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psliz's review
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
action was fine but the romance was everything
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Murder, Gun violence, War, and Death
Moderate: Suicide, Gore, Ableism, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Sexual assault
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Blood, and Alcohol
nannahnannah's review
4.0
Whoa, this book has over 800 pages, oh my god! It doesn't look so big, but it's got nearly Bible-thin pages. For some reason, that made me even more excited to dive into it.
Wowww I missed these characters, especially Cinder. She's always been my favorite, and the one who keeps me coming back. (I mean, the series in a whole does too, but that character is just one near and dear to my heart) All the main women are written well - in every book, including this last one.
The writing is the same great quality, and all the characters have that same great chemistry, but this wasn't my favorite from the series. In all the book's 800 pages, there was no other plot/sub-plot than WAR. The entirety of the thing takes place in what seems to be a small area on Luna, and it's just scheming and failing, and new schemes and new setbacks and more new schemes after another, which grew tiresome after a while.
And while the threat Levana posed to everyone is real and immense, her actual character is somewhat a disappointment. I kind of wished she had that same roundness as the rest of the women. And I know she's modeled after the evil queen in Snow White, who wasn't all that fleshed-out and known just for her vanity and cruelty, but I just can't be scared by her personally. I'm scared by what she can do, of course, but those two things aren't the same . . .
I can't complain that much though, because I still liked the book and love the series. (Though, if I can have one more thing - the entire series was just so . . . het. I kept hoping to the last page for some LGBT rep but was sorely disappointed. The only reference to it was a sort of "gag" which left a sour taste in my mouth. :S)
Wowww I missed these characters, especially Cinder. She's always been my favorite, and the one who keeps me coming back. (I mean, the series in a whole does too, but that character is just one near and dear to my heart) All the main women are written well - in every book, including this last one.
The writing is the same great quality, and all the characters have that same great chemistry, but this wasn't my favorite from the series. In all the book's 800 pages, there was no other plot/sub-plot than WAR. The entirety of the thing takes place in what seems to be a small area on Luna, and it's just scheming and failing, and new schemes and new setbacks and more new schemes after another, which grew tiresome after a while.
And while the threat Levana posed to everyone is real and immense, her actual character is somewhat a disappointment. I kind of wished she had that same roundness as the rest of the women. And I know she's modeled after the evil queen in Snow White, who wasn't all that fleshed-out and known just for her vanity and cruelty, but I just can't be scared by her personally. I'm scared by what she can do, of course, but those two things aren't the same . . .
I can't complain that much though, because I still liked the book and love the series. (Though, if I can have one more thing - the entire series was just so . . . het. I kept hoping to the last page for some LGBT rep but was sorely disappointed. The only reference to it was a sort of "gag" which left a sour taste in my mouth. :S)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism
chronically_theo's review against another edition
Ableism. Life is too short for ableist books
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
barrettbooks's review
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I am adding this review to Storygraph significantly after I wrote it for Instagram. Normally I just copy and paste the review even if time has passed but in this case I want to note that I feel more negatively towards the book when I wrote the review. Almost nothing stuck with me about this finale other than the bad parts. The star rating reflects my current feelings and will probably seen overly negative for the text of my original review, which follows:
As a finale to the series, this was satisfying! It's almost twice the page count of the previous books, which gives space for the quickly expanding cast to breathe and for each character and couple to get their moments. I like basically all of the characters in the series (and hate the villains) and the final book gives them all challenges that feel real and endings that feel earned. The growth of the characters is sometimes a little simplistic, but that doesn't particularly bother me in an action-packed romp based on fairy tales. Every character being painfully straight bothers me some, but I do appreciate the romances despite the unfortunate heterosexuality of it all.
I also don't mind hand-wavey science, and deeply love a brilliant girl hacker teaming up with a brilliant girl mechanic and their badass fighter friends and fucking up a dictatorship. This was a fun read with so many moving parts that come together very nicely. A fitting ending for a series I enjoyed.
<Spoiler>One thing I didn't like was the treatment of Levana's appearance. Until this point, she has always kept her face hidden. It is used as a twist that her face is severely burnt, and the video of her true face is considered politically damaging. Multiple characters remark on how horrifying her appearance is. Eventually, Cinder learns that Levana was burnt as a child by Cinder's mother, and realises that this is not a character flaw (unlike Levana's actual massive character flaws.) However, this epiphany is brief (and no other character seems to realise that being a burn victim is not a problem) and the whole plot feels unnecessary and unearned. Neither I nor Cinder care about the mother she doesn't remember so it doesn't feel like a useful twist. There is another book adjacent to the series, Fairest, which is Levana's story and which assume this section is setting up, but within the confines of Winter specifically, I did not like the way this was handled. </Spoiler>(Also to be noted, another character who has severe hallucinations is called "crazy" like....a lot.)
As a finale to the series, this was satisfying! It's almost twice the page count of the previous books, which gives space for the quickly expanding cast to breathe and for each character and couple to get their moments. I like basically all of the characters in the series (and hate the villains) and the final book gives them all challenges that feel real and endings that feel earned. The growth of the characters is sometimes a little simplistic, but that doesn't particularly bother me in an action-packed romp based on fairy tales. Every character being painfully straight bothers me some, but I do appreciate the romances despite the unfortunate heterosexuality of it all.
I also don't mind hand-wavey science, and deeply love a brilliant girl hacker teaming up with a brilliant girl mechanic and their badass fighter friends and fucking up a dictatorship. This was a fun read with so many moving parts that come together very nicely. A fitting ending for a series I enjoyed.
<Spoiler>One thing I didn't like was the treatment of Levana's appearance. Until this point, she has always kept her face hidden. It is used as a twist that her face is severely burnt, and the video of her true face is considered politically damaging. Multiple characters remark on how horrifying her appearance is. Eventually, Cinder learns that Levana was burnt as a child by Cinder's mother, and realises that this is not a character flaw (unlike Levana's actual massive character flaws.) However, this epiphany is brief (and no other character seems to realise that being a burn victim is not a problem) and the whole plot feels unnecessary and unearned. Neither I nor Cinder care about the mother she doesn't remember so it doesn't feel like a useful twist. There is another book adjacent to the series, Fairest, which is Levana's story and which assume this section is setting up, but within the confines of Winter specifically, I did not like the way this was handled. </Spoiler>(Also to be noted, another character who has severe hallucinations is called "crazy" like....a lot.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
nrogers_1030's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Death, Gun violence, War, Torture, Animal death, Ableism, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Death of parent
Minor: Forced institutionalization
anielabooks's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I don’t even know where to start with how amazing this series has been. I was so invested in the characters throughout the entire book. This set of characters will definitely stick with me for a long, long time. I normally am not able to finish books as long as this one without being bored but I never got into a slump. I’m very satisfied with the way Meyer ended everyone’s stories, and I’m beyond excited to read the collection of novellas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, Chronic illness, and Mental illness
Moderate: Colonisation, Death of parent, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Torture
Minor: Body shaming, Confinement, Child abuse, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Ableism
jayranks13's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This was okay ending to the series. I really pushed through this series because I wanted to know how it ended and for that reason it was just alright because I had no connection to the characters and was kinda over the story at book 4. My biggest complaint was how scars and disfigurements were used to support the characterization of Levana as “bad”. She was frequently referred to as disgusting because of how she looked without her glamour and it made me feel really uncomfy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
maria_pell's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, and Misogyny
Minor: Animal death
wiildsage's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism and War
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