Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3)

Synopsis

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 netscreens 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 accomplice.

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.

Loved

• CRESS!!! Okay, Cress is one of my favorite characters in any book. She is so relatable! This girl is brilliant and savvy, but awkward, horribly shy, and terrified of everything. I adore Cinder and Scarlet, but it was so refreshing and fun to have a heroine who doesn't always know what to do or what to say, and can't even have a conversation with a guy while looking him the eye. One of my favorite parts in the whole series is when she hides under the table the first time she meets Thorne- I read it a few times over and just died at how awkward she is.

• Thorne! I talked about this with Scarlet, but Captain Thorne has my heart. I love his roguish, devil-may-care attitude, shamelessly flirty banter, and dry observations. But in this book we get some serious character development with this guy and he becomes a brave and unselfish leader. I was completely head-over-heels for him by the end of this book because he still has the roguishness, but becomes more refined through the challenges he experiences in this story.

• Cress and Thorne's relationship. Aghhhh this romance is also one of my all-time favorites. They make such a funny pair with Cress barely able to look Thorne in the eye because she's so shy and intimidated by him, and Thorne daring anyone to try to take down his cocky confidence. They go through so much together in this book and their relationship develops so slowly, but deeply as they help each other through their challenges and rely totally on each other. I also love how Cress worships Thorne and idolizes him, not realizing that he's been a rake and a fraud throughout his life ;)

• The crew. One of my favorite elements of this whole series is the Rampion Crew. I love getting to know more characters with each book and having them all become such good friends. I would love to be a fly on the wall on the Rampion (Thorne's ship) with their banter, teasing, flirting, and loyalty toward each other. 

• The plot. This story amps up the plot even more as we learn more pieces of the puzzle behind Levana's schemes and the characters' histories. It's so fun to watch them find different clues and piece them together with the bigger picture- which connects all the books together. The intensity also amps up as Levana gets closer to marrying Kai and the stakes get higher and higher.

• Cinder and Kai. I LOVE how Cinder and Kai's relationship develops in this story. They've been apart since the end of Cinder, so I was just dying to see what would happen when they finally saw each other. Their development in this story was even better than I could've imagined (Cinder deciding to kidnap Kai- does it get better than that?), although it doesn't get quite resolved until Winter.

Didn't Love

• I wouldn't change a single blessed word in this book :)

Content

• Language: 
• No swearing, just expression from the world: "Oh my stars," etc.

• Sexual content: 
• A few kisses, nothing intensely described.
• Mentions of "escort droids," who are referenced to offer "more than backrubs."
• An escort droid sits on Thorne's lap and makes some suggestive comments.
• Thorne comes in while Cress is bathing, but he cannot see her. He makes a few comments about wishing he could see her without clothing.

• Violence:
• One character sacrifices himself by giving quarantining himself with the plague and he dies.
• One character is shot and almost dies by losing so much blood.
• One character is kept imprisoned in a satellite throughout her life until she is 17. She is isolated from everyone and given small amounts of food.
• Mentions of this character and many other children being taken by force from their parents at birth. The children are all boarded together in terrible conditions and forced into violence for Levana.
• Many people are manipulated through a Lunar power and are made to hurt and kill others.
• Characters are kidnapped and tied up, and one is sold.
• One villain goes "mad," falls off a building and dies.
• Quite a few fights with manipulations, punching, tranquilizing, threatening with knives, and shooting.
• One woman remembers watching her husband be murdered in the street.

Overall Thoughts

Oh my goodness I ADORED this book. I feel like the books in this series just keep getting better and better as we meet new characters, watch the old characters develop, and bite our nails as the plot amps up and the stakes get higher. Cress is one of my favorite characters in any book because she's so relatable and refreshing with how awkward and timid she is. I love Thorne and how his character develops throughout this story. Their relationship is frustrating, but the perfect slow burn buildup :) I loved watching more pieces come together in the plot and the bold rescue at the end. I just devoured every minute of this book and it might be my favorite out of the whole series.