Book Review: Cress (AKA How I Became a Lunartic Pt. 3)

Fire 

Next up in my “I have to catch up on all my book reviews” is none other than the amazing, stellar Cress. Which was the book from TLC I was waiting for since I started the series. Again, read this one a couple months ago, and decided I just needed to write the review now before I started Winter and confused all my thoughts. So. Without further ado. Here it is.

 

In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who’s only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a higher price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

The first thing to mention about this plot is that it moves so freaking fast! I actually could not put the book down. Every page there was a new action scene that I needed to read or a slow character build scene that made me love my babies even more. I was addicted. And the ending is a total cliffhanger. I thought I had so many more pages left in the book only to finish much too soon! That’s how into this book you will get. You will be upset that it ended before you were ready.

Okay but about the plot. We add yet another character into the mix of our super badass team preparing to overthrow Queen Levana. The plot is certainly starting to heat up as you can see everything coming closer and closer to a breaking point. Cress is technically Lunar, but was imprisoned on a satellite for basically her whole life and feels no patriotism for her planet. She does some crazy stuff to help out our ol’ pals Cinder, Thorne, Scarlet, and Wolf, only to then be in desperate need of escaping. So she does, and now joins our ragtag team to take Levana down. They get separated pretty early on though, so for a while it is just Thorne and Cress and ~sparks fly~. And then they gear pat the end for this big battle that I know is going to go down in the next book, there has to be a battle coming I can feel it in my bones.

Ooh! I should mention the plot twists. Because there are some. Again, I guessed some of them, but there were also others that actually blew my mind. But even though you are able to guess some of them ahead of time, Meyer still writes it so beautifully and makes it so enjoyable the you don’t even care if it is a tad bit predictable.

The world building is, as usual, amazing. It is just so complex and real. In this book we visit yet another country on Earth, Africa*. Again, the imagery is beautiful, and you can fully get a feel for what this country is like. It actually feels different than Europe, which felt different than New Beijing. So Meyers not only has multiple settings, but makes them all distinct. We also get to know more about Luna in this book. Now they aren’t only the big bad monster in the sky, but have real people on it. And their society is…kind of horrifying. But you can’t help but feel bad for some of the members of society. (Not all. Some are just plain horrible Sybil).

*YES I know this isn’t a country but a continent nowadays but it is in TLC

Be prepared for this plot to pull your emotions in every which way, make you fall even more deeply in love with the characters, and be fired up for some big Earth vs. Luna showdown.

“She was a girl. A living girl, smart and sweet and awkward and unusual, and she was worth far more than they could ever realize.”

The true reason I was practically holding my breath for this book is Cress. All over all I could hear was how everyone identified with her so much, how she is amazing and perfect and awkward. And you know I love identifying with my characters. Plus, Tangled is my favorite Disney movie, Rapunzel is my favorite Disney princess, Flynn Rider and Rapunzel are my favorite Disney couple… need I continue? This book was practically written for me. So needless to say, Cress is all I dreamed she would be. She is awkward, and shy, and insecure. She is a hopeless romantic with a flair for the dramatic. She is a pretty impressive hacker with bravery and strength the size of the moon. And she is relatable. I dare someone to read this and not fall in love with Cress. Because in all honesty, I think everyone can find a bit of themselves in her.

But of course, there are other characters besides Cress. The second main character in this book is Carswell Thorne. Aka the boy of everyone’s dreams if you read the blogosphere. He is goofy, cocky, and full of bravado, but has a hero’s heart underneath. Ad that is why everyone loves him. The only thing is I need him to get his eyesight back so he can say some true swoonworthy quotes about Cress. That would complete his whole hero package.

And we get the returning characters of the crew. Cinder, who grows on me with each book. She’s the leader of this whole operation, and we get a taste of the truly hard decisions she has to make. And they are hard, and so I feel for her. And I will never get tired of her never-ending sass and wit. Kai, who also grows on me with each book. He and Cinder have a lot in common, both being leaders and all, and I want to protect them both. Scarlet, who is actually kind of absent. But we get a taste of her overwhelming strength and tenacity again. She is just so admirable. Wolf, who is kind of reduced to a lovesick puppy in this book. I hope he gets better. And the focus of the next book, Jacin and Winter. Jacin seems pretty dull to me. There must be something about him that makes him special but right now he’s just there. Winter is crazy but I already love her. She brings some zest to the characters.

“Now he was the Carswell Thorne who had given her strength in the desert. Who had come for her when she was kidnapped. Who had kissed her when hope was lost and death was imminent.”

Because can a post about TLC actually be complete without a discussion of the ships??? Maybe the most debatable points in this series are which ship is better. Cresswell is definitely my favorite. Maybe it is because I relate to Cress so much and therefore want her to be happy because it is like me being happy?? Maybe it is because they are just perfect?? Who knows!

Scarlet and Wolf are still my second favorite. Their connection is just so deep. I can’t think of another way to explain it.

Cinder and Kai definitely redeemed themselves here with a scene at the very very very end. It was romantic and what I needed for their couple to last in my mind.

I am just so ready for this to all blow up and we can have the whole gang together ready to defeat Luna. Winter will be a roller coaster of emotions, for sure, but I am ready to watch all my babies together and get some more of their romances.

Did you read this book? What did you think? Which heroine do you like the most? Which hero did you like the most? Which ship is your favorite?