Series Spotlight: The Lunar Chronicles

There's always those books that you meant to review, the books that you read before you started reviewing, or maybe you reviewed one of the books but it wasn't even the first one. Well, here's my answer to that: Series Spotlight. I'll be reviewing an entire series, and just generally talk about it.

Thank you so much The Book Rat & A Backwards Story for hosting this.

I was actually going to post this spotlight when it got closer to the release date of Winter to help the hype - but I'd rather do it for Fairy Tale Fortnight!

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Glitches (Short Story)
The Little Android (The Little Mermaid retelling in the Lunar'verse)
Cinder
The Queen's Army (Short Story)
Scarlet
Cress
Carswell's Guide To Being Lucky (Short Story)
Fairest (Prequel/Spinoff)
The Princess and the Guard (Short Story - Upcoming Summer Release)
Winter (Upcoming November Release)

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.


This is a series that just gets progressively better with each book - so I am totally excited for the release of Winter.

The world is unique and interesting. I feel though that the world was shown much better in Scarlet and Cress than Cinder. Whether that was because I had a better grasp on it - or because the author did, I'll never know. However, while Cinder had an almost claustrophobic feel, Scarlet and Cress opened up the world and gave as a wonderful view of the unique (and slightly anime) world that was created.

The characters are all different - I'm sure that you'll be able to find someone to like. In fact, as wonderful as I find the world, I wouldn't hesitate to say that Marissa's strength is in writing characters. From the titular ladies (cyborg included) to their love interests and the supporting cast - all are unique with different ways of behaving. Most of the time it's easy to pick out the speaker even if you ignore the tag that says their name. To me, that is amazing - and something that more authors should do.

The plot... Well, it's a mix of fairy tales, anime and typical oppressive government sci-fi/fantasy/dystopian. It actually works really well for me - and not just because I like all those type of stories. The plot builds slowly. Perhaps that's another reason why Cinder was the weakest book for me. Each book adds layers to the story, slowly (sometimes too slowly, but whatevs) revealing the 'big picture'.

I really think that if you've not read it and fairy tale retellings are your thing, you should read the first two books in this series. Even if you don't care for Cinder, I'd still suggest reading Scarlet - unless you don't like the writing style or something else that won't change - because I gotta say, I am so glad I was 'encouraged' to read Scarlet.


Have you read this series? If not, can I encourage you to read it? Because I will really try.
Favorite book in the series so far? (Mine's Cress.) Favorite character/s? (Mine's Thorne, Scarlet and Cress. And probably Jacin - at least I bet he will be once I get to deal with him more.) I am really excited for November - and I can't be the only one.