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Review: THE LUNAR CHRONICLES: WINTER BY MARISSA MEYER😱😱😱 (SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS)

Chidinma Ogbonnaya
Nov 28, 2015
9 min read

I'VE BEEN SUPER EXCITED FOR THIS TO COME OUT!!! For those who don't know, this is one of my most anticipated releases of the year (you can check out my list if you haven't already, I posted it in September). But since this is the last book of the series I don't feel the need to write a very long non-spoiler review. I also won't write the reasons as to why I love this series so much because I already wrote why in my Top Ten list if you would like to check that out. The series starts out in this futuristic world where a young girl named Cinder catches the eye of Prince Kai, the future emperor of the Common Wealth. The only problem is that she's a cyborg: part human part robot. For this book, (Winter) I would give it about a 4/5 stars. It was definitely a good read but it wasn't my favorite book in the series, I honestly felt that Cress was the best book, then Fairest (even though it's a prequel) and then Winter. Although I did enjoy all the new characters that were introduced, I still felt like a few questions were left unanswered. I also feel like the pacing was a bit off, we could have dealt without a few hundred pages. That's it for the non-spoiler section, come back once you've read the rest of the series!!! BYE!!!

SPOILERS

OK, let me start off by saying my shipper heart might have DIED with this book.

My heart is overwhelmed with my OTPs. It couldn't be helped.

FIRST OF ALL, CAN WE JUST TALK ABOUT JACIN AND WINTER 😱😍😚

HONESTLY, I did not like Jacin at the end of Cress. Like, he betrayed them!!! But I couldn't even make it past the third chapter without falling in love with him.

The way he looks after Winter...I can't even.

I JUST LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!!

BTW did anyone else notice a TON of similarities between this book and The Hunger Games. I made a note to point them out throughout the story.

BACK TO TOPIC

When Jacin had to pretend to not notice or care about Winter I was like that is so #Finnick. And that was great because Finnick was my FAVORITE character in The Hunger Games. Not enough love goes to Finnick honestly. LOL and then we found out he wanted to be a doctor. #PrimAF

OMG WINTER...CAN WE JUST...I MEAN WINTER

OMG NEW FAVORITE CHARACTER STATUS.

At the end of Cress, we saw Scarlet talking to Winter, but at the time I thought

BUT SHE'S NOT!!!!

(I know she is, but at least she knows how to use it to her advantage!!!)

And besides that she's an amazing role model especially considering how few POC are in YA novels!!!

I WAS SO HAPPY WHEN JACIN GOT TO GUARD WINTER!!! But then the crazy bitch Queen Levana and her evil asshat crony, Thaumaturge Aimery had to FUCKING RUIN IT!!!

I CAN'T BELIEVE QUEEN LEVANA THOUGHT ORDERING JACIN TO KILL WINTER WOULD BE HONORING EVRET'S PROMISE.

Actually, you know what I CAN believe that because I read Fairest and I know for a fact that that hoe is insane.

BTW that was such a #PresidentSnow moment when she showed Jacin the video of those kids giving Winter the flower crown. She wanted Winter dead because of what she represented. He wanted Katniss dead for what she represented. I don't know guys, but I think they'd make a good pair.

WHO ELSE HATED AIMERY!!!

That fucking prick, I hated him with every inch of my being. When he proposed to Winter I was like

BUT, then he had to have a hissy fit and wanted her dead just because she said no!!!

Side Note: Did anyone think that he was sort like Jafar from Aladdin? I was just getting the same vibes off of him.

OH GOD, I was so emotional when Jacin and Winter were in the menagerie and he was telling her that he had to kill her. I was like

But then I remembered that this is based on the story of Snow White so she isn't gonna die.

Can we talk about Wolf and Scarlet for a minute?

Scarlet was honestly my spirit animal in this book. I wasn't into Wolf and Scarlet's relationship before, but after this book I was all

I really loved Scarlet and Winter's relationship. And Scarlet was so funny, especially when she shoved that umbrella in that Capitol guy's face. Excuse me, Artesian guy. ;)

OMG, I cried for Wolf so many times in this book.

Let me just count all the times for you

1. When he made Cress check out Scarlet's farm.

2. When he saw that handgun in the crate and it reminded him of Scarlet.

3. When they went to RW-9 (a.k.a. District 12 )and found his mom.

4. When he was finally reunited with Scarlet and told her he loved her.

5. When Maha sacrificed herself for the cause

6. WHEN YOU-KNOW-WHAT HAPPENED

Why, Marissa, WHY!?!?! What did Wolfe do to deserve this???😭😭😭

But I guess Wolfe got a few happy moments here and there.

Like when he and Scarlet got reunited, that was really sweet. I loved how he smelt her and just booked it away from Cinder and the gang. Literally, this is what I imagined:

And that part at the end when Scarlet excepted Wolfe, snout and all. But did that remind any of you guys of the sixth Harry Potter book when Fleur yells at Mrs. Weasley that she'll love Bill no matter how many scars he has? I read that part and I was all like déjà FREAKIN' vu.

Speaking of Scarlett, did anyone else like her a lot more in this book? I never disliked her I just didn't quite understand her character as much as the others. But I just loved all her sass in this book!!! Like when she and Winter were trying to get the Levana's wolf army to join them and she was bossing them around and yelling at them I was like "YASSS GURL YASSS!!!"

Speaking of sass...

CAN WE TALK ABOUT PRINCE KAI😍😍😍

I've always loved Kai because of how sweet and responsible he was, but literally he became the Emperor of Sass in this book.

Every time he talked to Levana I was like

Like when he first got to Luna and Levana found out he'd hid Cinder on board the ship and he was basically like "Yeah bitch, and I'd do it again." Then he FREAKIN' sauntered off smirking!!! I was like

And then when Levana saw Cinder's propaganda video and ordered him to the throne room and he was all "Yes, my sweet." I was like

AND THEN WHEN HE STABBED HER ON THEIR WEDDING DAY I WAS JUST

What I loved about that was his explanation as to why he stabbed her. He was basically like, "That's right, I can cut a bitch if I have to, you ain't the only one."

BUT WHAT I LOVED MOST WAS HIS CONVERSATION WITH THORNE IN THE BEGINNING

Kai: You like her.

Thorne: No I don't! I just care about her a lot, and I don't think I'm worthy of her, and want the best for her...

Kai:

KAI SHIPS CRESSWELL AND I SHIP CRESSWELL, I THINK THAT'S SAYING SOMETHING GUYS

Speaking of Cress and Thorne who loves them as much as I do?!?!? It's my OTP guys, and it's finally FREAKIN' CANON.

Who else loved the beginning when Thorne first got his vision back and he would look at Cress and she would look away nervously. I was just

And then after Thorne had that talk with Kai and said "Doing the right thing is its own reward." But then he got embarrassed and chickened out I was like

I've been saying all the stuff that made me happy, but you know what made me FRIGGIN' MAD

WHEN THEY FUCKING LEFT CRESS BEHIND😤😤😤

LITERALLY ME

HONESTLY FIRST SCARLET NOW CRESS, WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO NO MAN LEFT BEHIND

I know that Cress made the decision to stay on her own, but throughout the book I didn't understand why they didn't just use Iko to do all the really dangerous stuff. Like when Thorne used himself as a distraction so the others could get away, I was just kept thinking why not just use Iko. Don't get me wrong, I love Iko but if I'm in the middle of a revolution I'm gonna use the robot, not the person. There's always the argument that if the thaumaturges captured Iko they'd get her personality chip and we'd have never found Cinder's adopted father's device that allows humans to not be manipulated by the Lunar gift. But you could also make the argument that the thaumaturges had never encountered an android before and wouldn't know how to access a personality chip.

But Cress was hella brave staying behind on Luna so Scarlet and Winter could get away unnoticed. Cause if it was me I would've been like,

And then she FREAKIN' programmed Cinder speech for them I was

She wasn't even in RW-9 and she got shit handled like a motherfucker. She be all

LOL, I fucking loved Jacin hiding Cress in his room 😂😂😂

I didn't understand how the thaumaturges didn't check the rooms when the guards were on duty. For a totalitarian government, they hella lacks😂😂😂.

But I gotta be honest, Cress and Jacin's plan to get Winter and Scarlet was FREAKIN' FLAWLESS. #squadgoals

JESUS, I FUCKING CRIED WHEN CRESS AND THORNE GOT REUNITED

AND THEN THORNE PUNCHED JACIN IN THE FACE FOR BETRAYING THEM AT KAI'S WEDDING AND THEN HE HUGGED HIM FOR TAKING CARE OF CRESS

OMG THAT KISS AT THE CORONATION GOT ME FEELING ALL SORTS OF THINGS😍😍😍

OK NOW LET'S TALK THE PERSON WE'RE ALL HERE FOR

CINDER.

In the beginning I thought she might be chickening out on the revolution because she kept saying how overwhelmed she was about being queen. I was like "Girl after all this trouble, really?"

And then I started thinking; I mean long distance could really mess up my ship. Cinder and Kai are the ultimate #goals. They're OG OTP. And Cinder doesn't even know Luna as much as she knows the Common Wealth. She could make a really good empress...

And then I thought once we uncrazy Winter she'd make a dope queen. But of course, Marissa Meyer had to crush my dreams SMH.

LITERALLY MARISSA MEYER TALKING TO MY DREAMS

Did anyone else think the whole no-one-who-is-not-of-royal-blood-can-hold-the-throne-because-then-Lunars-will-lose-their-gifts rule was sort of shoehorned in there? I guess Cinder introducing elected officials instead of a monarchy is a good idea to, but I feel like Winter could have been a good queen.

BUT

Don't think that I'm just hating on Cinder's queenliness. She was so #Katniss when she made that speech to RW-9. I was hella proud of her.

BUT

I felt like I was more excited to see Aimery and Levana die then I was about Cinder becoming queen.

Especially after Aimery killed Maha and Levana poisoned Winter.

I JUST WANTED TO HURT THEM SO BADLY 😡😡😡

I mean I felt way more satisfied watching Aimery get stabbed 9 times then I was with Cinder's coronation. NOT THAT THERE WAS ANYTHING WRONG CINDER'S CORONATION. But if I got to skip the coronation scene and instead got to watch Levana's life slowly drain from her eyes I would not be complaining. I just didn't feel like the throne-room-show-down-scene really did it for me.But that's just me.

Side Note: Did anyone else think that we were finally going to find out who's Cinder's father? I felt that that would be important to the people of Luna and as well as to the reader, but I guess Marissa Meyer doesn't think so.

SO LET'S TALK ABOUT THE OTPS AS A WHOLE

So I love this idea that Kai and Cinder might get married in the future. I see it way to many times that YA couples get married and obviously haven't thought it through. It's just very refreshing that they didn't just jump into things. Especially since they're world leaders.

Scarlet and Wolfe, on the other hand, I feel like they could get married at any time because honestly they are so ride or die for each other. Not that Kai and Cinder aren't, I just feel like Scarlet and Wolfe are the only ones who know how to handle each other.

Cress and Thorne can do anything they want their perfectly quirky and wonderful.😘

I KNOW THAT I SAID THAT I DIDN'T WANT CINDER AND KAI TO GET MARRIED, BUT I DON'T THINK THAT RULE SHOULD APPLY TO WINTER AND JACIN.

For one thing, Winter and Jacin have known each other their entire lives so if we're speaking in chronological order they are the OG OTP.

And I REALLY wanted to see a Winter and Jacin wedding epilogue. They could've hosted it on Earth because Winter is an ambassador and Cinder could've shown Kai and Cress all the places she used to hang out... it would've been really cute. But alas,

it was not meant to be.