to … absorb the moisture, or something. Isn't that a thing?"

But Cinder also has her funny moments!

"When she catches you," the guard snarled, "my queen will eat your heart with salt and pepper." "Well," said Cinder, unconcerned, "my heart is half synthetic so it'll probably give her indigestion."

And it was so cute to see Thorne and Cress’s relationship. The only character I am indifferent to is Jacin. He does a lot of good but also brings Cinder’s mission in danger many times. His relationship with Winter is very strong, just like Scarlet and Wolf’s bond, but I was less invested in it. And oh my gosh, Adri and Pearl return in this story and their behavior towards Cinder is still disgusting!

Cinder eventually was very generous toward them and until the end they did nothing to deserve her kindness.

I did like Winter, although I didn’t fully understand why she chose to not use her Lunar gift every now and then. This would have kept her safe from Lunar sickness. Like Scarlet mentions, she could have just used it to change the color of her dress. Her reply to this is somewhat acceptable, but not fully satisfying.

I expected her to never use it but in the end she did it to save Jacin and it took a big toll on her mental health. If only she used it every now and then….?

But she did make a very good point with which I fully agree!

"Let's not be cruel. One should never save cake for later when it can be eaten now."

All in all, an easy read even though the book itself was so big. I wouldn’t have complained if the book was published in two somewhat smaller parts because I think I sprained my wrist by just holding the book. But definitely worth it.

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marenm's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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vendy_kha's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book is one of the most satisfying wraps to a series... Each of the main characters has enough space to finish what they needed and honestly it felt so familiar joining that journey- you get dragged in even further and let me tell you, these girls have had enough! And it shows...

So I've loved them all from the moment they were introduced... Well but Jacin who's kinda the most normal there... Loving him takes the time but he's so sweet in the end. The boys are absolutely marvelous, to get that out of the way... Kai grows balls in this one (reminded me of Dorian Havillard so much), Thorne grows up and I couldn't love him more... Wolf getting mutated even more was one of the hardest things to read, for some reason - even though his Alpha couldn't care less. He deserves all the tomatoes and loving, especially after he lost his bio family AGAIN. The girls take on another level of badassery. I especially love how we see the bonds form and cement and how it's focused on their mental issues and dealing with them and life- empowering!!! Each and every one of them is created to get you through the day.

It reminded me of Hunger games so dam much... Fire is catching... And the girls brought some gas. The writing is so calming and it has a nice flow. The humor is TOP and the friendships are to die for. If you had any doubts about this series, it's one of my most favorite now and will stay a comfort read for sure.

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