I loved this book. It’s like a giant blend of everything I love about the Marvel movies (Iron Man, Thor, The AvOh. My. God. Marissa Meyer, you genius.
I loved this book. It’s like a giant blend of everything I love about the Marvel movies (Iron Man, Thor, The Avengers etc.. if you’ve been living under a rock) in the sense that it’s a tornado of fabulous characters, witty one-liners, imaginative storytelling, interweaving plots, secondary characters that dazzle (Iko!), wonderful writing and such a stunningly evil villain.
Marissa Meyer, are you Joss Whedon?
How’s that for an endorsement? I love being able to be completely enthusiastic about books that I just, quite honestly, really really really enjoyed reading. Just reading these words and these people makes me happy and gives me endorphins or something, which creates a positive feedback loop that results in this review.
In Cress, a new character is introduced—Crescent Moon, Levana’s (the baddie) best hacker who has Earthen sympathies and joins the ragtag group led by Cinder to try and save the world. No pressure or anything. That’s all I’m going to say about the plot, and it’s a mighty damn good one, full of twists and jump cuts, but honestly, it’s slightly overwhelmed by how great the characters are. I don’t think I can even express how much I love them—they’re just a perfect blend of funny, sympathetic, flawed, and kick-ass. They’re what makes the series worthwhile and especially their interactions and relationships. I loved reading about the Wolf and Scarlet dynamic, and can’t wait to see how that plays out, along with the tiny glimpse of Winter. It’s always dangerous when the number of ‘main’ characters seems to grow so much; it runs into the problems of some important people being pushed off to the side. Luckily, I think this book avoided that and managed to give a nice, satisfying dose of each character, along with doing a great job familiarizing readers with new ones.
I love the world that Meyer created, with both the futuristic Earth and the looming Luna, and how people from the two planets are different—particularly with the Lunar powers which I found an interesting touch. The fairy tail influence really gave it a nice feel, and I appreciated how grand the scale of things are, which ups the ante and sets up book 4 for a thrilling conclusion.
Overall, this was one of my favourite books of 2013....more
4.5/5, I might change it to 5/5 later because that's how much I adored it.
I just have all these feelings. Like it feels as if my chest has swelled up4.5/5, I might change it to 5/5 later because that's how much I adored it.
I just have all these feelings. Like it feels as if my chest has swelled up and I'm both happy and sad and just so..... yeah. It's hard to explain.
You know what is the best thing about this book? I mean, the thing that's just ridiculously refreshing and caught me off guard. It's this:
The book is about Eleanor. And Park. And their relationship and nothing greater than that (well, immediate family excluded). There is no grand plan. There is no greater good, there is no war, no impending apocalypse, this was a story about two teenagers who fall in love and fall in love in a ridiculously adorable way. There's intimacy to this type of storytelling in which the reader is wildly consumed by just two people-- it's a small story, but maybe that's what makes it feel so much bigger.
Plus, this book had the best references. Rowell referenced Dicey Tillerman for goodness sakes, that's some quality stuff. Han Solo, too.
And the writing was dreamy. And the freaking metaphors were to die for. Eleanor thought of Park as a protagonist to a story and I was just like hallelujah what is this perfection.. it was the little things like that. I wish I had sticky notes as I was reading because they would have been everywhere. I love the two characters. I love love love love loved them. They were both so beautiful. And I LOVED Park's parents SO MUCH omg.
They actually deserve an entire paragraph's dedication. Because I loved them and their story and their conflicts and their relationship with Park. Everything. So wonderfully written (and cute).
I'll be thinking of this book for days.
Do read it if you get the chance. It's different. It's quirky and soft but also tragic and unfair. Kind of like life. Except I wish life had more guys like Park and more girls like Eleanor. ...more
WOW. What an ending. For these individual characters, Day and June, I can't think of a better, bittersweet, yet completely beautiful conclusion. Huge WOW. What an ending. For these individual characters, Day and June, I can't think of a better, bittersweet, yet completely beautiful conclusion. Huge congrats to Marie Lu for such brilliant execution (no, not an ACTUAL execution, she's just a fab writer, okay??).
Some small issues with prose. A few gripes with the plot, maybe some nitpicky details. It wasn't super-memorable, but that's honestly not a super big deal.
I liked how the characters felt older. I liked how I could recognize their change throughout the series.
I really liked the tension, and the relationship between our two main characters.
I loved Day, I loved June.
That's what it comes down to, right? These characters we cheer for as we watch them evolve and grow. These characters who come into their own. These characters who jump right into our hearts from the very first page of Legend, and won't leave it at the end of Champion. There's a bazillion reasons why I started this series, but these characters made me stay.
4/5. But I'll say that that ending, man. The last 35 pages. EXACTLY what I didn't know I wanted. That's how you end a series. ...more
This was one of my most anticipated books of the YEAR. I have unrestrained adoration for For Darkness Shows the Stars, and to say I was excited for thThis was one of my most anticipated books of the YEAR. I have unrestrained adoration for For Darkness Shows the Stars, and to say I was excited for this companion novel with such an interesting premise is a gross implication.
It was so good. My opinion may be completely clouded by a lot of factors-- for one, I desperately wanted to love it. I wanted to love it, NOT "I wanted it to be good'... I think there's a difference there. But yes, I did really love it and there's so many reasons and I don't really feel like spelling them out.
A few points first, because I want to be fair and not completely biased. There was definitely some heavy-handed writing, a LOT of "tell not show", especially when it came to trying to portray Justen's view of Persis. I understand why Peterfreund approached it this way, to show the actual growth of the character and how his opinions change, but it felt very forced at times. Entire pages of exposition dedicated to his less-than-ideal view of the heroine. Also, and it saddens me to say, but the "cameo" didn't particularly impress me. But perhaps I was just swept up with the Persis's story and didn't want the detour. It also takes a few chapters to get into the groove of things and make sense of this world-- the Reduced, Regs, Aristos.. a lot of it was kind of overwhelming at the beginning and hard to make sense of.
Okay, onto the good things. PERSIS I LOVE YOU. So much. In a similar way that I fell for Elliot North, I felt she was such a stunning, worthy character. Perhaps a bit too awesome/perfect at times, but DAMN all you shitty movie writers out there, THIS IS A FUCKING BADASS STRONG LADY HEROINE. We need more Persis Blakes in the world. She's complicated, alarmingly smart, brave, capable... it's kind of impossible not to admire her. I loved her relationship with Justen (it felt very Pride and Prejudice at times, which was an odd observation but nevertheless an appreciative one), as well has her relationship with the Princess, her parents, and Wild Poppy (heh). I wish there were a few more action scenes, kissing scenes, and I won't say no to more badassery, and I also appreciated the political game as well (although sometimes it felt a tad clunky).
The writing was well done, and I did enjoy the fact that readers get multiple points of view but not in an obtrusive manner. The adored the descriptions-- the clothes, the people, the sea cave, the glamour, the clothes (yes, honestly)... they all came together to make this book that much more engrossing. And I was desperate to see how Persis' adventures would go. PS- science in books = two thumbs up!
I'll admit, I'm probably kind of biased, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't take me seriously when I say that this book is great and you should read it ;) It's not perfect, but it's a 4.5/5.
The point of this reivew: Persis is effing awesome and she makes me love this book.
I'm pretty much fangirling a character, people. Take note. ...more
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