Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles, #3.5) in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Sep 11, 2015 Lacey Louwagie rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, sciencefiction, 100-book-challenge-2015, youngadultfantasy, youngadult, fairy-tales, retelling, into-the-forest-2015

3.5

Although I didn't rate this book as highly in the others in this series, some parts of it really impressed me.

In a lot of media, villains are treated in one of two ways: as exclusively evil (think almost every depiction of Snow White's wicked queen you've ever encountered), or as tragically misunderstood (think Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West). I expected this book to go the second route -- that even after getting a sense of how evil Levana was in Cinder and Scarle 3.5

Although I didn't rate this book as highly in the others in this series, some parts of it really impressed me.

In a lot of media, villains are treated in one of two ways: as exclusively evil (think almost every depiction of Snow White's wicked queen you've ever encountered), or as tragically misunderstood (think Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West). I expected this book to go the second route -- that even after getting a sense of how evil Levana was in Cinder and Scarlette, that this book would somehow "redeem" her and awaken all sorts of conflicted feelings when she appeared in the villain's role in all the other books.

Nope, this book lets Levana stay evil.

And that is the beauty of it: that it lets Levana truly BE evil (as opposed to misunderstood), but that it doesn't make that ALL that she is. There are moments where she deserves and receives no sympathy: (view spoiler) But then there are also moments in which you can't help but admire her -- in the way that she really DOES care about being a good ruler, even if she has a misguided idea of what that means. Meyer does a good job of contrasting her with Channery, who is purely selfish and shallow and only enjoys being Queen for the parties and attention. Levana, on the other hand, takes an interest in Lunar politics, wants her country to succeed, and has a misguided sense that everything she does is for Lunar's own good. Patronizing to be sure, but not purely evil. The book shows Levana in some of her most vulnerable moments -- longing for a man who will never love her, self-conscious about the deformity she hides beneath her "glamour." At the same time, it never excuses her horrible behavior even as it lends some understanding.

The reason I gave this book fewer than four stars is because, since it covers a span of about 10 years, there were places where it seemed to slow down as Meyer used summary to transition from one "important" event to another one. And the ending was so abrupt! I was listening to it on audio, so I didn't have the same sort of warning one has when reading (and you can see you are on the last page, for example.) So when the narrator's voice came on being like, "We hope you have enjoyed this production ..." I was like WTF? THAT was the ending? It's not particularly satisfying -- but then I suppose the way the Lunar Chronicles ultimately resolve will tell us how Levana's story ends. It was nice to have the opportunity to also see how it began. ...more

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Mar 02, 2015 Renata rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, ya, sci-fi

ahh I LOVE this series and I loved this backstory for Levana. it's so sad and unsettling. It kind of humanizes Levana, but also... alienizes her. Yes.

Also I'd kind of forgotten some of the details of the previous books so this was a good recap of a few key plot points. I'm still so impressed by how Meyer keeps the core of all these fairy tales while doing so much cool world building without getting dragged down into boring stuff. SO IMPRESSIVE! <3 ...more

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Mar 19, 2015 Jillian rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This might actually be the strongest of the Lunar books I've read - we already know Levana is the villain, so the problematic stuff she does is to be expected. What I *really* liked is that the "tragic backstory" isn't supposed to make you LIKE Levana, and it doesn't excuse her in any way. She justifies her own actions, and while Meyer lets you *understand* her, she doesn't ever try to make her out to be a poor, misunderstood hero.
Also, MASSIVE bonus points for allowing character development of ...more

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Jun 16, 2014 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult, based-on-a-folk-tale, fantasy-and-sci-fi, r2015-in-2015

I don't really know how I felt about this book. I mean, as a book, it was enjoyable. But as part of the Lunar Chronicles series, it was disappointing. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that Ms Meyer originally meant this to just be a short story about Levana, and then Levana's story needed to be told in full, and this ended up being more book-length. So I should have known, I guess: this doesn't really continue the Cinder-Scarlet-Cress story-arc that I have really come to love, this is just ... a ...more

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Mar 25, 2015 Megan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, sci-fi

I thought this was going to be a short story, but it turned out to be longer, and that's why I bothered getting it from the library. :p At any rate, you can read this without having read the series. So that's nice. But I would have liked to see stuff from her POV that went on at least during the first book. ...more

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Feb 19, 2015 Akilah rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015

Levana is nucking futs. Like, homegirl is a true psychopath.

Will review on the blog.

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Sep 11, 2015 Adriel rated it liked it

Shelves: ya

I cannot bear this book. I hate Levanna too much. It is unbearable to read. I quit.

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Apr 13, 2015 Nic rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016

Fairest is Queen Levana's story. It takes places in the years before the first book and shows all the steps and maneuvering we haven't been privy to before. Marissa Meyer accomplishes something perfect in that she manages to make you feel bad for the so-called main villain of the story. Not completely, of course, and it's expertly managed with moments where you feel bad for Levana interspersed with moments where you dislike her and can see how she turns into the Queen that shows up in Cinder.

...more

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Jan 27, 2016 Etchison rated it liked it

I'm glad I read this before Winter... I wasn't sure how integral it was to the series, since it's one of those in between short novel things, but it definitely helped me have a richer reading experience for the final installation in the series. Levana is one of those characters I'm really torn between pitying and hating... mainly hating. ...more

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