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msradiosilence's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Content warnings at the bottom. :)
Listen, Levana was wrong. She was bad, she killed LOTS of people, and she deserved retribution, but the way they defeated her was just horrible. So she
This book is also like 200 pages too long. The rest of them just kept running and hiding and separating and it kept happening. Twice is redundant, three times is annoying, and four times is fucking ridiculous. Talk about tedium.
And somehow, even with the book being too long, Winter and Jacin’s relationship was too rushed. How can a book be too long and have the main romance be so quick? Yadda yadda, that’s how. Those 200 pages of the same shit could’ve been dedicated to building Winter and Jacin’s relationship.
The one thing that we had a decent time of was the setting, at least. Meyer did a grand job describing the moon and its colonies, which…if you could do it well in this book why didn’t you in literally all the other books? Ugh.
Rating: 3.5
Would I recommend? Not really, unless you enjoy hypocrisy, 16yo moon queens, and long drawn out action sequences.
Content warnings: Genocide, Medical content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Classism, Car accident, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, War, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
meganpbell's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
jaychayka7777's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Mental illness and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Death, and War
psliz's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Murder, and War
Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Gore, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Kidnapping
Minor: Rape, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
nannahnannah's review against another edition
4.0
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)
Moderate: Ableism
chronically_theo's review against another edition
Graphic: Ableism
barrettbooks's review against another edition
- 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
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.)
Graphic: Ableism
nrogers_1030's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Forced institutionalization
anielabooks's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, Torture, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt
calamityin's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
Second read: 3.5 stars. (I found it too long and too much the second time around, to the point where the fun parts were overshadowed by the fact that I had so much book left. I liked it, but it didn't stand out.)
Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Slavery, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, and Classism
Minor: Body horror, Child death, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic