The Lunar Chronicles

Author: Marissa Meyer

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Retelling

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Year: 2012 - 2014

Ranking: 4,7/ 5

 Synopsis

The Lunar Chronicles is a series of four young adult fantasy novels by American author Marissa Meyer. Each book entails a new take on an old fairy tale, including Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White. The story takes place in a futuristic world where humans, cyborgs, and androids all coexist.

The Author

Marissa Meyer is an American novelist. Her debut novel, Cinder was released on January 3, 2012. It is the first in her new series, "The Lunar Chronicles". Meyer was born in Tacoma, Washington and attended Pacific Lutheran University, where she received a degree in creative writing. Before writing Cinder, Meyer worked as a book editor for five years and wrote Sailor Moon fan fiction under the pen name of Alicia Blade. In an interview with The News-Tribune, she said that doing the fan fiction helped her learn the craft of writing, gave her instant feedback and how to take criticism. 

The Lunar Chronicles is a four book series (quartet) with volumes based on Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White. The first book, Cinder, was a New York Times bestseller. In 2013 Meyer received a new 2-book deal from Feiwel & Friends for a young adult series featuring the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. The first book, Heartless, is set for a Fall 2015 release. 

Personal Experience with This Series

I will not go into details of each book because I do not want to spoil anyone about the content of each book but I will try to say what I think about the series in general without giving away much about the story.

Cinder (I already have a review on that book), was a good first book for the series. It gives you an overall of the situation you are going to find in the rest of the book and it sets the world building really well. In this book we meet our first couple, for me the best one of all the couples. Kai and Cinder have this relationship were they like each other but they still lack of ways to showing that.

In Scarlet, we follow new characters and a new story which is linked with the first story we had. At first you may feel that Scarlet is a little bit slow and you actually will want to just read the parts in which we find Cinder again. Those parts are way more interesting. But if you do not read Scarlet’s part you will not be able to understand the relationship between Scarlet and Cinder and why is Scarlet so important to be found by Cinder. We also meet Wolf here, Scarlet love interest. They both have a complicated relationship but in some points I found this couple a little bit fast, like it was more about passion than about love.

In Cress, we follow the story of this girl who has been put on a Satellite for about 7 years (try to guess who she is). Cress is an interesting character, she is a little bit shy but she is very intelligent and talented in what she does. For Cinder in crucial to find her. Cress is written also in a slow pace at the beginning, it is just that the stories that goes before Cress are so interesting at that point that it may give the reader the feeling that Cress’s story is not that important, which is not true again, as it happened in Scarlet.  

About Winter, the last book in the series, I have to say that it was a very good way to end the series. All our stories are put together in Winter. We see these girls try to achieve the goals that they have proposed to themselves. We can see Winter and Jacin, our last couple, and know their story. Not as thoroughly as the others, but I think the "Snow White" story is well printed in there.

Overall the story is well written, sometimes a little bit predictable but actually that did not bother me at all. The parts are well connected; you realize that while reading the books. I think there was not any part I felt it was there just because and not for a purpose.

Marissa has an incredible way to create believable characters beautifully. And I speak not only of her main characters. Each character in this book, like the others, has its own light, a well-marked personality, issues and concerns and when they speak you can feel their individuality. I loved it because I grew fond of each one of the people I met and of course I hate with all my heart Levanna. Whom incidentally it is one of the most twisted villains I have ever read. For me, however, from the princess Cinder is my all-time favorite and for their love interest, I would say Captain Thorne (Cress’s love interest) but my favorite character of the whole series is definitely IKO.

I hope you try this series because it is good. And, I think it could get the reader to go back to his youth.