Cress by Marissa Meyer Series: The Lunar Chronicles #3
Also in this series: Cinder
Published by Macmillan on 2014-02-04
Genres: Fairy Tales Legends & Mythology, Retellings, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 560
Source: Purchased
My content rating: YA (Nothing more than kissing)
My rating:
In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.
Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.
When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.
***NOTE: This review is for the third book in a series and may contain spoilers for Cinder or Scarlet, the first book. Click here to read my review of Cinder or here to read my review of Scarlet.***
After reading Scarlet, I had to jump right into Cress because I was so excited about the story. Well, I was not disappointed at all!!
What I LOVED:
- Cress. Cress’s story is probably my favorite of the series so far. I just loved her mixture of intelligence and vulnerability. Cress has been hidden away her whole life, doing Levana’s bidding, just hoping that one day she will do enough to earn her life back. Of course, it doesn’t work that way, and Cress eventually realizes that she has the power to help Cinder and the ability to make a real difference against Levana. So she takes a huge chance and contacts Cinder. Unfortunately, things go very wrong and Cress ends up stranded with Thorne. I love that, even though Cress is quite naive, she is also incredibly smart – she often saves the day with her intelligence and ingenuity!
- Cress and Thorne. I love these two together. Cress is so completely naive, and she wants to think nothing but the best about Thorne. Thorne, on the other hand, doesn’t think of himself as a hero who saves the damsel in distress – and yet, he can’t help but find himself falling for Cress’s innocence and intelligence. Something happens (I won’t spoil what) that forces Thorne to depend on Cress more than he’s used to depending on anyone (though he definitely struggles against that). Thorne’s fun humor and Cress’s sweet nature make them a perfect pair!
- Cinder’s story. While part of this book is obviously focused on Cress (and Thorne), Cinder is still working toward her goal of unseating Levana. She is beginning to learn more about her powers and taking control of her destiny. As an added bonus, Kai is a bigger part of this book too!
- Winter. I was very intrigued to meet Winter, and now I can’t wait to read her story! She is a very unique character, and the small glimpses that I got of her in this book were just enough to whet my appetite and make me incredibly curious about her.
The negatives:
- Not as much Scarlet and Wolf. Of course, this book focused on Cress, and Cinder’s story still needed to move forward, but I missed seeing more of Scarlet and, especially, Wolf. They were definitely an important part of this book, but I just love them and can’t wait for even more!
Well, I’m definitely loving this series now, so I’m glad I jumped on the bandwagon. Time to read Fairest! I give Cress 5/5 stars and this series has made it onto my All-Time Favorites list!
About the Author
I live in Tacoma, Washington, with my fiancé and our two cats. In addition to my slight obsession with books and writing, I’m big on road-tripping, wine-tasting, and hunting for antiques. I’m represented by Jill Grinberg.
CINDER, my debut novel, is a futuristic re-envisioning of Cinderella in which Cinder is a cyborg mechanic. Release date: 3 Jan 2012.
Author Links:
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18 responses to “Cress by Marissa Meyer – Review”
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You’re making me want to pick this series back up! I love that this was such a fantastic read for you. I really do need to pick up book two and this one, I really enjoyed the first one. Wonderful review!
I got Fairest around the time it came out, but I still need to read it. It’s not long, so hopefully soon. haha I really loved Cress though, so I’m happy to see you did too.
-lauren
I’m so glad you enjoyed Cress! It is definitely my favorite in the series so far. I didn’t like Fairest as much, but I think I went into it naively expecting the plot to continue and it really is more of a backstory than anything else. Still very much worth the read though!
Yay! I’m so glad you like this series, as it is one of my all time favorites as well! I can’t possibly pick a favorite character or book, but I do think the Cress is the one I identify with the most. Her awkwardness and the way she kind of lives in fantasy land are all things I can relate to. All the couples are really sweet as well, but I have to agree with you about Scarlet and Wolf. They are my kind of, maybe favorites (I really can’t pick!).
Winter is pretty awesome as well. I read the excerpt that is at the end of Fairest and I think it’s going to be an amazing finale!
YAYAYYYY! I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS SERIES! SOOO much!
Oh NO! Please don’t tell me we don’t get more a lot of Scarlet and Wolf, they are my favorites. I need to read this book soon. Gotta find a break in my schedule for it. Thanks for the spoiler free review!
I much preferred Cress to Scarlet so this was my favorite book of the series!! 🙂
Oh I LOVED reading your review here Nicole^^ Cress was my favorite out of the series so far too! I had SO much fun getting to know Cress and her chemistry with Throne was a total highlight just as you said 😀 They are so cute together, I can’t wait to see how their relationship will develop in Winter! And speaking of which, I’m SUPER curious about Winter too. Like you, I also enjoyed how Cinder’s character developed and I especially loved seeing the whole gang working together as a team ♥
Yay! So glad to see you loved Cress! It’s my second favorite of the series, but wow does Marissa Meyer do such a fantastic job of bringing her characters together. The scope keeps getting bigger and bigger but never overwhelming. I’m DYING for Winter (and for my OTP Scarlet and Wolf to get back together)
100% agree. On every single point 🙂 Throne completely and totally earned my respect in this book, and I LOVE him and Cress together! And Cress is just … well, she’s awesome.
I loved Cress. I listened to it via the library. I also own the book so I would rush home from work and put post it notes on some of the amazing quotes.
I’m currently reading this and I must say, I am LOVING it! Cress is just amazing <3 And yes, I can totally see this Cress and Thorne ship sailing
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I also love Cress and Thorne! Thorne captured my heart in the second book, Scarlet and I hoped he would have his own lady! I felt that he was Han Solo-ish!
I really love this series. Can’t wait to read Winter!
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Love this series. Can’t find your review for Fairest and Winter though 🙁
Haha! There’s a good reason for that. It’s because I am a total series slacker, and I haven’t read the last two books in the series yet. You have full permission to pelt me with rotten tomatoes or something. I have some sort of sickness that makes me not finish series I LOVE!