Discription: In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told. Mirror, mirror on the wall, Who is the fairest of them all? Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now. Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series.
Overview (Non-Spoiler Section)
This book is solely devoted to understanding the background of the “Lunar Chronicles” series, specifically looking at the character of Queen Levana. I have seen many people over Goodreads asking the question “can you read the Lunar Chronicles series out of order, since they are all fairy tale re-tellings.” NO. Under no circumstances should you read these books out of order, including Fairest. The amount of confusion and spoilers that you will expose yourself to is overwhelming, and simply should be avoided. With this in mind, Fairest should be read once one has read all of the Lunar Chronicles books, up to Scarlet at the least. This book gives so much depth to Levana’s character, developing her from an evil character to a character the reader has great compassion for. Her evilness stems from a distorted worldview that was held by everyone around her, and so one can’t help but feel a little sorry for her. I loved this book and I can’t wait for Winter to come out! (Speaking of Winter, that cover though!) Anywho, I would highly suggest this book for anyone who is a fan of the series and would love to learn more about the background and the society that the Lunars live on.
***Spoilers***
This book made me sad in a way that I wasn’t expecting. Channary made my skin crawl. She was even more evil than Levana was presented to be in the other books, which is a hard bar to overcome. Channary doesn’t care for her sister in the slightest bit, treating Levana like a pesky fly that she has to put up with. Levana is abused for her entire life, so it only makes sense that she would go and seek love that wasn’t there in the form of Evret. She saw the smallest bit friendship from him and just latched on. I also really don’t think that Levana intentionally meant to hurt Solstice or Winter but I do believe that she just wanted what Evret and Solstice had together and she was jealous. There is so much death in this book and Levana presents herself as simply heartless, killing Evret off especially. And the freaking fire! The fireplace incident between Channary and Levana and the fire set in the nursery. I loved how some of the side characters were developed more so we didn’t only get Levana’s backstory but also Cinder’s (Selene), Winter’s, Jacin, Sybil and Wolf (though this one is more on the side and his character isn’t directly mentioned.) Overall, I really enjoyed this addition to the series and it got me pumped for Winter’s arrival this fall.
Things I liked:
-Basically everything. We weren’t expecting this addition to the series and though some may see this as a cop out by Meyer due to the delay of Winter, I see it as a benefit.
-Learning more about the characters and getting to spend some time on Lunar.
-Learning more about the Lunar powers. Though they are difficult for Meyer to write about, they come off beautifully crafted and I am obsessed with them.
-All of the action and drama. I was concerned that this would be a slower addition to the series, considering many of the other books are loaded with action and suspense but this didn’t disappoint.
Thing I didn’t like:
-I do believe that this story was falsely marketed and this makes me very mad. When we were promised “full color images” I was expecting more than the picture of Luna and the palace that was duplicated on the inside of the front and back. Though these images were beautiful, the marketing made it seem like we were going to get so much more. I think that it would have been super cool to see some of the characters in color, the way that Meyer intended them to look.
Overall:
5 out of 5 stars
96% out of 100%