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modernhobbitvibes's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
2.25
Nearly stopped reading when the twenty year old flirted with the sixteen year old, but my own inner sixteen year old wanted to know what happened to the wolf-hybrid soldier man, so I stuck it out. Not sure if I'll be finishing this series though. Insert Jupiter Ascending joke here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Death, Medical trauma, War, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Confinement, Medical content, Blood, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Physical abuse, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Gore, and Torture
Minor: Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment
20 year old flirts with 16 year old, mind control,caeliaucoin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Gore, Death, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Confinement, Grief, and Kidnapping
lawbooks600's review against another edition
adventurous
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? It's complicated
4.0
Representation: Asian characters
Score: Seven points out of ten.
Well. First I have a statement, the last book I read from Marissa Meyer (a hit or miss author), Cursed, was a hit so I headed in with high expectations when I picked up the book and finally read it. When I finished it, I enjoyed it but I didn't think this novel was a step up or a step down from Cinder (it was at the same level as Cinder, which isn't a bad thing) and I'm hoping Cress might be better. It starts with the new main and titular character Scarlet Benoit or Scarlet for short living in Rieux, France. The book cuts to Cinder in the Eastern Commonwealth from the preceding book. As with other long books (like 400+ pages long) it's slow paced but again that let me explore new and familiar characters e.g., Wolf (which I liked.) Speaking of, I liked all the people in this book except Levana but for some reason I couldn't connect to them which didn't ruin my enjoyment of the narrative in any way. The first three quarters of the book had nothing much happen except character dynamics except the last quarter, where the Lunars started a war on Earth, invading and causing human genocide (horrific but understandable; they're the villains after all) which ends the book. The bonus content at the end was intriguing as well including a short story and a sneak peek at Cress.
Score: Seven points out of ten.
Well. First I have a statement, the last book I read from Marissa Meyer (a hit or miss author), Cursed, was a hit so I headed in with high expectations when I picked up the book and finally read it. When I finished it, I enjoyed it but I didn't think this novel was a step up or a step down from Cinder (it was at the same level as Cinder, which isn't a bad thing) and I'm hoping Cress might be better. It starts with the new main and titular character Scarlet Benoit or Scarlet for short living in Rieux, France. The book cuts to Cinder in the Eastern Commonwealth from the preceding book. As with other long books (like 400+ pages long) it's slow paced but again that let me explore new and familiar characters e.g., Wolf (which I liked.) Speaking of, I liked all the people in this book except Levana but for some reason I couldn't connect to them which didn't ruin my enjoyment of the narrative in any way. The first three quarters of the book had nothing much happen except character dynamics except the last quarter, where the Lunars started a war on Earth, invading and causing human genocide (horrific but understandable; they're the villains after all) which ends the book. The bonus content at the end was intriguing as well including a short story and a sneak peek at Cress.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, War, Pandemic/Epidemic, Fire/Fire injury, and Genocide
Full trigger warnings: Blood depiction, physical assault and injury, imprisonment, war themes, pandemic, fire, genocidethumbeleia's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Blood, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Vomit, War, Abandonment, Ableism, Classism, Death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Genocide, and Injury/Injury detail
msradiosilence's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
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
TLDR; 5 rating, my favorite, Wolf <3
Content warnings at the bottom. :)
I remember reading this like 4 times in high school. It was my favorite of the series. I love Scarlet and Wolf, I love the French setting, and I hate tomatoes but this book made me want to like them.
Wolf and Thorne are my two favorite characters, and I love them for different reasons. Wolf is the epitome of “I can fix him” and gentle with the people he cares about while being absolutely terrifying to everyone else. This is for sure what molded my love life, at least when it came to men. Thorne is just…he’s a himbo, no thoughts only crime, and he cracks me up.
Iko as the Rampion was fantastic, even if it was a little fatphobic. She didn’t have to talk so bad about how big she was all the time, but Meyer did an excellent job describing how she emotes while an actual ship.
Anyway. Once again, Meyer has a hard time with setting, but with Scarlet and Wolf visiting very specific French places, it’s a little easier to picture, but I wish she would allow herself to be more descriptive with the settings.
Rating: 5
Would I recommend? Yes, especially if you enjoy moon people, quippy robots, and sci-fi fairytale retellings.
Content warnings: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, War, Child death, Medical content, Classism, Death of parent, Gun violence, Ableism, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, Confinement, Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Kidnapping
Content warnings at the bottom. :)
I remember reading this like 4 times in high school. It was my favorite of the series. I love Scarlet and Wolf, I love the French setting, and I hate tomatoes but this book made me want to like them.
Wolf and Thorne are my two favorite characters, and I love them for different reasons. Wolf is the epitome of “I can fix him” and gentle with the people he cares about while being absolutely terrifying to everyone else. This is for sure what molded my love life, at least when it came to men. Thorne is just…he’s a himbo, no thoughts only crime, and he cracks me up.
Iko as the Rampion was fantastic, even if it was a little fatphobic. She didn’t have to talk so bad about how big she was all the time, but Meyer did an excellent job describing how she emotes while an actual ship.
Anyway. Once again, Meyer has a hard time with setting, but with Scarlet and Wolf visiting very specific French places, it’s a little easier to picture, but I wish she would allow herself to be more descriptive with the settings.
Rating: 5
Would I recommend? Yes, especially if you enjoy moon people, quippy robots, and sci-fi fairytale retellings.
Content warnings: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, War, Child death, Medical content, Classism, Death of parent, Gun violence, Ableism, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, Confinement, Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Kidnapping
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Murder, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Car accident, Child death, Gore, Ableism, and Death
strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
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? No
5.0
I liked this way more than the first one. The first one wasn’t bad and I still gave it 4 stars but I was just much more emotionally invested in the characters and the plot of this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: War, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Racism
prashiie's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
"She was tired of everyone deciding her life for her. She was ready to figure out who she really was — not what anyone else told her to be."
This book presents us with two major storylines. First we meet a new character, Scarlet, who resembles Little Red Riding Hood and lives in the European Federation. Her grandmother is really the only family she has ever known and now she's missing. She decides to find her grandmother herself and right around that time she meets Wolf, a peculiar character.
At the same time, Cinder escapes prison together with another prisoner, Carswell Thorne. She explores her new-found powers and struggles with the morality of it.
"She didn't want to be one of those Lunars who took advantage of her powers just because she could. She didn't want to be lunar at all.”
It was so difficult to put this book down. The chapters weren't very long and it was easy and interesting to read. If there was no need to sleep, I would have finished reading this book in one go. It's been a few months since I read the first book and I forgot some details.For example, the royal android mentioning the name "Michelle Benoit" and that they discover a photo of Queen Levana's secret army. So I didn't instantly connect the dots and it seemed like two separate stories but I love how it gradually came together!
On to the sequel!
This book presents us with two major storylines. First we meet a new character, Scarlet, who resembles Little Red Riding Hood and lives in the European Federation. Her grandmother is really the only family she has ever known and now she's missing. She decides to find her grandmother herself and right around that time she meets Wolf, a peculiar character.
At the same time, Cinder escapes prison together with another prisoner, Carswell Thorne. She explores her new-found powers and struggles with the morality of it.
"She didn't want to be one of those Lunars who took advantage of her powers just because she could. She didn't want to be lunar at all.”
It was so difficult to put this book down. The chapters weren't very long and it was easy and interesting to read. If there was no need to sleep, I would have finished reading this book in one go. It's been a few months since I read the first book and I forgot some details.
On to the sequel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Grief, Abandonment, and Xenophobia
Moderate: War, Child abuse, Gun violence, Blood, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Child death, and Medical trauma
Minor: Rape
meganpbell's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Little Red Riding Hood flies a mean spaceship, and she’s on the tail of her missing grandmother with the help of a mysterious street fighter named Wolf in this series of sci-fi fairy tale retellings that continues the story started (once upon a time) in Cinder. These books are so fun, action-packed, and clever.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Abandonment, Violence, Death, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Torture
psliz's review
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
3.5
a bit insta-lovey for me but love the characters’ paths beginning to cross
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, War, Death, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Confinement, Alcohol, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Blood, Kidnapping, and Suicide
diana_raquel's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
[buddy reading]
"I think I realized that I would rather die because I betrayed them, than live because I betrayed you."
[Disclaimer: Shortly after finishing Cinder I discover that this series is considered to be a problematic series. According to some people, The Lunar Chronicles series has an offensive Pan-Asian setting that homogenizes Asia and evokes Japanese imperialism and Marissa Meyer uses honorifics in the wrong way. I think these are valid concerns, but I'm not gonna further my opinion on the matter. Look, I'm a white European girl, I'm not the right person to talk about this issue].
Well, that was disappointing. Like I said in my review of Cinder when I started this series I wasn't expecting much out of it. But then, I loved Cinder. So I was excited to start this book. The Little Red Riding Hood is one of my favorite fairytales and I usually like its retellings. However, this one was disappointing.
The story can be interesting, but I hated Scarlet. We just see her concerned about her grandmother and Wolf. So we don't get to know her as a heroine. And because we don't get to know her, she became too irritating and tedious. I think that the narrative tried to show Scarlet as a reckless heroine but didn't deliver it. Every time I was reading her POV I was rolling my eyes. I found Scarlet to be irritating, tedious, and, sometimes, cringy. And although I liked Wolf, he's not sufficient to make me like their storyline.
The only thing I actually liked in this book was the storyline of Cinder and Kai. Their storyline is much more interesting and Cinder is the true heroine of this book (look, it may be Scarlet's story, but the real badass was Cinder). And Thorne is my new favorite character. I hope to see more of him in Cress. Their storyline is the only thing that prevents me from giving an even lower rating.
I'm pretty sure that this book suffers from "second book syndrome", and the only thing that kept me from DNF'ing was my reading buddies. None of us liked this book, and if it weren't for them, I don't know how I even would finish.
I hope that Cress is better.
"It would be easy to abuse a person when they never recognized it as abuse."
"I think I realized that I would rather die because I betrayed them, than live because I betrayed you."
[Disclaimer: Shortly after finishing Cinder I discover that this series is considered to be a problematic series. According to some people, The Lunar Chronicles series has an offensive Pan-Asian setting that homogenizes Asia and evokes Japanese imperialism and Marissa Meyer uses honorifics in the wrong way. I think these are valid concerns, but I'm not gonna further my opinion on the matter. Look, I'm a white European girl, I'm not the right person to talk about this issue].
Well, that was disappointing. Like I said in my review of Cinder when I started this series I wasn't expecting much out of it. But then, I loved Cinder. So I was excited to start this book. The Little Red Riding Hood is one of my favorite fairytales and I usually like its retellings. However, this one was disappointing.
The story can be interesting, but I hated Scarlet. We just see her concerned about her grandmother and Wolf. So we don't get to know her as a heroine. And because we don't get to know her, she became too irritating and tedious. I think that the narrative tried to show Scarlet as a reckless heroine but didn't deliver it. Every time I was reading her POV I was rolling my eyes. I found Scarlet to be irritating, tedious, and, sometimes, cringy. And although I liked Wolf, he's not sufficient to make me like their storyline.
The only thing I actually liked in this book was the storyline of Cinder and Kai. Their storyline is much more interesting and Cinder is the true heroine of this book (look, it may be Scarlet's story, but the real badass was Cinder). And Thorne is my new favorite character. I hope to see more of him in Cress. Their storyline is the only thing that prevents me from giving an even lower rating.
I'm pretty sure that this book suffers from "second book syndrome", and the only thing that kept me from DNF'ing was my reading buddies. None of us liked this book, and if it weren't for them, I don't know how I even would finish.
I hope that Cress is better.
"It would be easy to abuse a person when they never recognized it as abuse."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Gore, Torture, Kidnapping, Death, War, Emotional abuse, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Medical content and Death of parent