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A review by kierscrivener
Fairest: Levana's Story by Marissa Meyer
5.0
I remember running into Chapters the day Fairest came out and reading it in one sitting and sobbing and sobbing and sobbing. It quickly became one of my favourites because Marissa Meyer managed to convey the tragicness of Levana's story without ever justifying her behaviour. We understand the reasons for her villainy but I think it would be hard for anyone to say that her actions aren't evil or selfish.
Five and half years later, I convinced my roommate to read The Lunar Chronicles and she had been listening to the series on audiobook and it was a Sunday afternoon and she began to play it in our little living room and it captured me again. Part in nostalgia as I remembered my feelings and my search for clues in her story, in the world and how Winter would end. But also because it is genuinely a fantastic story.
If I was reading Fairest for the first time today I am not sure how I would rate it. I know her story detail for detail, it was one of the books I could recall almost every scene. (I read it once five years ago and somehow could tell you beat for beat the scenes, the glamour she used and the emotions she had). Part of this was how meticulously I read it at the time but also like an old song you use to sing, once it begins you remember every line. Before starting, I could probably tell you a good 70-75% of the scenes still if I was asked but once it started I knew it's course. With the exception of a few scenes I thought came earlier or later. I do have a pretty good memory especially for things that have been in my brain for years but I think it helps that this is a 220 page novella. That doesn't really have any filler, every scene is necessary for plot. The reader I am today, would have loved a little more as the book is 200 pages and covers ten years but I do think that is more preference as the book doesn't feel like more is needed. The plot is concise, focused and outside of allusions to other characters we know doesn't waste any time.
I think it's really important though to highlight that this is third person limited, everything even the details we are presented are skewed in Levana's perception of Luna, of court, of Evret, of everyone. I think when I was younger lonely and desperate for unconditional love it was easier for me to see myself in her. In her loneliness. In her yearning. Now that I am older, wiser and have worked through a lot of my trauma it is hard to even imagine that she can't see what she is doing as wrong. Even at seventeen, I recognized her choices and actions as manipulative and cruel but I related more to the 'do anything for love.' Which I can contest by personal experience is not worth it. That learning to respect and love yourself on your own and in community is much healthier than trying to make love where there is none.
I always saw her as both abused and abusive, but I related to the abused then and now I know that trauma doesn't need to be an end. It is not a prophecy. The cycle of violence and abuse doesn't need to continue. It can end. It will continue to impact the person you become but there can be compassion where there was only cruelty. And this is why Levana stands as a juxtaposition to Cinder, Cress, Winter. Because they with the help of community break out of the cycle of abuse and Levana never does. But I think a big part of that is they had community and she never did.
It has been five years (or more) since I've read any of them (and I will rectify this hopefully soon) but definitely one of my favourite twists of the series that Meyer employs is to make Cinderella's mother just as cruel or maybe more cruel than the evil queen or stepmother. I think without a doubt Channary is more cruel than Linh Adri and I definitely think there is an argument that Channary is more cruel than Levana (or literally responsible for making the fire that Levana would fuel her cruelty on). Though this is based on Levana's portrayal of Channary and we hear Levana's thoughts which makes her more sympathetic (though not excusable). I can't think of another retelling where Cinderella's mother is anything but the perfect angel she was in the original. And it defeats the good/evil divide. I think there's pretty good chance Cinder would be just as cruel if she was raised on Luna. She definitely does some outright cruel things as it is. Out of the trio of main female characters that are mistreated in their youth, I think Cress is the most well adjusted mostly because she's Rapunzel and was left in a satellite by herself. Which could have been explored more deeply, as we have learned in quarantine that no matter how much information or entertainment is available it doesn't make up for human interaction. (I'd be interested to see if Marissa Meyer would write her differently after quarantine).
But than we have Winter, the one who was raised most like Levana though she had no abusive older sister and had a father who genuinely loved her and family friends and playmates which helped but her mental health still is not great in the least. She became the opposite. Where rather than taking that sadness outward and hurting others, she hurt herself. Spiralling and spiralling more.
Tangent and analysis aside, Fairest is from Levana's pov completely, which reading as a counsellor is difficult. She is manipulative, she's a rapist, she's a murderer, she approves of torture and biological warfare. And the second one is never said outright which is difficult as sexual assault against men is barely ever acknowledged. But in this story it couldn't have been more condemned, as this is a woman who justifies murder and genocide. But I think Meyer does a good job of showing the wrongness by his response, it is so evident he is the one being taken advantage of not just emotionally but physically and sexually. And the ending where he clarifies that the reason he can't love her isn't because of her injuries or scar tissue but because of manipulation and abuse. That her insecurity was what made her the monster not what she perceived as being monstrous. Which is powerful. In the 'original' Beauty and The Beast by Madame Le Prince de Beaumont she says: "there is many a monster who wears the form of a man; it is better of the two to have the heart of a man and the form of a monster."
I don't fully know if this would be a five star today if I was just reading it for the first time, but I still think it holds up as a fantastically as a villain origin story and it will always be lodged in my heart for what it did and how it affected me as a reader and writer. So it stays one of my few five stars.
Trigger warnings: murder, grief, abuse (verbal, sexual, emotional), neglect, rape, torture, mutilation, genocide, manipulation, violence and murder of children, probably more (there is no graphic details throughout, it is more emotional). There is also a lot of focus on bad self esteem and insecurity around scarring and injuries as a result of burns.
Read First Time: January 2015
Read Second Time: August 2020
Five and half years later, I convinced my roommate to read The Lunar Chronicles and she had been listening to the series on audiobook and it was a Sunday afternoon and she began to play it in our little living room and it captured me again. Part in nostalgia as I remembered my feelings and my search for clues in her story, in the world and how Winter would end. But also because it is genuinely a fantastic story.
If I was reading Fairest for the first time today I am not sure how I would rate it. I know her story detail for detail, it was one of the books I could recall almost every scene. (I read it once five years ago and somehow could tell you beat for beat the scenes, the glamour she used and the emotions she had). Part of this was how meticulously I read it at the time but also like an old song you use to sing, once it begins you remember every line. Before starting, I could probably tell you a good 70-75% of the scenes still if I was asked but once it started I knew it's course. With the exception of a few scenes I thought came earlier or later. I do have a pretty good memory especially for things that have been in my brain for years but I think it helps that this is a 220 page novella. That doesn't really have any filler, every scene is necessary for plot. The reader I am today, would have loved a little more as the book is 200 pages and covers ten years but I do think that is more preference as the book doesn't feel like more is needed. The plot is concise, focused and outside of allusions to other characters we know doesn't waste any time.
I think it's really important though to highlight that this is third person limited, everything even the details we are presented are skewed in Levana's perception of Luna, of court, of Evret, of everyone. I think when I was younger lonely and desperate for unconditional love it was easier for me to see myself in her. In her loneliness. In her yearning. Now that I am older, wiser and have worked through a lot of my trauma it is hard to even imagine that she can't see what she is doing as wrong. Even at seventeen, I recognized her choices and actions as manipulative and cruel but I related more to the 'do anything for love.' Which I can contest by personal experience is not worth it. That learning to respect and love yourself on your own and in community is much healthier than trying to make love where there is none.
I always saw her as both abused and abusive, but I related to the abused then and now I know that trauma doesn't need to be an end. It is not a prophecy. The cycle of violence and abuse doesn't need to continue. It can end. It will continue to impact the person you become but there can be compassion where there was only cruelty. And this is why Levana stands as a juxtaposition to Cinder, Cress, Winter. Because they with the help of community break out of the cycle of abuse and Levana never does. But I think a big part of that is they had community and she never did.
It has been five years (or more) since I've read any of them (and I will rectify this hopefully soon) but definitely one of my favourite twists of the series that Meyer employs is to make Cinderella's mother just as cruel or maybe more cruel than the evil queen or stepmother. I think without a doubt Channary is more cruel than Linh Adri and I definitely think there is an argument that Channary is more cruel than Levana (or literally responsible for making the fire that Levana would fuel her cruelty on). Though this is based on Levana's portrayal of Channary and we hear Levana's thoughts which makes her more sympathetic (though not excusable). I can't think of another retelling where Cinderella's mother is anything but the perfect angel she was in the original. And it defeats the good/evil divide. I think there's pretty good chance Cinder would be just as cruel if she was raised on Luna. She definitely does some outright cruel things as it is. Out of the trio of main female characters that are mistreated in their youth, I think Cress is the most well adjusted mostly because she's Rapunzel and was left in a satellite by herself. Which could have been explored more deeply, as we have learned in quarantine that no matter how much information or entertainment is available it doesn't make up for human interaction. (I'd be interested to see if Marissa Meyer would write her differently after quarantine).
But than we have Winter, the one who was raised most like Levana though she had no abusive older sister and had a father who genuinely loved her and family friends and playmates which helped but her mental health still is not great in the least. She became the opposite. Where rather than taking that sadness outward and hurting others, she hurt herself. Spiralling and spiralling more.
Tangent and analysis aside, Fairest is from Levana's pov completely, which reading as a counsellor is difficult. She is manipulative, she's a rapist, she's a murderer, she approves of torture and biological warfare. And the second one is never said outright which is difficult as sexual assault against men is barely ever acknowledged. But in this story it couldn't have been more condemned, as this is a woman who justifies murder and genocide. But I think Meyer does a good job of showing the wrongness by his response, it is so evident he is the one being taken advantage of not just emotionally but physically and sexually. And the ending where he clarifies that the reason he can't love her isn't because of her injuries or scar tissue but because of manipulation and abuse. That her insecurity was what made her the monster not what she perceived as being monstrous. Which is powerful. In the 'original' Beauty and The Beast by Madame Le Prince de Beaumont she says: "there is many a monster who wears the form of a man; it is better of the two to have the heart of a man and the form of a monster."
I don't fully know if this would be a five star today if I was just reading it for the first time, but I still think it holds up as a fantastically as a villain origin story and it will always be lodged in my heart for what it did and how it affected me as a reader and writer. So it stays one of my few five stars.
Trigger warnings: murder, grief, abuse (verbal, sexual, emotional), neglect, rape, torture, mutilation, genocide, manipulation, violence and murder of children, probably more (there is no graphic details throughout, it is more emotional). There is also a lot of focus on bad self esteem and insecurity around scarring and injuries as a result of burns.
Read First Time: January 2015
Read Second Time: August 2020