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noellegrace8's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The plot really saves this one for me. It's gotten so intricate at this point that it's impossible not to enjoy it! The epitome of a great storyline. So good. But I am going to rant about one piece that bothered me, but not enough to affect my rating much:
While I love Thorne SO much, and understand Cress and her lack of social interaction and therefore knowledge even if I personally find her to be a little exhausting, the *way* their romance is written really irks me. It's entirely limmerance from Cress and nothing from Thorne until random moments. These random moments are thrilling, with scenes written better than even Cinder+Kai or Scarlet+Wolf, but they're not enough to make up for the underlying underdevelopment of their actual romance throughout the rest of the book. The entirety of them crashing in the desert fell flat for me. My personal "I hate the miscommunication trope!" is, "I hate the 'I don't want to hurt her' trope!" And that's (sort of? It's unclear, and therefore infuriating, at times) what we're given from Thorne.
Hoping the 4th book quickly clears up the limmerance from Cress and intermittent apathy from Thorne. It's a WONDERFUL series.
I don't factor audiobook performance into my star ratings, but I would give Rebecca Soler a 4.5/5. At this point, I've gotten very used to her narration and voicing. As previously stated, she can be a bit too flat at times or have a tone that isn't quite right for what's described, but she's generally good at differentiating voices in scenes with accents and tones. I really like the way she voices Iko haha. It's perfect for that android! I don't understand why Soler wasn't asked to re-record a couple places where she says "kAY-toe" instead of "kEYE-toe" though.
While I love Thorne SO much, and understand Cress and her lack of social interaction and therefore knowledge even if I personally find her to be a little exhausting, the *way* their romance is written really irks me. It's entirely limmerance from Cress and nothing from Thorne until random moments. These random moments are thrilling, with scenes written better than even Cinder+Kai or Scarlet+Wolf, but they're not enough to make up for the underlying underdevelopment of their actual romance throughout the rest of the book. The entirety of them crashing in the desert fell flat for me. My personal "I hate the miscommunication trope!" is, "I hate the 'I don't want to hurt her' trope!" And that's (sort of? It's unclear, and therefore infuriating, at times) what we're given from Thorne.
Hoping the 4th book quickly clears up the limmerance from Cress and intermittent apathy from Thorne. It's a WONDERFUL series.
I don't factor audiobook performance into my star ratings, but I would give Rebecca Soler a 4.5/5. At this point, I've gotten very used to her narration and voicing. As previously stated, she can be a bit too flat at times or have a tone that isn't quite right for what's described, but she's generally good at differentiating voices in scenes with accents and tones. I really like the way she voices Iko haha. It's perfect for that android! I don't understand why Soler wasn't asked to re-record a couple places where she says "kAY-toe" instead of "kEYE-toe" though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Death, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, and War
Moderate: Kidnapping, Medical content, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Murder, Child abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death, Abandonment, Ableism, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Torture
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Slavery, and Trafficking
As this series is very political and based around a clear power imbalance, the things I sorted into "Graphic" are fundamental in this book. "Moderate" listings have mostly to do with plotpoints such as the classic Rapunzel-and-her-abusive-guardian retelling, the events that led to Cinder's current cyborg state, Thorne losing his vision, the tortured nature of Wolf/ his genetic alterations, and the general tension between Lunars and Earthens. "Minor" labels are due to Scarlet and Cress both being taken (separate contexts), the push and pull between most of the relationships in this series thus far (but particularly Wolf+Scarlet), and our brief encounter with Princess Winter. Lastly, the only reason I warned of adult-minor relationship is because I believe most of the male love interests in this series are quite a few years older than their female, teen counterparts. More importantly, Cress is said to be 16, and Thorne is most definitely an adult, likely about 20 (has served in the military and is a well-known criminal at this point) so... a bit gray.lawbooks600's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Representation: Asian character
Score: Seven out of ten.
Well. It looks like I finally read Cress. After picking up (and surprisingly enjoying) Cinder and Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, I wanted to give her another shot to see if the The Lunar Chronicles continued to impress me. I glanced at the blurb, making it seem intriguing and a book that would suit my tastes. When I closed the final page, it was enjoyable.
It starts with the titular character, Cress, living in a satellite orbiting Earth in the opening pages. She lives there for a while before eventually she has to visit Earth to meet characters from the previous two instalments, Cinder and Scarlet. The opening pages and the middle are slow as usual, but it's typical from the author to do this, and I expected a slow-burn start anyways based on other books I've read from her. The action builds toward the last 200 pages as Cress is told to stop Cinder and Scarlet from forcing Queen Levana to abdicate, but fortunately, the plan does not go as intended. I like most aspects about Cress, but I can't believe I have to wait one more book until the characters put the plan into action. At least the characters were likable. The conclusion finishes Cress on a cliffhanger, with some bonus reading material added afterward, including a sneak peak of Winter.
Score: Seven out of ten.
Well. It looks like I finally read Cress. After picking up (and surprisingly enjoying) Cinder and Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, I wanted to give her another shot to see if the The Lunar Chronicles continued to impress me. I glanced at the blurb, making it seem intriguing and a book that would suit my tastes. When I closed the final page, it was enjoyable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, War, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Full trigger warnings: Pandemic, military violence and war themes, mass death in the past, physical assault and injury, blood depictionritaconstantino's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
4.5
My favourite so far!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Blood
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Mental illness
melissaslibraryy's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
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
This book was more of a 4.8⭐️ simply bc Cress wasn’t my favorite of the female characters but I still enjoyed getting to know her and her backstory. Her naivety and awkward social skills made me cringe even though I understood that she grew up in solitude so ofc her social cues were out of whack, but seeing them happen was still 😵💫 Regardless, I love that we’re getting closer to defeating Queen Levana especially since Kai is now involved in the action. Looking forward to reading the next book :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Classism, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, War, Child abuse, Confinement, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Police brutality, and Torture
Minor: Trafficking
tania_mybookishsecret's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Blood
Moderate: Torture, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Kidnapping, and Confinement
Minor: War, Grief, and Murder
mxnoru's review against another edition
adventurous
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Grief, Violence, War, Classism, and Death of parent
amschelly153's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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
4.0
Really fun YA series!
Content Warnings
Minor: War, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Death, Torture, and Violence
sing1133's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
I absolutely LOVED this book!!! So far my favourite of the series (but we’ll see if that changes with book 4).
I always worry that I won’t like the new characters as much but they are always amazing! I loved Cress and her and Thorne’s chapters were my favourite to read! (I am now a giant Thorne fan!)
I also love how all the characters storylines overlap so even if they are in different places and separated, it is still a cohesive and continuous story.
It was fun having the group separated for a bit but I must say I love when they are all back together working together.
I found this book so fun to read and I love how the stakes are rising more and more as the characters are also developing.
Can’t wait to read Winter!!!
I always worry that I won’t like the new characters as much but they are always amazing! I loved Cress and her and Thorne’s chapters were my favourite to read! (I am now a giant Thorne fan!)
I also love how all the characters storylines overlap so even if they are in different places and separated, it is still a cohesive and continuous story.
It was fun having the group separated for a bit but I must say I love when they are all back together working together.
I found this book so fun to read and I love how the stakes are rising more and more as the characters are also developing.
Can’t wait to read Winter!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Kidnapping, and Death
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Blood and War
eowyn_zoe's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, Death, Violence, and Grief
good_names_dont_exist's review against another edition
adventurous
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? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Trafficking
Moderate: Violence, Torture, Medical content, War, and Death of parent
Minor: Gun violence, Suicide, and Blood