REVIEW: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Cress by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Original Publication Year: 2014

Genre(s): Science Fiction, YA

Series: The Lunar Chronicles #3

Awards: None

Format: In Print

Narrated By: NA

NOTE: Book 3 in the Eclectic Reader Challenge  - Book Published in 2014

Recommended Subtitle: Cress! Not just for arty salads!

This series continues to deliver and may even be getting a little bit better as it goes along. It has fast-paced storytelling with characters that are easy to get behind on a science fiction adventure based on iconic fairy tales. What’s not to love.

Cress’ is based on the fairy tale Rapunzel (Rapunzel is one name for a tasty green, as is Cress – get it?). Instead of a tower, Cress is imprisoned in a satellite orbiting Earth and instead of a Prince she gets “Captain” Thorne. She also does initially have crazy long hair and Meyer does a great job describing how difficult and sort of gross having all that hair would be. It gets chopped pretty quickly.

Cress is a different sort of heroine then Cinder and Scarlet who were more world wise and take charge sort of gals. Cress is sheltered and innocent while also being intimately acquainted with the evil in people and the world. She is a witch’s slave after all. She also has a flat out raging crush on Thorne before she even meets him which puts their relationship in an interesting place. I love how Thorne’s arrogance negates any awkwardness that may come from her gooeyness towards him because he expects nothing less than complete adoration from any woman he meets.

You know what else I love about this series? Meyer does her best to soothe my poor nerves which have been knocked around by the likes of A Song of Ice and Fire and The X-files. How are these three things related? By plans. The presence or absence of one. Meyer seems to have had a detailed and intricately woven plan in place for the whole series before she ever sat down and wrote the first word of Cinder. Mysteries from two books ago come to fruition here, story lines are beginning to intersect and each character has a purpose in the grand scheme of the story. It makes my wizened little anal retentive soul glow with admiration and appreciation.

Final Verdict: This series continues to be a well thought out and imagined page-turning escapist read and the end of this one will infuriate you because the next book doesn’t come out for another year.

This counts in the published in 2014 category