Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Cress by Marissa Meyer

12 reviews

noellegrace8's review against another edition

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.

---

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.

eeyores_flowers's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Medical trauma and Abandonment

Minor: Police brutality, Pandemic/Epidemic, War, and Kidnapping

melissaslibraryy's review against another edition

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

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

taque's review against another edition

fast-paced

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Death of parent, Torture, Suicide, Pandemic/Epidemic, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Medical content, Slavery, Racism, Mental illness, Genocide, Xenophobia, Child death, Death, War, Abandonment, Mass/school shootings, and Blood

kenna13's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

My favorite so far! I love love love Cinder and Kai in this book, not to mention Cress and Thorne.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Terminal illness, Confinement, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and War

Minor: Grief

meganpbell's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful mysterious 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

4.5

Rapunzel is a hacker and her tower prison is a satellite  out in space in this incredibly clever, fun, sharp, and exciting third installment of the Lunar Chronicles. This was my favorite yet—because of the character of Cress herself. Her sensitivity and wonder provide such a foil for Meyer’s streetwise Cinder and Scarlet. They’re all lovable though! I love how Meyer plays with the key elements of the original fairy tales in her sci-fi setting. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Medical content, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Torture, and Self harm

itsmeaemma's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-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? N/A

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

theteamsreader's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Despite not being my favourite book in the series, Cress still managed to deliver a similarly impacting continuation to the storyline of the characters, both old and new.  Now, more than ever, does the heaviness of this story begin to come together, with even more action and drama than ever before.  Recommend to anyone already in love with series, or to those looking for a quiet, relatable main character who comes out of her shell alongside a cocky spaceship captain, and turns herself into the greatest hacker and asset the Rampion crew can ask for.  Full of escapes, cross-country desert treks and survival, this book will further your love for the series entirely.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Moderate: War, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Torture, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

k_galloway's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Violence, War, Gaslighting, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Trafficking