Title: Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3)
by Marissa Meyer
Publishing Info: February 4, 2014 by
Macmillan
Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young Adult Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon //
GoodreadsDate Completed: September 14, 2013 Related Posts: Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1), Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles #2), , Glitches (The Lunar Chronicles #0.5), The Queen's Army (The Lunar Chronicles #1.5), Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky (Lunar Chronicles #3.1), Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1), Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2), Cress (The Lunar Chronicles, #3), Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4), Stars Above (A Lunar Chronicles Collection), Heartless, Wires and Nerve, Volume 1 (Wires and Nerve #1), Renegades (Renegades #1)
In this third book in Marissa Meyer's bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, 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 prevent her army from invading Earth.Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl trapped 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 being forced to work for Queen Levana, and she’s just received orders to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is splintered. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a higher price than she’d ever expected. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai, especially the cyborg mechanic. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

How in the WORLD do I make it through this review without just straight up fangirling all over the place? Deep breaths… I will try to remain calm. Except for the fact that LEGITIMATELY CRESS may be the best book I have ever read. No exaggeration. Okay, okay, where do I start…
Let’s start off with Cress herself. I really loved her as a new addition to this cast of characters, which was all ready pretty amazing. Whereas Cinder and Scarlet are tough and take-charge, Cress has been kept naïve and obedient all of her life… Except for when she finally decides to take action and disobey her guardian Sybil Mira in order to help Cinder and her own personal idol and heartthrob, Carswell Thorne. I really appreciated how well done Cress’s character was! I think often times when characters are portrayed as naïve and innocent, it’s overplayed and the character becomes a caricature of themself, but Cress felt incredibly real and had a lovely range of emotions that made me really connect with her. She has an adorable crush on Thorne and that also really added to the depth of her character. She slowly begins to find out things about Thorne, about the Lunars, and even things about herself that really helps her grow as a person and come out of her shell. (No pun intended since she herself is a shell.)
Speaking of Thorne — I cannot even wait to talk about him. Normally I save my gushing over the romances for later it the review but nope. Can’t do it. Thorne absolutely stole my heart in CRESS and I’m so glad we got to see more of him! I had suspected in SCARLET that since he was partnering with Cinder, there was going to be a romantic development between the two of them, but I’m so glad we get to see that romantic side of him develop with Cress. I love the balance between the two characters and how well they work together. They both really learn a lot from each other and grow immensely since we’ve first seen them in the series. There are some SUPER SWOONY MOMENTS and my heart absolutely melted so many times. Eeee, just thinking about those super swoony moments sets my heart all a-flutter again!
Another thing I really enjoyed about CRESS was getting deeper into the history of the Lunars and seeing more Lunar characters. They absolutely fascinate me and I love learning more about their culture and history so that was definitely a big plus for this book! We’ve been learning more little by little as our heroes find out but CRESS featured them much more prominently and I was absolutely enthralled with their story lines. Their history and their characters provide some AMAZING twists and the way the histories of the characters are weaved… I’m absolutely floored when these twists are revealed. The plot of this series is genius and I love how each character adds a new layer to the story without leaving the other characters behind. Instead of battling for the spotlight, these characters fit together perfectly and create one fantastic series.
The action and adventure in this series is phenomenal. I don’t know why, but I often feel lost reading action scenes… Either they’re over explained or not detailed enough and I just end up getting a little lost in the melee, but Marissa Meyer does not have those issues at all. I felt like I was watching a movie the entire time I was reading CRESS and the action scenes did not let me down! Really, the whole book felt like a movie and I may be jumping the gun WAY too much, but this is a series I NEED to see as a movie or TV show. (I’m hoping for movie!) I would absolutely die to see this series on the big screen because dare I say it, but I agree with Stormy when she left a comment on my Top Ten Tuesday a while back — This is a series of Harry Potter proportions. I don’t think I’ve loved any series as much as this since Harry Potter and I would love to see it all come life off of the pages as well!
Okay, okay, time to talk about the rest of the romances. I love that we get to see more of Scarlet and Wolf’s relationship. They have something really special and you know what… I love that each romantic relationship in this book is so incredibly different. The characters are unique and yet they fit together perfectly. I know everyone was swooning over Prince Kai in CINDER and yes, I liked him, but I didn’t quite swoon until CRESS. There’s a big moment which obviously I won’t spoil but one thing that really bridged the gap between liking and loving Kai in CRESS and I went absolutely nuts for it!
CRESS is by far the best book I have read in a long time in the best series I have read in a long time. Marissa Meyer has gold with The Lunar Chronicles and CRESS just made me fall in love with the series that much more. Each new story we get just adds to my love more and more and as much as I had already loved the series, CRESS has solidified it as one of my favorite series of all time. The Lunar Chronicles definitely has a special place in my heart and you bet I will be HIGHLY anticipating the release of WINTER… Oh, the agony the waiting will be…

Cress // Character Obsessions: Technology, Carswell Thorne, helping Cinder.
Cress is adorable. She’s sweet, innocent, naïve, and completely lovable. She is a fantastic addition to this character ensemble and I totally fell in love with her story. She brings so much to this team and I’m so glad we get to see her story and how it fits in with the rest of the crew!
Carswell Thorne // Character Obsessions: Humor, flying, being a general outlaw, sarcasm.
DON’T EVEN LET ME START ON THORNE. I positively love him. I. swooned. HARD in CRESS. Thorne was witty, supportive, sly, romantic, adorable, smart… Oh lordy. He was just fantastic and I’m so so so glad he became even more of a main character in CRESS.

Kept Me Hooked On: EVERYTHING. The Lunar Chronicles. Sci-Fi, dystopian, fantasy, retellings, fairy tales. Action, adventure, romance, suspense, twists. I can’t even tell you how much I am in love with this series and CRESS just brought everything to the next level. This is serious business, folks.
Left Me Wanting More: EVERYTHING. CRESS was not lacking anything that I can possibly think of but it left me aching for of The Lunar Chronicles. I’m easily a Marissa Meyer fan for life and I very well may pass out when WINTER comes out. Just saying.
Addiction Rating
BUY IT! BUY THEM ALLLL
If you haven’t read any of The Lunar Chronicles yet, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?! This is one of two series (*The Grisha Trilogy*ahem*) that I will book push at you until the end of time! Trust me, I was skeptical about a cyborg Cinderella too, but it is sooooo much more than that. TRY IT. YOU’LL LIKE IT. No, you’ll LOVE IT.
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