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Cress (The Lunar Chronicles, #3)

Marissa Meyer

Start date: April 1, 2014

Finish date: April 30, 2014

Discussion: Book of the Month

Why we're reading this: Voted as our "Most Popular Books Published in February 2014" April BOM (Two Book Tie)…more
[close] Voted as our "Most Popular Books Published in February 2014" April BOM (Two Book Tie)

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What Members Thought

Oct 02, 2018 Brenda H rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

4.5 stars. Review to come

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 22, 2013 Kay rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, ya-fantasy-paranormal

Reviewed on Dead Book Darling

After the genius that was Scarlet, I expected great things from Cress . And while it wasn't quite as stellar, it was certainly an amazing book.

I came to a rather surprising conclusion while reading Cress . Namely, that my enjoyment of Meyer's writing is completely character-based, rather than author-based. With most authors, I find that if I am luke-warm about one book, I will feel the same about the next. But in Meyer's case, it depends completely on the chara Reviewed on Dead Book Darling

After the genius that was Scarlet, I expected great things from Cress . And while it wasn't quite as stellar, it was certainly an amazing book.

I came to a rather surprising conclusion while reading Cress . Namely, that my enjoyment of Meyer's writing is completely character-based, rather than author-based. With most authors, I find that if I am luke-warm about one book, I will feel the same about the next. But in Meyer's case, it depends completely on the character she is writing. As she changes narrators, she completely immerses herself into that character's mind. So, obviously, if I don't particularly like one character, I am not going to enjoy the writing. Now, you'd expect all authors to change their style according to characters, but most don't. Most tend to write in one style, expressing one set of values - albeit in different ways. Meyer can switch it up while still keeping control of the overall plot. Quite a feat.

That being said, since I didn't particularly like Cress as a character, I wasn't quite as enraptured with her book. My feelings were reminiscent of the way I felt about Cinder in her book (but not in Cress ... I'll get to that later). Cress is young, naive and was far too enraptured with Thorne. I understand this girl was locked away with no company and her behaviour was only reflective of that... but that still didn't make it enjoyable to read. Again, Meyer is way too good at getting into her character's brains. So when you aren't so keen on knowing what they think, then you don't love it.

Fortunately, rather like Scarlet , Cress follows the POV of many, many, many characters. We jump back and forth from Cress to Scarlet to Kai to Cinder, so on and so forth. Not only was I totally fine with that, I loved it! There are so many fantastic revelations taking place all over the planet(s), Meyer needs to jump about in order to keep up with the action. And yes, just like its predecessors, there is a ton of action! From Mexican stand-offs to kidnappings to space-ship crashes, Marissa Meyer delivers page after page of keep-you-up-all-night content. It's a joy to find such well-written, engaging plot in a YA novel.

Also, the multiple POV's meant I could check in on two of my favourites: Scarlet and Wolf! Oh my heart. While they weren't featured as prominently as I would have liked, they still made me squee. And surprisingly, I really enjoyed checking in with Cinder. While I've always liked her, she's never been my favourite character. But over the past two books, she has really grown into her own skin. Her self-loathing is dwindling and her confidence is booming - she is really turning into the Queen she is meant to be. Thanks, Ms. Meyer!

Bottom line? Another well-written, action-packed installment of the Lunar Chronicles. While I wasn't the biggest fan of Cress herself, I am looking forward to seeing how Meyer develops her character in the future! ...more

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May 20, 2017 Shan ~A~ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, humorous, romance, romance-humor, in-series-or-trilogy, favorites, young-adult, dystopian, futuristic

Loved it.
The title would lead you believe that it is all about Cress, and it is about her, but it is also the ongoing saga of the war between the Lunars and Earth.

These stories has so much of everything I love: friendship, family, love, war,action, lightheartedness (at times). There were points were I could picture the action taking place like I was watching a movie, so much so that I times I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat and impatient to get to the next page.

I was stoked to ge ...more

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