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haileyreadsalot's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
kaikai1618's review against another edition
5.0
SPOILER REVIEW******
As I’m rereading this series, I find myself finishing them faster than I’d ever imagined. I spend hours staying up late just to hear about what will happen next even though I remember a decent amount. What I love about this series is its ability to have strong characters that are dynamic and unique from one another while maintaining a complex and well explained plot. The world building isn’t confusing, only more intriguing as you go.
As a person who is typically mainly invested in characters, these books have an assortment of people that I have grown to love. Revisiting them reminds me of why I did in the first place. Though the main characters of each book are the most fleshed out, the side characters are far from cardboard and show their own problems, charms, and personalities.
For this book in particular I wanted to point out how it took a trope and did it well. We all know about the beauty and the beast trope, the one where there is some tormented guy rescued by the feminine grace of a woman. Though Wolf can be violent when he needs to, he clearly doesn’t want to be violent and isn’t running around being a mindlessly protective meat sack to Scarlet that so many male leads become. The main problems with the beauty and the beast dynamic is that the male character is explosive to everyone but the woman he loves and both characters lack any kind of personality besides their revolution around each other. Instead, Scarlet feels like a complete characters on her own, one that can clearly defend herself. Instead of her feeling like and extension of Wolf and vice versa, she feels like her own person who happens to have a love interest—but she doesn’t need to have one. Though she helps wolf be more himself, Wolf was already someone who didn’t thirst for violence and was never overly primal around Scarlet. Instead he was fairly calm, and kind. He had his violent moments but he was never overly so to where it became the defining point of his personality. Their relationships was not lustful, but sweet and the pacing was fairly natural even with it only being about two days. It made sense.
I have to applaud Meyer for her ability to make these characters so distinct yet relatable even in a sci-fo world. Wolf is kind and misunderstood but respectful and protective. Thorne is funny and playfully narcissistic while clearly resourceful. Iko is loyal and just wants to be accepted and more human. Kai is charming and deeply empathetic towards others, sometimes tripping over his own sheepishness in the first book. Quickly, he must grow and is forced to constantly sacrifice everything for his people and the world. Scarlet is open-minded, stubborn and insanely loyal with a hot temper for ignorance. Cinder is relatable, strong willed against immorality, and sarcastic. She survives so much while remaining a believable 16 year old girl who doesn’t want the weight of the world on her shoulders.
That’s the thing. With so many characters (and four are missing so far), it is easy to make cardboard cut outs or have their personalities become similar. With these people, they are all easy to differentiate. Unlike a lot of other young adult books, it feels like Meyer takes her readers seriously and understands how complex they are. Too many authors write teenagers as rash or overly emotional. Sometimes it almost feels like a joke at how immature characters in those books can be due to their age. In Meters books, the characters are flawed, but believably so. They talk with bites of sarcasm and have interesting dialogue that teenagers or just normal intelligent people would have. Their situation is far from anything in reality, but they come across as more human and more real than plenty of other realistic fiction characters I’ve read. That is why these books are so successful and beloved by fans. They are interesting, captivating, relatable, and well written.
As I’m rereading this series, I find myself finishing them faster than I’d ever imagined. I spend hours staying up late just to hear about what will happen next even though I remember a decent amount. What I love about this series is its ability to have strong characters that are dynamic and unique from one another while maintaining a complex and well explained plot. The world building isn’t confusing, only more intriguing as you go.
As a person who is typically mainly invested in characters, these books have an assortment of people that I have grown to love. Revisiting them reminds me of why I did in the first place. Though the main characters of each book are the most fleshed out, the side characters are far from cardboard and show their own problems, charms, and personalities.
For this book in particular I wanted to point out how it took a trope and did it well. We all know about the beauty and the beast trope, the one where there is some tormented guy rescued by the feminine grace of a woman. Though Wolf can be violent when he needs to, he clearly doesn’t want to be violent and isn’t running around being a mindlessly protective meat sack to Scarlet that so many male leads become. The main problems with the beauty and the beast dynamic is that the male character is explosive to everyone but the woman he loves and both characters lack any kind of personality besides their revolution around each other. Instead, Scarlet feels like a complete characters on her own, one that can clearly defend herself. Instead of her feeling like and extension of Wolf and vice versa, she feels like her own person who happens to have a love interest—but she doesn’t need to have one. Though she helps wolf be more himself, Wolf was already someone who didn’t thirst for violence and was never overly primal around Scarlet. Instead he was fairly calm, and kind. He had his violent moments but he was never overly so to where it became the defining point of his personality. Their relationships was not lustful, but sweet and the pacing was fairly natural even with it only being about two days. It made sense.
I have to applaud Meyer for her ability to make these characters so distinct yet relatable even in a sci-fo world. Wolf is kind and misunderstood but respectful and protective. Thorne is funny and playfully narcissistic while clearly resourceful. Iko is loyal and just wants to be accepted and more human. Kai is charming and deeply empathetic towards others, sometimes tripping over his own sheepishness in the first book. Quickly, he must grow and is forced to constantly sacrifice everything for his people and the world. Scarlet is open-minded, stubborn and insanely loyal with a hot temper for ignorance. Cinder is relatable, strong willed against immorality, and sarcastic. She survives so much while remaining a believable 16 year old girl who doesn’t want the weight of the world on her shoulders.
That’s the thing. With so many characters (and four are missing so far), it is easy to make cardboard cut outs or have their personalities become similar. With these people, they are all easy to differentiate. Unlike a lot of other young adult books, it feels like Meyer takes her readers seriously and understands how complex they are. Too many authors write teenagers as rash or overly emotional. Sometimes it almost feels like a joke at how immature characters in those books can be due to their age. In Meters books, the characters are flawed, but believably so. They talk with bites of sarcasm and have interesting dialogue that teenagers or just normal intelligent people would have. Their situation is far from anything in reality, but they come across as more human and more real than plenty of other realistic fiction characters I’ve read. That is why these books are so successful and beloved by fans. They are interesting, captivating, relatable, and well written.
lydz1106'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? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Sexual assault
asev's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
annaecarroll04's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
sarahreffstrup's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Jeg er vild med den her bog 😍
tizzyxlish23'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? Yes
4.0
s_ierraclark's review against another edition
4.0
picture this: a red riding hood retelling but red riding hood is a french pilot who lives with her ex-military grandmother on a farm and wolf is a genetically modified lunar solider who is fighting for the evil queen who lives on the moon. oh and also the cyborg princess is a wanted criminal and is planning to overthrow the queen's regime while also pining for the prince-turned-emporer who is doing everything he can to stop an all-out interplanetary war. i forgot how much i loved these books
sam_hartwig's review against another edition
3.0
I recently watched Season 5 of 'Once upon a time' tv series and I feel like these books are kind of like that show except with more science fiction elements. It's cool to see fairytale type characters in a different way. I liked how Marissa Meyer changed the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, and also how it was tying in to Cinder's story. I look forward to seeing the next book, how that tale will be changed and how it will tie in.
One thing I thought was weird was how similar Cinder's Lunar powers seemed like Jedi powers - "These aren't the droids you are looking for" haha!
One thing I thought was weird was how similar Cinder's Lunar powers seemed like Jedi powers - "These aren't the droids you are looking for" haha!