Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4)

Synopsis

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the sears 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? Fans will not want to miss this thrilling conclusion to Marissa Meyer's nationally bestselling Lunar Chronicles series.

Loved

  • Winter. Winter is unlike any princess I've ever read about. She is so gentle and good with a quiet, dignified strength that ultimately has the power to undermine her evil stepmother. However, because Winter has been suppressing her power to manipulate people, she is going "mad" and has frequent hallucinations. While this may not have been intentional by the author, I loved having a heroine who dealt with a serious mental illness, and was able to be such a force for good and a hero in defying Levana throughout her life.
  • The Rampion Crew. I talked about this in Cress, but I just LOVE the Rampion crew (The Rampion is Thorne's ship- sortof ;) This book is so fun because we finally have all our characters and they have built strong, loyal and hilarious relationships with each other. I just live for their banter and the way their diverse personalities play off each other. Besides Harry Potter, this is definitely my favorite crew and I missed them so much after finishing this book.
  • The romances! This story was so delicious in that all the romances end up resolving perfectly, some of them taking so long I could barely stand it. It was especially satisfying to see Cinder and Kai's relationship resolve after going four books of them being in a weird fall-out.
  • Cress and Thorne. I LOVE Kai and Cinder, but when Cress and Thorne finally made up I about DIED. It was perfect! I was reading it on my lunch break at work and I read their reconciliation scene over and over again, and smiled the rest of the day at work remembering it. It's one of those devastatingly romantic scenes that as a teenager I would've printed out the movie version of their kiss and hung it on my wall to swoon at everyday (yes, I really did have a "kiss wall" with all my favorite kisses from movies on it. . . ;)
  • The intensity. Wow, Levana doesn't mess around. She's one of the most evil villains out there because she's so ruthless. She doesn't have a single soft spot and she has SO much power. Watching her manipulate people into hurting their loved ones is so disturbing and it seemed like she just got worse and worse throughout the series- which climaxed in this book. The stakes have never been higher and each page brought some new problem to overcome. It sounds cliche, but I really did stay up all night reading this because I HAD to know how it ended.
  • The plot twists. This story had some awesome plot twists- ones so intense that I had to look at the last few chapters to make sure everything ended up okay (I know, don't hate me, I just couldn't stand it!) This was one of the fastest-paced books I've read and instead of devouring it, it devoured ME. Completely.
  • The Snow White twist. Once again, I forgot this was a retelling of Snow White at times because of the sci-fi, dystopian setting. But I loved how little elements from the familiar story took shape in this story and gave it the fairytale vibes. Winter is a perfect Snow White- gentle and good, but quietly strong and resilient.

Didn't Love

  • I loved every word of this story and wouldn't change a thing :)


Content

  • Language: 
    • A few uses of "damn" and "hell."
  • Sexual content: 
    • Each couple has their climatic kiss when their relationship resolves. None of the kisses is very intense.
    • In one kiss, the guy picks up the girl and sets her on a desk, and her legs wrap around him as they kiss passionately.
  • Violence:
    • This book might be even bloodier than Scarlet. Since it's the climax and the final battle, it is very violent and bloody.
    • There are many references to death, injuries, and bodies.
    • Levana manipulates many prisoners in her court to slit their own throats or drown themselves in front of her unfeeling court. Blood is mentioned as "spurting" and hitting the wall behind.
    • Levana forces one character to cut off her finger in an act of torture. She has this character in a cage for people to look at as an animal.
    • A wolf is killed intentionally.
    • One character remembers her father being murdered by Levana. Blood is described.
    • MANY people- main characters and strangers- are manipulated and forced to injure and kill their loved ones. Mentions of family members and spouses being forced to kill each other without knowing it. One main character is manipulated to stab his love interest.
    • Two characters stab each other- blood is mentioned.
    • One character is forced to break her fingers as torture before being killed in front of the characters.
    • One character stabs a villain eight times in a row.
    • People are shot randomly in a town square, some tortured.
    • A disease is used as a weapon and kills many.


Overall Thoughts

WOW. This was EXACTLY the conclusion I hoped for throughout the series. Completely gripping with nail-biting intensity, awesome action scenes, plot pieces coming together, and resolved romances. My favorite part of this story was watching each of the couples reconcile and resolve their relationships. I also just loved the characters and how they had developed throughout the series- so they were at their best in this book. This crew is my favorite and I'm there for anything they do. If you enjoyed the rest of the series, I promise you won't be disappointed by this thrilling conclusion to one of my all-time favorite series that I plan on reading and loving over and over again throughout my life :)

Comments