The second book in The Lunar Chronicles follows two protagonists - Linh Cinder, a young cyborg mechanic from New Beijing, and Scarlet Benoit, a young French farmer.
After the events of Cinder, now viewed as a criminal, Cinder tries to escape from prison before she is executed. While on the other side of the world Scarlet suddenly finds herself alone after her grandmother disappears mysteriously. Desperate for any leads on her grandmother’s whereabouts, Scarlet meets Wolf, a strange street fighter, who introduces her to a world she never thought possible. Finding themselves caught in a dangerous game of cat and mouse, Scarlet, Wolf and the now fugitive Cinder must evade Queen Levana and try to stop her plot to capture and marry Prince Kai.
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!
TL;DR: The plot is a little messy, but still very enjoyable and fun. The characters and cliffhangers are what makes this book so good! A book doesn’t have to be flawless to be good.
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Now fugitives on the run from Levana and her army, Cinder, Thorne, Scarlet, and Wolf try to rescue Cress, a young girl imprisoned in a satellite. Through her enslavement, Cress has become an excellent hacker and is the bands best chance of gaining access to Levana. When the rescue goes arwy they are all seperated and have to fight their way back to stop the evil Queen Levana from marrying Emperor Kai.
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.
My one criticism of this book is that Levana is still very much a stock character villain. She is much too easy to hate. I wish there was more to her.
I have decided to take part in @books-and-cookies July re-read-a-thon! I’m currently in the middle of re-reading a series, so it’s perfect.
Throughout July I plan to re-read:
Cress by Marissa Meyer. The third book in The Lunar Chronicles (I’ve just re-read the first and am about to finish the second) following a band of renegades trying to bring down an oppresive regime. Feauturing adapatations of fairytales, such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White.
Winter by Marissa Meyer. The fourth installment of The Lunar Chronicles. This is the endgame.
North Child by Edith Pattou (I believe this is known as East outside of the UK). Based off a Norweigen folktale, this was one of my favourite books as a child and I’ve probably read it upwards of 5 times, however, it’s been at least 8 years since my last re-read and I’ve forgotten most of the storyline.
And, if I have time I would like to re-read The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. I read these back in 2012 and haven’t re-read them since. I figure it’s about time.
This... seems like a lot right now... so I’m not sure I’ll read it all within the month, but I’ll certainly give it a go!
