take your broken heart; make it into art

This is, without a doubt, my favourite of the four books. The pacing is just incredible! Unlike the previous two books, which occasionally struggled to either hold the readers interest or contained too much too fast, Meyer has finally hit that sweet spot. It jumps from adventure, to mystery, to action, to romance, so fast and so well that it’s almost impossible to put down. As always, those amazing cliff-hangers leave the reader wanting more.

Cress is nothing like the other main characters that have been introduced so far. Cinder and Scarlet are brave and outspoken. Cress is shy, scared, naive. Like Cinder, she is a prisoner, and like Cinder she is desperate to escape. But that is really where the similarity ends. She’s still my favourite thought - sweet, smart, mad Cress.

And Thorne becomes a different person in this book (not a bad thing). His character developement is immense. Her absolutely melts around Cress, not because he has romantic feelings for her (those come later), but because he is a genuinely good man who sees that she needs help. The slowburn, tender (somewhat clique, but I love it) romance between them is so loveable.

Fans of Iko would also really love this book! Our sassy, funny, favourite android takes on a much larger role from here on out. She becomes an integral part of the gang.

Those three characters are easily the best part of this series. Even though Cinder is the main protagonist, she is outshone by this motley crew of rag-tag randomers who build themselves a found family.

In this book we meet more of the gang in the form of Scarlet, Wolf and Carswell Thorne. Cinder remains her usual, reluctant but compationate self, she fights not because it is the right thing to do, but because it is the only thing she can do.  and somehow Meyer makes the audience feel even more sypathetic towards the poor Prince Kai.

Scarlet is, much like Cinder, a reluctant heroine, but with one keye difference - she is drawn to danger. In all honesty, I think Scarlet is the most relatable character in the series. Her personality is as fiery as her red hair and she won’t take crap from anyone.

Wolf is probably my least favourite of all the main characters, but that doesn’t mean he’s a bad character. Wolf is a very complicated man: he’s gentle when he wants to be, but could crush anyone with his bare hands, he pretends he doesn’t care, when deep down he does. However, the plot twist involving him is very predictable.

Now Carswell Thorne is the one man in this I truly, truly adore. One of Earth’s most wanted fugitives until Cinder came along, Thorne is charismatic, playful and comedic. He’s witty and charming and smart. Yet another reluctant hero, he fights the opposite battle to Cinder: struggling to turn from career criminal to good guy.

There are a lot of side plots in the narrative, some of them are predictable and sometimes a little unnecessary (why does no one in fiction comunicate?). So much happens and I don’t think Meyer always explores it to its full potential, even though it’s longer than its predecessor it feels more rushed. That being said, it is incredibly difficult to put Scarlet down. Meyer’s writing style is addictive and she knows how to write a good cliffhanger!