Cress

• Author: Marissa Meyer
• Genre: YA Sci-Fi
• Publication Date: February 4, 2014
• Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
• Series: The Lunar Chronicles #3

TRIGGER WARNING: captivity, plague, violence, suicide

In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who’s only ever had her net screens 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 apprentice. 

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

I’ve been so excited to read this, especially since I loved the previous two books (here’s my reviews for Cinder and Scarlet). And this one didn’t disappoint. Each book incorporates another fairy tale character into the story, adding a new level of complexity, and another member into the found family. Now that we have Cinderella, Red Riding Hood (and the Big not-so Bad Wolf), it’s clearly time to add in Rapunzel (aka Cress). 

The story picks up where Scarlet left off, with the characters still desperately trying to stop Kai’s wedding to Levana and save his life. Because obviously she’s going to try to kill him and seize power. Cress has been working behind the scenes on the other end of things, and running interference for them. But when the crew tries to rescue her, things go horribly wrong, and the group gets split up with disastrous effects. 

The action starts quickly, and there’s a lot of it throughout the book. There’s also some hints of romance and plenty of witty banter, just like in the previous stories. I love the writing style, the settings, the plot twists that I didn’t see coming, and I loved the plot twists that I did see coming, because they were exactly what I was hoping for. 

I have to say, for someone who was confined in a satellite for nearly all of her life, Cress managed to stay fairly sane and was much less socially awkward than I would have expected. It was awesome to see her experience things for the first time, and imagine how cool it would be to see things for the first time through her eyes:

“The faint swirl of gasses in the universe, glowing purple and blue. The sparkle of thousands and thousands of stars, as numerous as sand grains, as breathtaking as an Earthen sunrise seen through her satellite window.”

It was interesting to see all the other characters grow throughout the story. Once they’re separated, they don’t have each other to depend on, and have to learn how to strengthen their own skills, or in some cases, develop entirely new skills to survive. Of course, I had faith that they’d manage, because I refuse to accept that there’s any chance that Levana will win. But, I am obviously going to have to wait for the next book to find out.

People who have sat around with me while I’m reading, especially when there’s a surprising reveal, a shocking plot twist, or an unexpected event often look up in alarm when I gasp audibly. The gasp factor is directly related to the number of times I audibly gasp during a reading, and there isn’t an upper limit.

Gasp Factor: 15