Book Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Title: Cress Series: The Lunar Chronicles Book 3 Author: Marissa Meyer Published: February, 2014 by Macmillan Amazon Goodreads Synopsis:  Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard. In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

This series keeps getting better. It's such a fantastic and interesting Science Fiction series with interesting characters, a creative world, and lots of action and adventure.

First and foremost, the best part of this series is the characters and this book didn't let us down with our old favorites and some awesome new characters. Cinder and Iko were back and fantastic! Iko had some great parts in this book that made me laugh. We also got to catch back up with Dr. Erland who I found so interesting in Cinder. We also got to spend a lot more time with the wonderful Captain Thorne. I liked him in Scarlet but I LOVE him in Cress. He is still his hilarious and sarcastic lovable roguish self but he is also a delightful romantic lead. He made me laugh, he made me swoon, he was WONDERFUL! Then we have our new characters. Most notably we have the title character Cress, who is just adorable. She's energetic, easy-going, and this badass hacker who has a great character development throughout the book. We also get to spend more time with Jacin Clay (do you say it like Jason or like Jake?) who is a Lunar guard. He is so intriguing to me and I'm not exactly sure where his allegiance lies and why he does the things he does. I'm excited to learn more about him in Winter. I am also excited to learn more about Princess Winter. We get to meet her in Cress and she is totally cuckoo. I know she is going to be absolutely hilarious and I love the dynamic between her and Scarlet.

My other favorite thing about this book was the romance. The two relationships that were introduced to in the previous books were there growing and developing but the real romance was between Thorne and Cress. I absolutely loved them together. They seem to have the most solid relationship. They both really cared for one another and needed one another. It wasn't at all insta-lovey and grew deeper and more serious as time went on and they spent more time together. Their romance made me swoon and smile throughout the entire book. But all the relationships are great, whether they are romantic and otherwise. There is so much witty banter and great friendships developing in this team of unlikely heroes.

And just like the previous books the world-building continues to be subtle and interesting. We are never overwhelmed by details about this interesting and unique future society. What I liked about Cress is that as the series starts winding down we get more questions answered than asked. I love a big reveal and there is more than one in this book. Part of what is built into this world and what makes it really different is the post-modern princess idea. Marissa Meyer always plays with the classic fairy tale stories that serve as the basis and adds a Sci Fi twist. I am not as familiar with the Rapunzel story as I am with the previous two but the moments that I did recognize were so creative they made me smile and laugh. But postmodern princesses also flip the damsel in distress trope on its head. These are some strong female characters and despite the romances they develop, they don't need a man to save the say. Even Cress who is a self-proclaimed D. I. D. turns that idea around and is a hero.

As far as the plot goes, we continued to build on the story that was previously begun in the first two books in the series. And while it does have the independent story of Cress, it didn't feel as much like its own entity like Scarlet did. It felt more like Cress' part in the larger story of Cinder.  There were also so pacing issues for me as the books started out strong with lots of action and then devolved into another travel montage that you know I'm not a fan of. That being said there was so much more action and mystery in Cress than either of the two books and when things did escalate they did so quickly and were incredibly thrilling. I spent most of the last 100 pages of the book with my mouth agape shouting "NO!NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" Things took a very dramatic turn in this book and I cannot wait to read Winter and see how this series goes.

I give Cress a 9 out of 10

I definitely recommend reading if you like Science Fiction, Fairy Tale Retellings, or for books with lots of humor and romance. Have you read Cress? What are your thoughts? Leave me a comment and of course... HAPPY READING!