Title: Winter Author: Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #4
Genres: YA, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Source: Physical copy / Kindle Edition
Pages: 827
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SYNOPSIS: Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.
Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.
Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?
HANNAHCASSIE'S REVIEW
I actually received this book five days prior the release but I had to read Cress and Fairest before I get to it so it took time and I ended up reading as one of the last ones :(
Firstly, even this book looks actually smaller than Cress it has 300 pages more and boy oh boy it is heavy! I literary was not able to just hold it in my arms and read it like I usually do, I had to have it down all the time. And also it was impossible to carry it in my bag, felt like I am carrying bunch of bricks. I do not like heavy book, no oh no. Plus, the fact that it was so long also kept me from actually reading it. Normally, I am okay with long books, I went through Game of Thrones super fast but the heaviness was just...yeah. I sometimes had to force myself to pick it up. That's how bad it is for a book to be super heavy!
THE WORLD: In this book the main focus is on Luna as that is where the whole story takes place. We get to know it pretty well and not just the court as it was in Fairest but actual Luna with it's outer sections and labor people. Tho, for me it was a little bit confusing, I still cannot picture it all in my head with the main problem being outer sectors withing 2 hours reach by foot. Like what? Two hours is nothing, why would they need all the spaceships then? And the sectors, that is another whaaat for me. One moment it was like they are super watched with cameras and all and next it was like abandoned place where you can do whatever you want. Hmm.
CHARACTERS: In this book we get to read about all the characters we got to know during this series. Cinder is our lead of course as this whole series is really about her but I must admit, ever since Scarlet I started to dislike Cinder and in Winter it was the final draw for me. I do not like who she become at all. Up till now Scarlet was my least favorite character but I think now Cinder takes that position. I just hate her. I am sorry, Cinder book was and still is my favorite of the whole series and I loved her there but that is all, after the first book my dislike for Cinder only grew. Now let's get back to Scarlet and Wolf. You know how I disliked her? Well I have to admit, Scarlet really grew on me in this book as well as Wolf. I like them together and maybe I could even go as far as to say that I kinda love Wolf with his whole alpha thing and tomatoes! Tho, the last chapter of Scarlet calling her friend...that was just plain unnecessary. Now, who is next? Oh yes, my cute little Cress. Well yes she is my favorite, normally I dislike this kind of character but Cress is just too lovable to not like. I am not such a huge fan of Thorne tho. I did not like him in Scarlet then liked in Cress and now I am rather conflicted. He is alright but definitely not my favorite. I think Cress and Wolf would have been pretty awesome :D And finally we get to Winter and Jacyn. Okay so I have to say no to Jacin. I just plainly dislike him, he is not lovable at all. But Winter...at first she was a mystery to me but then her craziness started to get to me. Yeah she is kind I get it but it is true sleeping beauty. She is completely out of her head and people still die for her because she is just so beautiful. How many times we have heard it in the book? It is weird, the beauty is horrified in this series in the picture of Levana but then when it comes to Winter the beauty is basically everything. I don't like this. Maybe that is why I just could not fall in love with Winter, she is alright, sometimes cute but her craziness is too much. Plus, I really did not like how her story ended. Yeah she goes as a test subject and then what? Does it work or does she have to go through more craziness? Does her craziness just go away completely at once or what? Felt so unfinished! And finally Levana...oh how I wanted more of her, there was barely anything like seriously? HOW DID SHE DIE???? Hello is it just me or her story was missing a huge chunk in it???
Frankly, this book had 827 pages and I feel that most of them were just used purely. Marissa Meyer could have written such a good ending but instead she wrote about dresses and endless running through tunnels. And in the end, we did not get a final ending to most of the stories...I refuse to accept it as a good ending. I am sorry but I just cannot. Too many things were left unanswered.
Frankly, this book had 827 pages and I feel that most of them were just used purely. Marissa Meyer could have written such a good ending but instead she wrote about dresses and endless running through tunnels. And in the end, we did not get a final ending to most of the stories...I refuse to accept it as a good ending. I am sorry but I just cannot. Too many things were left unanswered.
LOVE: So there were rather a few couples in the book:
Cinder&Kai: I find them really a weak couple. Love from the first site, blah.
Scarlet&Wolf: The funniest couple for sure, probably my favorite if I had a favorite.
Cress&Thorne: I love Cress but I still think she would have been much better of with Wolf, Thorne is okay but she can do much better.
Winter&Jacin: Did not like them at all. Felt too cheap and fake.
Cinder&Kai: I find them really a weak couple. Love from the first site, blah.
Scarlet&Wolf: The funniest couple for sure, probably my favorite if I had a favorite.
Cress&Thorne: I love Cress but I still think she would have been much better of with Wolf, Thorne is okay but she can do much better.
Winter&Jacin: Did not like them at all. Felt too cheap and fake.
PLUS: I don't really know. It is an easy read for sure but I did not like many many things in this book. I guess a plus for me was the wolves, they were pretty crazy.
MINUS: As I mentioned before, most of the stories felt unfinished for me. So many pages were really filled with useless stuff and especially in the end...So many unnecessary chapters when there should have been final story told.
MINUS: As I mentioned before, most of the stories felt unfinished for me. So many pages were really filled with useless stuff and especially in the end...So many unnecessary chapters when there should have been final story told.
OVERALL: I did not like this book. My least book is Scarlet but Winter is close to it too. It just was not what I wanted and expected. I give it 4 stars basically because it is a final book in the series but the accurate rating is more 3.5/5 stars.
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LAURA'S REVIEW
Since this is the last book of the series I have to say my expectations were high. I wanted an awesome book with closed end and full of answers. Well, I got an action-packed book but not all answers... still, it was a great read!
THE WORLD: It's mostly set in Luna (the moon) which is divided in the capital where all rich people live and where the palace is located as well, and the outer sectors where working, poor, people live. It reminded me a lot of The Hunger Games with the Capitol and the Districts.
CHARACTERS: The main focus is on Cinder this time since she has to lead the rebellion to end queen Levana's ruling over Luna. I liked her most of the time though she wasn't at the level of the first book. Sorry, Cinder but I liked you better on the first book. Levana's step-daughter, Winter, also has quite a spotlight. She's the kind princess going around making people's life better just with her presence and beauty. The mention their beauty every single time she appears, ha! okay chill buddies...
Then we also have Kai, who is about to be married to Levana yet he still finds the guts to reply to every single one of Levana's comments with sass. Lol I laughed so much with Kai in this book! I really liked him. I also liked Cress, she was one of my favorites and she still is. She actually grows out of her innocence a bit and darn she was brave! They couldn't have done it without her, she's so cool! Who is missing? Oh yeah Thorne, Wolf, Scarlet, and Jacin... well so Thorne is okay most of the time but he was so annoying sometimes and even rude to Cress and I just, I don't know, I didn't like him as much as in the previous book. Wolf, oh Wolf... I only like him when he is with Scarlet because when they're separated he's just a rock, a marionette if you wish ugh he was so frustrating at times! I did feel bad for him though, specially at the end. Scarlet is the puppet of Winter until the second half of the book and there were not many scenes with her but after being freed she grew on me. Heck yeah! She kicked arse! There was one scene with Scarlet, Winter, and wolves that... omg you guys have to read that scene because it was awesome!
Finally, we have Jacin who has no personality and no other duty/thoughts than saving Winter. I wasn't fond of him to be honest. He was so flat :/
Then we also have Kai, who is about to be married to Levana yet he still finds the guts to reply to every single one of Levana's comments with sass. Lol I laughed so much with Kai in this book! I really liked him. I also liked Cress, she was one of my favorites and she still is. She actually grows out of her innocence a bit and darn she was brave! They couldn't have done it without her, she's so cool! Who is missing? Oh yeah Thorne, Wolf, Scarlet, and Jacin... well so Thorne is okay most of the time but he was so annoying sometimes and even rude to Cress and I just, I don't know, I didn't like him as much as in the previous book. Wolf, oh Wolf... I only like him when he is with Scarlet because when they're separated he's just a rock, a marionette if you wish ugh he was so frustrating at times! I did feel bad for him though, specially at the end. Scarlet is the puppet of Winter until the second half of the book and there were not many scenes with her but after being freed she grew on me. Heck yeah! She kicked arse! There was one scene with Scarlet, Winter, and wolves that... omg you guys have to read that scene because it was awesome!
Finally, we have Jacin who has no personality and no other duty/thoughts than saving Winter. I wasn't fond of him to be honest. He was so flat :/
LOVE: I think by now it is not a spoiler to say that everyone has a partner, right? Cinder x Kai, Scarlet x Wolf, Thorne x Cress, and Winter x Jacin. They all work out in their own way.
PLUS: The book was very entertaining overall. There was just a little section where I had to skim through some pages because they were not interesting but the rest was good! I really enjoyed all the action and the rebellion and definitely Kai's sass. I'll never get tired of repeating it.
MINUS: I wish there were more final answers though... it just felt, I don't know, like an incomplete ending, you know? One of those open endings that you know it is an ending but still cannot help but to feel incomplete and god why? I wanted answers! Yeah, I feel like that.
MINUS: I wish there were more final answers though... it just felt, I don't know, like an incomplete ending, you know? One of those open endings that you know it is an ending but still cannot help but to feel incomplete and god why? I wanted answers! Yeah, I feel like that.
OVERALL: I give it 4.5 stars. It was intense and action-packed, I didn't get bored at any point (well, yes, during a small section but meh) and I just loved Kai's sass, it just made the whole book. It didn't answer all questions though... I know there is a companion novella, are the answers there?
What do you guys think about WINTER?
