luvtoread

Winter is book four in The Lunar Chronicles, a fabulous young adult series, which is part science fiction, part fantasy, and part re-telling of classic fairy tales including Cinderella (Cinder), Little Red Riding Hood (Scarlet), Rapunzel (Cress), and Snow White (Winter).

I’m glad to say that Winter does not disappoint. It is quite long, at 823 pages, and it is almost non-stop action. It took me a couple weeks to read this book, partly because I’ve been out of town and busy, but also because I didn’t want to finish this series. I’ve been unwilling to say goodbye to a fun series, the most fun I’ve had reading-wise all year long.

I don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t even started the series yet, so I won’t discuss the plot at all (and please read this series! The less you know about it the better I think.). I will say that for those of you on the fence about reading Fairest, the novella published between Cress and Winter, you should read Fairest. I wasn’t sold on that even after I read it, but now after finishing Winter, I have realized that there is a lot of backstory to Levana and the character of Winter that you should know before reading Winter. I still haven’t changed my opinion of the book Fairest (I didn’t like it), but it does have important information that will deepen your understanding of Levana and Luna. The good thing? Fairest is short, you’ll read it quickly.

But back to Winter. It does a great job of telling everyone’s stories, and I felt like each character got his/her time in the spotlight, and left me wanting just a tiny bit more, which is always a good thing when reading. I’d rather be left wanting more than getting too much. Also, the character Winter is a great addition to the series. She is strange and kind, with a quiet bravery, and I really enjoyed reading her story, and I also loved her friendship with Scarlet. This book made me really like Scarlet a lot more, as she is better (I feel) when she is not the focus of the book.

Overall the book is cute and fun, but also has very powerful moments, along with some violent scenes as well. I loved it, and loved the whole series, and really hope there is some kind of spin-off in the works. I would definitely read a spin-off based on any of the characters!

Bottom Line: Fun, satisfying conclusion to The Lunar Chronicles. I loved it.

And can I just point out how great these covers are? I love the title font, I love the leg with the gears showing in the cover for Cinder, Fairest is all kinds of creepy, and I think the cover of Winter is perfection.