Stars Above by Marissa Meyer

Stars Above was the final title in my Lunar Chronicles marathon...kind of. I read about half the stories along the way, then finished my project with the remaining stories. The book is a bunch of short stories that don't have a lot of effect on the main series. They're fun, but not strictly necessary.

The stories are:

1. The Little Android
This is a retelling of The Little Mermaid where an android falls in love with a human after saving his life. There is a short appearance by Cinder. This was previously released online.
2. Glitches
We see Cinder first arriving at her new home. I would have liked to have seen more of this, honestly. This story was in the back of my paperback copy of Cinder.
3. The Queen's Army
This one shows Wolf taken from his family to train for Levana's army. The story was in the back of my paperback copy of Scarlet.
4. Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky
Cress asked him about this story, where a young Carswell defends a girl being picked on at school. She thought it showed how good he truly is, but he had ulterior motives. You could get the story by subscribing to Marissa Meyer's newsletter.
5. The Keeper
A new story that shows a little of Scarlet's grandmother, Michelle Benoit, and how she became Cinder's guardian.
6. After Sunshine Passes By
Another new story, it shows a little of Cress' time with the other shells before she is placed on her satellite. 
7. The Princess and the Guard
New, we get to see Winter and Jacin growing up together. We also get to see the sad events that made Winter decide not to use her gifts anymore.
8. The Mechanic
New, it shows Cinder and Kai meeting from Kai's perspective. It's tragically short.
9. Something Old, Something New
A brand-new story that shows a little of what happens after Winter. Someone's getting married!

With this book, the Lunar Chronicles is complete. I really do like these books, and I enjoyed spending a couple months reading them all. 

Winter by Marissa Meyer

“And they all lived happily to the end of their days...”

Finally, we come to the end (Other than Stars Above). You can read the rest of the series here: Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Fairest.

Winter is Levana's stepdaughter, cousin to Cinder/Princess Selene. Many Lunars believe that she is the legitimate heir to the throne, and the people love her, so Levana hates her. Winter doesn't use her Lunar gift so she is slowly going mad. In order to get her to break, Levana manipulated her into cutting her face. Winter didn't break, and she still has the scars on her face.

Winter is in love with her childhood friend Jacin Clay. He joined Team Cinder last book, betrayed them at the end, but is kinda on their side anyways. His true allegiance lies with Winter. Winter asks for Scarlet as a pet, and gets to keep the poor girl. They form a strange friendship.

Meanwhile, Team Cinder decides to return Kai. Their new plan is to change the wedding venue to Luna. They will then sneak onto the planet and rally the poor, working class Lunars into fighting Levana. What they don't count on is an outbreak of Letumosis, which we just found out in Cress can infect Lunars now.

So the whole gang is on Luna, reuniting as the story goes. There's some angsty stuff about how far you can go before becoming like your enemy, how much you should sacrifice for the greater good, all that good stuff. We do have a lot of characters at the end, and a lot of plotlines to cover, but I think they are handled well. It was a satisfying conclusion for me, and I'll miss the characters I've come to know.

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

Continuing my Lunar Chronicles marathon, I read Fairest. It tells Queen Levana's origin story. We knew about most of the events in the book, we just get to read about them happening first hand.

The book starts just after Levana's parents died and her older sister, Channery, became Queen. Channery was cruel and spiteful. She used her Lunar gifts to hurt others, including her younger sister. Levana always uses a glamor to cover up her appearance, which is covered in scars from a childhood accident. Her sister mocks her, exposes her true self, is generally a bitch.

Levana is still a teenager when she falls in love with a guard. Unfortunately, he is married and his wife is about to have his baby. She dies after childbirth, and Levana uses her gifts to get the guard to fall in love with her. They marry, and his daughter becomes hers.

Not to be outdone, Channery becomes pregnant and gives birth to a girl named Selene, who we come to know as Cinder. Selene and Levana's stepdaughter Winter grow up together. Channery dies from a mysterious illness, leaving Luna for Selene to rule when she is old enough. Levana serves as regent and starts to think that maybe it would be for the best if she was Queen permanently. There's only the problem of her pesky niece in the way...

I hope that Fairest wasn't supposed to make me feel sympathy for Levana, because I didn't. A lot of terrible things were done to her by her sister, but she ended up doing just as many terrible things, if not more. The book did make me wonder about the Lunar powers. Levana saw herself as good, as knowing what's best for those around her. What if she wasn't just controlling those around her, but was also manipulating herself to act worse and worse, to believe that the horrible things were all for the best? I don't know if this has any basis, it just intrigued me.

Cress by Marissa Meyer

At the end of 2015, I challenged myself to read the entire Lunar Chronicles series, according to Marissa Meyer's recommendations. I had hoped to finish the series by the end of the year, but came a little short. I reread Cinder and Scarlet, as well as the novellas in between the books, and managed to finish Cress just after the new year.

You can read my reviews of Cinder and Scarlet through the links. I am somewhat ashamed that it took me so long to read Cress, but that's the way books are: too many titles, too little time.

The Lunar Chronicles is a fairy tale-science fiction mash-up. Cinderella is part cyborg and Red Riding Hood is in love with a genetically modified super soldier. The earth is being decimated by plague and the only salvation is from Lunar (As in from the moon) Queen Levana, who is evil. In the third installment, we meet our Rapunzel, Cress.

Cress is a Lunar, but she doesn't have any powers. (Normally, Lunars can control other people with their minds.) Since Cress can't control or be controlled, she is labelled a shell. Shells are traditionally rounded up and killed, but Cress ended up being sent to live on a satellite. She has all kinds of technological training and hacking skills and she does lots of secret work for her Mistress, Sybil, the head Thaumaturge/bodyguard for Levana.

All Cress thinks about is the world outside her tiny satellite. She watches videos, looks at pictures, and listens to music from earth, dreaming that she might experience earth firsthand. She also develops a huge crush on Carswell Thorne, the cocky criminal who escaped from prison with Cinder. She read about his various crimes through the years and considers him to be misunderstood.

Thorne, Cinder, Scarlet, and Wolf are all traveling on his (stolen) ship the Rampion when they contact Cress to get some hard evidence of Levana's plans (At the end of the first book, Cress had been the girl in the android's file who warned Cinder about Levana's bad intentions towards earth). They decide to rescue the stranded girl, but are interrupted by Sybil. Team Cinder escapes, but Sybil captures Scarlet and takes her back to Luna. They also end up with Jacin Clay, Sybil's pilot. Unfortunately, Sybil sends the satellite plummeting to earth...with Thorne and Cress still on board!

Fortunately, Cress was able to slow their landing, and the pair end up wandering through the desert. Thorne can't see because of the crash, and they have a terrible time between the hunger, thirst, and foot pain. They eventually come across a caravan of helpful people who escort them to a city. Thorne ends up disappointing Cress by gambling and flirting with an android escort, which gives their rescuers the chance to kidnap Cress and sell her to someone buying Lunars.

Meanwhile, the Rampion crew heads to Africa to meet up with Dr. Erland, the secret Lunar. Erland ends up being the guy buying Lunars, and he is also Cress' father. Team Cinder decides to stop the wedding and save earth by kidnapping Kai. There's some minor betrayal, but it all goes off without a hitch otherwise.

I remember the first time that I read Scarlet, it was sometimes hard to follow the story because I had trouble keeping track of whether the narrator was Scarlet or Cinder. It was easier the second read, but I have a bit more trouble with Cinder/Cress here. I am still a fan of Cress and Carswell Thorne is fantastic, so I love this book. We even get a glimpse of Miss Winter towards the end to gear us up for the last book.