Kelby & Elena - Winter

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

Kelby & Elena - Winter

[Kelby *TwistedCactusReads*]

Elena are you still good to start this on the 17th?

[Elena]

hey!
yes I am . I just got it on audio and put it on my ipod :)

[Elena]

you've read Cress and Scarlet , right?
I was just looking at your Cinder review and didn't see the other two, so maybe you just didn't add them to GR :)

[Elena]

oh never mind, sorry, I'm blind - you added them, just didn't review them :D

[Kelby *TwistedCactusReads*]

I was lazy and didn't do a review on them...LOL Do we need to read before we read Winter? Have you read it yet?

[Elena]

I just found out about this now!! I see in the synopsis that it's Levana's story... Im sure it's amusing, but probably not essential to Winter ... Up to you - if you want to, im in!

[Kelby *TwistedCactusReads*]

On the author's blog it says that they should be read in publication order which would mean that Fairest would be read first. We can read it first and then just extend our Winter read into November if we need to.

[Elena]

Sure . Starting Fairest?

[Kelby *TwistedCactusReads*]

Yep, I'll start it tonight!

[Elena]

so far , so good...
I'm about 20% in (I'm listening to audio) ... I feel bad for Levana... I mean , she seems mean , but not as mean as her sister. And their parents were described as mean too - I wonder why the whole family would be just plain evil... for no reason...

[Kelby *TwistedCactusReads*]

I am feeling bad for her too. It seems like her sister was the one who burned her but I am curious as to the reason.

[Elena]

I'm at about 75% ...
Levana goes from likable to despicable in a matter of a few lines, and then back again ... I am completely torn... I feel bad for her one moment, HATE her the next. I can see how she was this lonely, mistreated girl ... But that really doesn't excuse the killer she turned into !

[Kelby *TwistedCactusReads*]

I hope to finish the book tomorrow. Didn't get much reading in because we had a busy weekend! I am going to ask them to keep our thread open for Nov.

[Elena]

i have finished it ...
(view spoiler)[ I had a bad feeling that she was the one who eventually has her husband killed... (hide spoiler)]

While this book made it a bit easier to relate to Levana, I still dont' understand where all this evil comes from?! Realistically, there is always supposed to be a REASON why someone is the way they are - she just seems to have been having evil thoughts since she was a child... Maybe not as evil as her sister, but pretty close! And she ended up doing the same to Cinder that her sister did to her - burning her ... Again - we don't really know why her sister burned her when they were kids?! Just out of pure evil ?!?!
I don't get it ... I think that this evil that runs in their family was never fully/clearly explained. And now , knowing all this - how can I expect Cinder to be any better?! I mean - Cinder was always described as good and kind, but with a mother like that and an aunt like that , who were pure evil for no reason - why would Cinder be any better genetically?!

[Kelby *TwistedCactusReads*]

I have been thinking the same thing. I have about 20 pgs left. I don't like that we don't have a specific event that made her basically hate everyone and think that she was so entitled and when we didn't get an explanation I was just left thinking "what the hell"!! At least we get some background on Winter, Jacin and Cress (although it was just mentioned that she was the doctor's daughter that was taken away because she was a shell). I didn't actually see a purpose to this book and feel like the important parts could have been worked into the actual books in the series.

[Elena]

I agree! The backstory could have been woven into Winter-it really didn't give me some amazing new info. Ok yes, we learn more about Levana, but not quite what i wanted to know (whyyy she is so evil and entitled) . All the other bits and pieces we get about Winter , Cinder, Cress, etc...could have been included in the prior/last/next books as little "flashbacks" or whatever... Overall - ok, but not great!

[Elena]

Started Winter :)

[Kelby *TwistedCactusReads*]

It will be Nov 1 before I can start Winter :( I have to finish reading The Shining for 3 challenges this month.

[Elena]

No worries... i will write my comments and hide them with spoilers and we will discuss when you start on Nov.1.

[Kelby *TwistedCactusReads*]

Sounds good!!

[Elena]

holyyyyyyyyy! this book is 832 pages long!! I thought the last two books were too long... i wonder how this will play out .... so far - so good. I am liking it better than Scarlet or Cress as it is definitely more action packed - even though it has twice as many pages. I guess the author really needs to wrap up all these stories

my biggest complaint with Scarlet and ESPECIALLY Cress was that i thought they were too long and had too many needless descriptions and too little action. I don't have that problem with this one so far (even thought it is MUCH longer than the ones before).. i wonder if the author should have maybe split it into 2 books or is Winter so complex as a character with such a complex storyline as to warrant an 800+ page book? I guess it's not Winter herself or her story, it's the finishing of the whole series - EVERYONE's story ends with this book ... So i guess we will be seeing a lot of everyone...

[Elena]

ok I'm done! (view spoiler)[ I really liked this one - it was , I think, the best of all of them! it was too long, but it wasn't boring, because I felt like the author really needed all the pages to fully wrap up all the stories and loose ends. The ending was sweet, without being too sugary - I like that Kai and Cinder remained true to themselves and their AGE (what are they, like 17-18?!) and didn't "rush off and marry and live happily ever after" ... their ending sounded more realistic... And Cinder deciding that she doesn't want to be queen forever was also a realistic approach ... Loved Thorne and Cress, Wolfe and Scarlet ... Winter herself was ok, but kind of a confusing character... I did not get the impression that she was "crazy" during the book - just a bit eccentric, due to things that happened to her during her childhood... But then at the end, she is constantly labelled as "crazy and insane" (and acts it) - and I just thought that came almost out of nowhere ... I wish we had more information on that and on whether that "experimental treatment" she signed up for would help her... (hide spoiler)]

[Elena]

more detailed commenting and ranting :)

About Winter and Jacin : (view spoiler)[ I still think that this book should have been divided into two... There just seemed to be to many threads that the author tried to wrap up (sometimes unsuccessfully) in this one! So I think that Winter pretty much got cheated out of her own love story, since we barely have time to see her and Jacin together! I really needed their relationship to develop ON PAPER, so that i could believe it... This way, we were constantly told of her love and his devotion, but i had no idea where this was coming from, as i've witnessed their interactions maybe 3 times in total... I wanted more romance out of the two of them and felt like they barely got any!! (hide spoiler)]

Thorne and Cress: (view spoiler)[ I wished their story was more developed/finished. Are they a couple now?! Are they in love officially?! Or is Thorne going to blow her off the first chance he gets, AGAIN?! Words of love were not properly exchanged at the end... Ok I guess I'm looking too much into this - this is clearly not a Harlequin romance :D (hide spoiler)]

I also had issues with the resolution of Wolfe and Scarlet: (view spoiler)[ Well not so much Scarlet, as WOLFE! So Wolfe's whole genetic makeup was altered, this horrible thing happened to him and he was turned into a beast by Levana... We are told over and over again that this is awful, that the soldiers lose their humanity , that they become all animal, etc... Then all of a sudden - he's back to himself, because ... of Scarlet?! Because they are mated?! Sure, ok ... But I mean , to me it wasn't written well - it just happened that he was no longer a beast and they lived happily ever after - the author never really addresses it properly!! Throughout this book (and the previous books) this was the biggest threat to him (to soldiers), that they would be turned into emotionless, instinct-led beasts! Then it happened to Wolfe and I kept thinking "omg! how is the author going to write herself out of this one?! what will have to happen for Wolfe to be "human" again", and in the end it was brushed off like it's nothing! Absolutely NOTHING happened to make him human again, other than implying that with Scarlet he is always himself. For me that wasn't good enough... (hide spoiler)]

Levana (view spoiler)[ So we all have to agree that Levana was sooo evil, for such a long time, to sooo many people - but I didn't like the way she was brought down in the end! I guess it could be said that it's ironic - that in the end she was brought down by her vanity! But really?! The author couldn't find a better way to defeat this super evil queen, other than by showing the world her ugly face?! So physical ugliness was what led to her demise?! Not all the bad stuff she has done!? That's a bit shallow, no?? I mean, Levana deserved all she got, but i find it hard to believe that she was defeated just because the world found out she was scarred and hideous!? I mean - this is the ONE thing that was NOT her fault! This is the ONE thing that shouldn't have bothered anyone! So people turned against her because her ugly face leaked on screen?! And this got her sooo upset that she gave up the battle and lost her powers?! It's a little underwhelming to find out that a physical handicap was used against someone (even if that someone was the villain of the story) and it was enough to beat them. Couldn't the author have managed to use all of Levana's evil against her somehow?! I would have been way more satisfied with that... BUt I get it - it goes to show that she was soooo vain, that once people found out she was ugly and saw her real self, her powers/concentration/manipulation weakened and her spirits were crushed.... (hide spoiler)]

[Elena]

how far along are you ?

[Kelby *TwistedCactusReads*]

Wow, you finished that quick! I am about 100 pgs in. I am trying to start up a new business and it has taken up more of my reading time than I would like.

[Elena]

I listen to audio often so that makes it go faster because i can "read" anywhere, lol :))

Good luck with your business- definitely a higher priority here :))