Winter (The Lunar Chronicles, #4) in Once Upon a Time...

Aug 12, 2014 Rachmi rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, utopian-dystopian-post-apocalyptic, retelling-and-or-inspired-by, fantasy

2.5 stars

I was really looking forward to get my hand on this book, first because it's the final book and secondly I'm curious to know how the author will wrap the story with all the characters from previous book into one satisfying ending. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy it as much as I want to. First part of the book felt dragging there's barely anything important happen. Add it with the long pages it made the dragging become almost unbearable. It’s also repetitive. Reading what happen to Cinder, 2.5 stars

I was really looking forward to get my hand on this book, first because it's the final book and secondly I'm curious to know how the author will wrap the story with all the characters from previous book into one satisfying ending. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy it as much as I want to. First part of the book felt dragging there's barely anything important happen. Add it with the long pages it made the dragging become almost unbearable. It’s also repetitive. Reading what happen to Cinder, Kai, Wolf, Scarlet, Cress, Thorne, Winter, Jacin and Iko was like running in circle chasing each other.

And not to mention the characters; Cinder, I know that she doesn't want to become a queen. But I thought after 3 books she will at least get used to the idea, more confident about herself and has plans to face the evil queen, Levana. But nope, every time she fails she loses herself, sometimes a bit whinny. I was quite angry to her when she whines when the Lunars don't instantly believe that she is Princess Selene. I mean they don't know her in the first place and she can be anyone who pretends to be the long lost queen, it makes sense if they questioning her. So she doesn't need to throw tantrum because they don't believe her.

And then Kai. He's a bit naive, in my opinion. As someone who is born to be a ruler, I kind of think he will think clearly, makes good decision and all. I guess he relies on his advisor, Konn Torin, too much. His reasons and decision are mostly rolling my eyes moments, if you want to know.

As for the evil queen, Levana. I see her as less evil here than in previous books which is too bad as I really like her cunning, decisive, and manipulative character. And reckless, especially when she's too easy to trust other characters, it doesn't make sense for her evil character. (view spoiler)

But the main reason I didn't quite enjoy this book was because the characters make bad, if not stupid, decision times and again. Reading it was like watching them fall into the same hole again and again which is frustrating me, big time, and annoying me because it makes me feel stupid, because I know they can do better than that. At this point I felt like I want to DNF it.

The only thing that made me keep reading it was Scarlet and Wolf. Now I know that my decision to choose their book, along with Levana, as my favorite of the series, isn't wrong. They are interesting characters that can capture my attention when other characters couldn't. I just love Scarlet no non-sense attitude and Wolf's less-talk-more-action personality. But even when I love Wolf, I’m still questioning him (view spoiler).

Fortunately the last 30% of the story was more interesting and less boring. I did enjoy reading the battle scene, though I’m not quite satisfied with it. The ending felt too easy for the Cinder & co. When Levana is described as pure evil incarnation along the series, I expect (view spoiler). As a Winter book, I thought she and Jacin will have bigger portion here. It’s her book, after all. But she and Jacin are kinda overshadowed by Cinder, Kai, Scarlet, Wolf, Cress, Thorne and even Iko. On the other hand, I liked that I get to see them again, especially Scarlet and Wolf.

All in all, as the final book, it didn’t live up my expectation. And with unclear ending, I think there’s a room for the author to write another story, maybe that’s why it is the way it is? Anyway, it’s just an (slightly) okay book for me.
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Mar 27, 2016 Felita rated it liked it

Shelves: paranormal-romance, young-adult, retelling

nulis review ini sekalian ngaku dosa....

pertama awal baca ya, agak membosankan....kegiatan detail cinder dkk menyusup pesawat Pangeran Kai cukup membuat diri ini mencari bacaan lain. rasanya males atau emang ga mood.

kemudian cerita Winter dan Jacin, lalu Scarlet, kemudian Cress ada lagi Pangeran Kai, perubahan POV cukup membuat mood turun.

tapi begitu setengah jalan cerita ketika Cinder tampil perdana di depan pemberontak dan kejadian setelahnya, cukup membuat mata melek, sangat penasaran gimana ...more

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May 06, 2015 Fiona Hurley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopia, fairy-tale, young-adult, science-fiction, space

Emotionally satisfying ending to an excellent series.

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Nov 15, 2015 Britain rated it liked it

Shelves: pg-13-reads

My rating for this book is probably more of 3.7 or 3.8 than it is an actual three, but they don't let us put decimals on here, so I used the descriptor "liked it" to make my rating choice.

"Liked it" is a good way to describe my feelings about this book. There were lots of things to like about it, really. The general sci-fi fairytale concept is probably the strongest selling point of the whole series. (I mean, Rapunzel in a satellite that crashes to earth??? SO cool!)

Cress is my favorite of the My rating for this book is probably more of 3.7 or 3.8 than it is an actual three, but they don't let us put decimals on here, so I used the descriptor "liked it" to make my rating choice.

"Liked it" is a good way to describe my feelings about this book. There were lots of things to like about it, really. The general sci-fi fairytale concept is probably the strongest selling point of the whole series. (I mean, Rapunzel in a satellite that crashes to earth??? SO cool!)

Cress is my favorite of the four main ladies, and Thorne is easily the most interesting guy in the book. Kai is lovable, which totally fits him, but he frustrated me at times with his inconsistent behavior. I wanted him to either truly own his duties as an emperor, or mess everything up because he was young and inexperienced. His weird blend of capable-and-purposefully-foolhardy started to wear on me after a while. Scarlet came across as mean rather than tough in this book. Perhaps it had something to do with the long break between reading #3 and #4. I thought she could have been a little more sympathetic to Winter's condition when she realized the girl meant her no harm and was treating her well. I didn't feel like Scarlet's later concern and care was as sincere as it could have been because she was so rude at the beginning.

The biggest problems with this book for me were length and a tendency for some of the characters and relationships to be too similar to one another after a while. The book is far longer than it needed to be. She has two big confrontations between Levana and Cinder, two dramatic attempts on Winter's life, two spectacular ceremonies, etc. It left me wondering if there was not some way to have cut the other characters down so that the story could focus mostly on Winter and Cinder, or to have condensed the Snow White side of the story a little more. The elaborate nature of the Lunar world resulted in a LOT of description of things that people in the middle of fighting or running probably would never have noticed. As for the characters and their relationships becoming similar, there were numerous times where I couldn't remember which couple I was following because they were all leaving kisses on the forehead or saying essentially the same things to one another. The individual differences of the characters didn't balance it out enough. And Winter was too much like Cress and Cinder to actually be her own unique individual, in spite of her craziness. Oh, and her sanity shifts between being totally lucid and knowledgeable one minute and crazy the next were a bit of a stretch for me to believe.

I would have only taken off one star for these things, but another star had to come off in protest of my biggest beef with the whole series: the loose morals included in the world-building of the series. Escort droids, the Lunar aristocratic indecency, Levana's romantic manipulations in "Fairest" (basically the entire book... it deeply disturbed me). I just think the series could have stood on its own without adding this element. Manipulating people is bad enough... does Meyer have to be so overt with the cultural acceptance of these things too? Personally, I don't think so.

Oh, and the book is gory... much more than I felt it needed to be.

Anyway, I did finish the book in spite of these things because Meyer did a good job of drawing me in and making want to know what happened to Cinder and the gang. I agree with other reviewers that the ending left something to be desired, but overall the book was interesting, and the twists Meyer introduced to the original fairytales were great. She has always been very good at that.
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Apr 06, 2016 Jill Heather rated it liked it

Shelves: sff, sciencefiction, ya, science, fairytale

This book is at least twice the length it needed to be, and wow everyone is so straight in this series.

It's fine, it's fun, I'll read whatever she comes up with next, but editing is not a four-letter word. ...more

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