"Let's not be cruel. One should never save cake for later when it can be eaten now."
Finale books are extremely difficult. It's nearly impossible to meet all the reader's expectations. Sometimes finales can even destroy the reader's view of the series, because if it doesn't end in a satisfying way... It's really hard to remember the entirety of the series (no matter how good) without the blemish of the last one. To name a few finales that, unfortunately, ruined the way I view a series, Allegiant by Veronica Roth, Mockingjay by Susan Collins, The Last Star by Rick Yancy, FREAKING Requiem by Lauren Oliver... etc.
Luckily for us, Winter is not one of those books. Somehow, I don't know how Meyer did it, but she was able to satisfy my every need in this book, and bring the series to a conclusion that I have not one issue with. There are some things I'd wished would happen or happened, but nothing major. Just little things. Really this will go down in history as one of the best finale books there is. It's very close to books like Clockwork Princess, City of Heavenly Fire and Deathly Hallows. It's that good.
If you don't know what this series is, it's really good, I highly reccomend it, and I have reviews on the past three books to give you the basic information you need to know :)
Winter finishes the epic Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. The new characters introduced in the story are Princess Winter, Queen Levana's stepdaughter, and Jacin Clay, a palace guard. We actually got the pleasure (?) of meeting both these characters in the last book. Though, we didn't really get to see the true side of them, because that only really seems to come out when they're around each other.
I have to say, Winter and Jacin might be my new favorite ship for this series. They'd just everything. Winter is this fragile, kind, all-loving (sometimes crazy) girl, and Jacin will do anything to protect her. He's like Julian Blackthorn but not to the extent of making me uncomfortable. Actually, I think I'm almost as in love with Jacin Clay as Winter is. They're childhood friends, but they could never be together because of the social restraints. It's really basically all the romantic cliches along with character archetypes that I love. I love Winter and Jacin's relationship in this book, and was surprised that I was really looking forward to their chapters.
There were no chapters that I was not thoroughly invested in, I loved each and every page-- and there were a crap ton of pages. Some finale's issues are that the book feels rushed. Winter is nothing like that, Meyer was smart and used as many pages as she needed to write a satisfying conclusion. Which, as it turns out, was a lot of pages. That is perfectly okay with me, because not only did I get a great conclusion, but I also got to spend more time in this fantastic world.
Just to show how much I loved this book, I'm going to say I'm giving this book 9/10 stars. It was fantastic. I'm really glad I read this series, it was well worth the extra money I spent on buying the hardcovers as well as the ebooks of Scarlet and Cress so that I could read the books immediately. The pacing is perfect in these books, the plot intriguing and the characters lovable, easy to grow attached to. I don't know what else I could've asked for.
I don't really know what else I can say to try and convince you to read this book. All I really can add before I get into the spoilery section is you won't regret reading this. Anyway, here's the synopsis:
Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mark 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? Fans will not want to miss this thrilling conclusion to Marissa Meyer's national bestselling Lunar Chronicles series.
Oh, and just to add here's a list (in order of favorite to least) of my favorite books and couples now that I've finished the books.
Winter & Jacin
Cinder & Kai
Cress & Thorne
Scarlett & Wolf
Cinder
Thorne
Jacin
Kai
Winter
Cress
Scarlett
Winter
Cress
Scarlet & Cinder
SPIOILERS BELOW FOR WINTER
I'll just start this out by saying the very minor things I would've liked to change about this book. First off, I know a lot of other people have mentioned it, but I'll say it again. I wish Jacin and Winter felt more like part of the group. Like sure, Jacin does work with them, but neither Winter nor Jacin ever truly feel like they're part of Cinder's little rebel band like the rest of the characters. Especially since neither of them are in the room in the final showdown. Like, even people who really shouldn't have been there (I'm looking at you, Scarlet and Wolf) went in. Jacin and especially Winter have a right to be in there, fighting Levana. Okay, maybe Jacin shouldn't be in there since he's so easily controlled, but Winter. Winter has a right to be involved with the ultimate demise of the evil queen, and yet she's nowhere near. I was waiting for Jacin and Winter to show up the entire time in that throne room, and they never did. I'm gonna be honest here, I really thought Winter was going to shoot Levana in the head while she and Cinder were having that mind control gun off thing lol.
I touched this earlier, but I just have to mention it again. I LOVE Jacin and Winter's relationship. I love how protective Jacin is of Winter, like he'll do anything for her, and as I said before, not in the creepy Julian Blackthorn way. I love how he's accepting of his fate, too. It just makes his character more likable, in my eyes. He knows he'll never end up with Winter, but he still wants to make sure she's safe, despite how much it might hurt him to see Winter with someone else. Also how Jacin can calm her down from her craziness? Like. Ah. It's so cute. He's so blank otherwise, in showing emotion, but then when he needs to help her? He's all gentleness and worry. It's adorable. And also just Jacin's way of telling Winter she's beautiful and he loves her? Through sarcasm and saying anything but those words? TELL ME WHERE I CAN GET ONE OF THESE BOYS. Jacin would sacrifice his own life for Winter and... Ah. I just love them.
Also mentioned this earlier. It annoys the HELL out of me that the people who can so easily be controlled by Lunars (@Scarlet and Wolf) always are throwing themselves in situations where they really just become dangers to their own allies. Like WHY, WHY would you go into the showdown with Levana? Like I get that you want to go help your friends, but you'd be more helpful not being in there! they're really just putting their friends in even more danger. I was really expecting that invention that Garan made come into play so that Scarlet and stuff could be immune to Lunar control, but unfortunately that didn't come into play until wayyyy later.
Speaking of that, let's get onto Adri and Pearl. Honestly? I'm not a good person. I felt no sympathy for either of these women. I kid you not, when it was revealed that Cinder was thrown into the cell with them I looked up from the book with a grin and said "Kill them." Not that I'd actually want Cinder to kill them, but I was really looking forward to Cinder finally getting her revenge on those bitches for the way that they treated her, but instead Cinder chose to be the bigger person. Literally Adri still insists that Cinder is selfish in the cell (and there I really just wanted Cinder to punch her... with the metal hand) and they DISOWN her and PLEDGE LOYALTY TO LEVANA, and yet Cinder still gives them a shit ton of riches. Like sure, that makes her a better person. But I'm not a good person, and I really wanted Adri and Pearl to get what was coming for them.
While I didn't feel like anything was rushed, I did feel like the whole "poison apple" bit was resolved a bit quickly. Like it didn't feel RUSHED but it felt like there wasn't much peril involved with it, seeing as they got the antidote in ASAP right after. Do you get what I mean?
Oh, also, I forgot to mention in my earlier reviews, I will always love Thorne and Cinder's friendship. Like theirs is my favorite friendship in the entire series.
Oh, one more thing. CRESS IS SO ANNOYING WHEN SHE SPAZZES OVER THORNE AND THAT LUNAR LIKE ITS OBVIOUS HES BEEN MIND CONTROLLED CALM DOWN. Though, I suppose that did spur their relationship so...
Anyway, thanks for sticking with me,
-Anj
Finale books are extremely difficult. It's nearly impossible to meet all the reader's expectations. Sometimes finales can even destroy the reader's view of the series, because if it doesn't end in a satisfying way... It's really hard to remember the entirety of the series (no matter how good) without the blemish of the last one. To name a few finales that, unfortunately, ruined the way I view a series, Allegiant by Veronica Roth, Mockingjay by Susan Collins, The Last Star by Rick Yancy, FREAKING Requiem by Lauren Oliver... etc.
Luckily for us, Winter is not one of those books. Somehow, I don't know how Meyer did it, but she was able to satisfy my every need in this book, and bring the series to a conclusion that I have not one issue with. There are some things I'd wished would happen or happened, but nothing major. Just little things. Really this will go down in history as one of the best finale books there is. It's very close to books like Clockwork Princess, City of Heavenly Fire and Deathly Hallows. It's that good.
If you don't know what this series is, it's really good, I highly reccomend it, and I have reviews on the past three books to give you the basic information you need to know :)
Winter finishes the epic Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. The new characters introduced in the story are Princess Winter, Queen Levana's stepdaughter, and Jacin Clay, a palace guard. We actually got the pleasure (?) of meeting both these characters in the last book. Though, we didn't really get to see the true side of them, because that only really seems to come out when they're around each other.
I have to say, Winter and Jacin might be my new favorite ship for this series. They'd just everything. Winter is this fragile, kind, all-loving (sometimes crazy) girl, and Jacin will do anything to protect her. He's like Julian Blackthorn but not to the extent of making me uncomfortable. Actually, I think I'm almost as in love with Jacin Clay as Winter is. They're childhood friends, but they could never be together because of the social restraints. It's really basically all the romantic cliches along with character archetypes that I love. I love Winter and Jacin's relationship in this book, and was surprised that I was really looking forward to their chapters.
There were no chapters that I was not thoroughly invested in, I loved each and every page-- and there were a crap ton of pages. Some finale's issues are that the book feels rushed. Winter is nothing like that, Meyer was smart and used as many pages as she needed to write a satisfying conclusion. Which, as it turns out, was a lot of pages. That is perfectly okay with me, because not only did I get a great conclusion, but I also got to spend more time in this fantastic world.
Just to show how much I loved this book, I'm going to say I'm giving this book 9/10 stars. It was fantastic. I'm really glad I read this series, it was well worth the extra money I spent on buying the hardcovers as well as the ebooks of Scarlet and Cress so that I could read the books immediately. The pacing is perfect in these books, the plot intriguing and the characters lovable, easy to grow attached to. I don't know what else I could've asked for.
I don't really know what else I can say to try and convince you to read this book. All I really can add before I get into the spoilery section is you won't regret reading this. Anyway, here's the synopsis:
Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mark 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? Fans will not want to miss this thrilling conclusion to Marissa Meyer's national bestselling Lunar Chronicles series.
Oh, and just to add here's a list (in order of favorite to least) of my favorite books and couples now that I've finished the books.
Winter & Jacin
Cinder & Kai
Cress & Thorne
Scarlett & Wolf
Cinder
Thorne
Jacin
Kai
Winter
Cress
Scarlett
Winter
Cress
Scarlet & Cinder
SPIOILERS BELOW FOR WINTER
I'll just start this out by saying the very minor things I would've liked to change about this book. First off, I know a lot of other people have mentioned it, but I'll say it again. I wish Jacin and Winter felt more like part of the group. Like sure, Jacin does work with them, but neither Winter nor Jacin ever truly feel like they're part of Cinder's little rebel band like the rest of the characters. Especially since neither of them are in the room in the final showdown. Like, even people who really shouldn't have been there (I'm looking at you, Scarlet and Wolf) went in. Jacin and especially Winter have a right to be in there, fighting Levana. Okay, maybe Jacin shouldn't be in there since he's so easily controlled, but Winter. Winter has a right to be involved with the ultimate demise of the evil queen, and yet she's nowhere near. I was waiting for Jacin and Winter to show up the entire time in that throne room, and they never did. I'm gonna be honest here, I really thought Winter was going to shoot Levana in the head while she and Cinder were having that mind control gun off thing lol.
I touched this earlier, but I just have to mention it again. I LOVE Jacin and Winter's relationship. I love how protective Jacin is of Winter, like he'll do anything for her, and as I said before, not in the creepy Julian Blackthorn way. I love how he's accepting of his fate, too. It just makes his character more likable, in my eyes. He knows he'll never end up with Winter, but he still wants to make sure she's safe, despite how much it might hurt him to see Winter with someone else. Also how Jacin can calm her down from her craziness? Like. Ah. It's so cute. He's so blank otherwise, in showing emotion, but then when he needs to help her? He's all gentleness and worry. It's adorable. And also just Jacin's way of telling Winter she's beautiful and he loves her? Through sarcasm and saying anything but those words? TELL ME WHERE I CAN GET ONE OF THESE BOYS. Jacin would sacrifice his own life for Winter and... Ah. I just love them.
Also mentioned this earlier. It annoys the HELL out of me that the people who can so easily be controlled by Lunars (@Scarlet and Wolf) always are throwing themselves in situations where they really just become dangers to their own allies. Like WHY, WHY would you go into the showdown with Levana? Like I get that you want to go help your friends, but you'd be more helpful not being in there! they're really just putting their friends in even more danger. I was really expecting that invention that Garan made come into play so that Scarlet and stuff could be immune to Lunar control, but unfortunately that didn't come into play until wayyyy later.
Speaking of that, let's get onto Adri and Pearl. Honestly? I'm not a good person. I felt no sympathy for either of these women. I kid you not, when it was revealed that Cinder was thrown into the cell with them I looked up from the book with a grin and said "Kill them." Not that I'd actually want Cinder to kill them, but I was really looking forward to Cinder finally getting her revenge on those bitches for the way that they treated her, but instead Cinder chose to be the bigger person. Literally Adri still insists that Cinder is selfish in the cell (and there I really just wanted Cinder to punch her... with the metal hand) and they DISOWN her and PLEDGE LOYALTY TO LEVANA, and yet Cinder still gives them a shit ton of riches. Like sure, that makes her a better person. But I'm not a good person, and I really wanted Adri and Pearl to get what was coming for them.
While I didn't feel like anything was rushed, I did feel like the whole "poison apple" bit was resolved a bit quickly. Like it didn't feel RUSHED but it felt like there wasn't much peril involved with it, seeing as they got the antidote in ASAP right after. Do you get what I mean?
Oh, also, I forgot to mention in my earlier reviews, I will always love Thorne and Cinder's friendship. Like theirs is my favorite friendship in the entire series.
Oh, one more thing. CRESS IS SO ANNOYING WHEN SHE SPAZZES OVER THORNE AND THAT LUNAR LIKE ITS OBVIOUS HES BEEN MIND CONTROLLED CALM DOWN. Though, I suppose that did spur their relationship so...
Anyway, thanks for sticking with me,
-Anj
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