Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Title:  Cress

Author: Marissa Meyer

Publisher:  Fiewel & Friends 
Publishing Date: February 4th 2014

Pages:  550
Genre:  YA Sci-Fi Adventure/Retelling

Series: The Lunar Chronicles #3
Source: Audio

  

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard.

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

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only 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 goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

I absolutely adored Cress. This series seems to keep getting better. I didn’t think that was possible, but it is. I enjoyed Cress even more than Cinder or Scarlet, and I loved those books too. The characters were more, the story was more, and the writing was more. It was sensational. The characters are the best, the story is unique, the writing is spectacular, and that is why I rave about these books.

Cress lives in a satellite, for the last nine years. After helping Cinder in the crew, they decided to rescue Cress. Things don't go well, and everyone gets separated. As they try to survive, try to pick up the broken pieces, and try to make it to safety, Queen Levana is making wedding plans with Kai. Cinder must find a way to not get caught, not get killed, find her missing crew, and stop a wedding. 

I absolutely adore Marissa Meyer's writing style. The story is captivating, the characters are well built, tons of memorable and humorous moments. Everything is done to perfection. There are so many wonderful things about this book that I can go on and on about, it will be hard to contain myself from babbling and attempt to make sense.

Cress is so far my favorite of the series. Of course last year, I said that about Scarlet. Like I said they just keep getting better. what I love... so many things... I will start with the characters. There are so many wonderful characters. The favorites returned and we were introduced to two more characters. Cress and Jason.

So Cress is the heart of the group. She is sensitive, a romantic, caring, and just an all around people person. Of course she has been locked up in a satellite for years without any kind of human contact... well except for the the witch. She doesn't do much for human contact. She is excited about everything and she tends to wear her emotions, her heart, and her naivety on her sleeve. I adored her and hope to see so much more of her in the next book.

Jason is a lunar, he is a royal guard. He is stuffy, loyal to his princess, tough, and doesn't ever seem to smile. He was a big part of the story, but the story is never told from his point of view, so I didn't connect with him as well as Cress, but he had some pretty awesome and funny moments.

My favorite character, I need to bring up, is Thorn. He was in Scarlet but he didn't leave me with quite as big of an impression in Scarlet as he did in this book. Probably because Scarlet was about Wolf and Scarlet. This book, Cress, has a big role for Thorn. The story is told many times from his point of view. Let me tell you... charming, arrogant, ridiculous, sexy, and so much more. I fell hard for Thorn. He had me laughing out loud so many times.

Along with those characters we still have tough Cinder, sweet Kai, evil Levana, and of course Wolf. So many wonderful characters jammed into one book. It was crazy.

The story was of course awesome too. We have the continuation of Cinder and her quest to stop the evil Levana and then we have Cress's story. Tower (satellite) hostage, long hair, handsome rescuer... all the basics... then we add in crash landings, desert surviving, computer hacking, butt kicking moments and the old story of Rapunzel becomes a sci fi adventure.

Marrissa Meyer is amazing. The writing was just spectacular. There wasn't a dull moment through out the entire book and it was jammed pack full of laughter, adventure, thrills, and of course romance. I don't think there could be any improvement.

One more thing. I listened to this book on audio and I want to take a moment to rave about the narrator. She did such a superb job. With so many povs being switched back and forth and so many characters, it was amazing they way she read this book. She gave each character life and each with such a unique voice. It was easy to tell who was doing what and when, and boy was I sucked in to their lives. I hope to listen to more from this narrator in the future. 

I will be reading and rereading this book years to come. I wish I could rate it more than a 5, but that is my highest. So its a 5++++

I live in Tacoma, Washington, with my fiancé and our two cats. In addition to my slight obsession with books and writing, I'm big on road-tripping, wine-tasting, and hunting for antiques. I'm represented by Jill Grinberg. CINDER, my debut novel, is a futuristic re-envisioning of Cinderella in which Cinder is a cyborg mechanic. Release date: 3 Jan 2012.