Fiiiinally, I got around to sitting down and writing this. Yay me. 😀

Sure, it’s almost a month after I read the book, but hey.

Better late than never.

Enjoy my extended rambles, folks.

 

The Lunar Chronicles: Series Review

 

Synopsis:

-where I usually put a professional synopsis, but i don’t have one for the whole series, so i’ll just sum up the idea myself-

A cast of characters based out of old fairytales are reworked in a dystopian world, where they team up to fight against the evil queen of the moon, Levana.

The Good Stuff:

 

• World

I’m not a huge dystopian fan myself. It gets a bit repetitive with all the “war-torn wasteland of a world with a super oppressive government” stuff. Not to mention being a huge downer to read.

 

But this actually had a world where after a few more wars, all the countries actually –gasp- decided to make peace with each other. So yes, there are some battle ruins and everything and references to past wars, but for the main part, the government and everything is pretty nice and there’s still normal life going on in the beginning, so that’s awesome, in my opinion.

 

(Not to say everything’s peaceful. I mean, obviously Luna is super hostile and has an awful, oppressive government, that’s the main conflict. There’s still war as the story gets going, but there’s not the overarching dystopian theme of “bad bad government” and that’s a welcome break from the norm.)

 

• Technology making sense

Sort of another note on the world, but this is always something that makes me happy. It really seems like a believable extension of our technology today. There aren’t any super fantastical devices that everyone uses to make their lives just a dream. It’s all the practical communication, transportation and everyday living things that make sense.

 

• Multi-plot juggling

Seriously, this took a masterful amount of plotting to pull off. This isn’t just a universe where the Cinderella character and the Red Riding-Hood character and the Rapunzel character all happen to be best buds so they go off on adventures together.

 

Marissa Meyer literally has four different stories and brings them all together towards a common goal. She twists them and juggles them around and splits up the characters and it really works. Writing-wise, this bit was really well done.

 

• Plot overall

It was just a really impressive story overall, okay?

 

I really wasn’t sure how the heroes were gonna end up winning against such a huge villain for quite a bit. Aaand it got be dedicated enough to finish an over 800 page book in less than three days so, that’s gotta say something for it.

 

• Bringing things back

‘course I can’t say much here because spoilers, but it’s a really tightly woven plot and the loose ends always come back to poke in later, so that’s a huge plus in my book. ❤

 

-now we venture into the realm where you all probably know my existing opinions on these next two points-

 

 

• Non-annoying romances

Yep, I’m not a person who loves the romance aspect of books or movies. I’ll put up with it. I’ll sit back and mock while enjoying the rest of the plot.

 

I had to sit back after reading these and wonder how Marissa Meyer managed to pull off not just one, but four romantic subplots and make me like them . . . all.

 

That, ladies and gentlemen, is impressive.

 

I mean, I didn’t gobble it all up and fangirl over every aspect, of course. But still, I’m very glad none of them were gag-worthy and they were all really different and sweet in their own ways.

 

• Characters

And yeeeep, you knew it was coming. Little Miss Character-driven-plot-lover has to make her remarks. This was the first point originally, but I bumped it down here to keep from being repetitive and talking about characters first every single time. XD

 

But, without competition, this is my favorite part of the series.

 

The Lunar Chronicles, by the time you get to the last book, has a pretty large main cast of characters. Let’s see it’s . . . what, about ten people? That’s bigger than your typical YA book cast, and you’d expect things would get repetitive. But they don’t. Everyone is really different and has very distinct personalities and their dynamics are incredible.

 

Cinder is awesome and a great protagonist. Kai pulls off the Prince Charming role without being annoying, and he is, in fact, charming.

 

Wolf is an absolute sweetheart (huge spoilers that I’ll avoid, but he had a rock solid backstory and character arc that was epic). Scarlet . . . can we take a moment to appreciate how she manages to kick serious butt while still being girly? Really, she’s the trend of “strong, female character” done right.

 

I’ll be vague, because I’m not sure about spoilers, but that was masterful how Meyer was able to still fit Winter into everyone’s image of Snow White being a ditz that everyone loves and she talks to the birds and sings all the time, while making it realistic and work logically. With her . . . –cough- . . . condition, it really fits. And Jacin being with her was really sweet. ❤

 

And my favorite babies. Tiny little Cress, the genius hacker/shy fangirl. And Thorne, the charming rebel spaceship captain and my favorite character.

 

I’m sorry, Thorne’s optimism and humor win the day for me. He was my favorite almost the second he showed up.

 

• {Bonus point} Stars Above

It makes me very happy that another author actually writes this sort of backstory/extra scene things to flesh out the characters more. It was beyond wonderful to have a special features book to see some after the fact stories and tiny Cinder and Thorne and Cress. ❤

 

The Bad Stuff:

• Plague

As part of the plot, she worked it really well. But this was part of the reason I didn’t read these when I was younger and I’m advising my younger sister not to read them. It’s sorta nasty going into the gruesome descriptions of a futuristic black plague and all the people it’s killing.

 

• Lunar soldiers

Agaaaiin spoilers so I can barely say anything here. But there’s some genetic engineering stuff going on on Luna and it’s vaguely disturbing and dark. Not gone into a whole bunch but it’s there and I think it would freak out some younger audiences? –shrug-

 

• Kissing

Mainly a problem in the last one.

 

I know I know, I just said I liked the romances, and there’s got to be a lot of kissing if you’re trying to resolve four of them. Still, that wasn’t my favorite thing to have the muchas smooches all over the place.

 

• {Bonus point} Fairest

I didn’t officially /read/ Fairest, so I’m not totally including it in this review as My Expert Opinion as I am with everything else.

 

But I did skim through it/start reading it while our family was sitting around at the library. And it reeeaaallly wasn’t up to the par of the other ones. I mean, one of the huge things in the Lunar Chronicles is the character investment you have in the awesome protagonists. And a whole book about a character I both don’t like and who I know loses in the end of the series? Plus “all the things that made this horrible person horrible” and sex mentions and gross stuff like that?

 

No thank you, ma’am. Levana is a great villain, but I can hate her just fine without knowing her whole childhood and how nasty she was as a teenager too.

 

I’ll just . . . –pushes it over to the side- be leaving this out of my recommendation here.

 

Overall:

Awesome series with awesome characters, actually my new favorite at the moment. But probably for slightly older audiences?

 

---

 

Bonuses!

Fanart doodles (yes, my actual art that you guys very occasionally see on here) + a collage

Scarlet and Wolf. Yes, she’s giving him a tomato. Don’t ask.

 

And Thorne, ever unsuccessful in his attempts to charm Cinder.

 

Collage, yaaay. ❤ Picture credits to google and unpslash. (and yes I’m now aware I slightly misquoted the line I put in that.)

Also lookie I made a playlist too because songs kept reminding me of the books while I was listening.
https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/writefury99/playlist/4zofLzL6EjwiDpXu2x2xmv

 

Aaaand that would be all.

You now have my expert opinion + more fan things than you probably wanted today.

So, what do you think?

Have you read the Lunar Chronicles? (If so taaalk to me I want to talk) Think you will?

Love to hear from you!

Have a great Tuesday, everyone. ❤

~writefury

P.S. which review would you guys like to see next? I’ve got two in the works and I’m not sure which to prioritize.