Marissa Meyer

Cress, born without the Lunar gift for manipulation, has spent years living alone in a satellite orbiting Earth, using her tech skills under the orders of the Lunar thaumaturge Sybil and dreaming of escape.

I really enjoyed this (which made me realise that I didn’t enjoy parts of Scarlet very much). I like how it wove in elements from “Rapunzel”, and dealt with Cress’s perception of herself as a damsel in distress, a girl in need of rescuing.

There is an increasing focus on teamwork show more and friendship -- this means we see the characters from different perspectives, and we also see different sides to them. Like Thorne, who tries to maintain a debonair, rogue-ish image. For another example, I was unsure about Wolf in Scarlet, but once Cinder was like, Here’s my weird friend Wolf and I’m worried about him, I started caring about him too.

Cinder’s android friend Iko gets to play a more active role. She’s a source of humour.

There are moments of loss and grief in Cress but they don’t pierce as sharply as similar moments in the previous books. That fits, because this is Cress’s story -- she doesn’t have any close relationships to lose, which is a different kind of sadness. But it also fits because the other characters are still grieving. Even though that emotion doesn’t get to take centre stage, I like that it’s still acknowledged.

“Do you think it was destiny that brought us together?”
He squinted and, after a thoughtful moment, shook his head. “No, I’m pretty sure it was Cinder. Why?”
“I guess I have a confession too.” She pressed the skirt down around her legs, her face already burning. “I… I had a crush on you, before we even met, just from seeing you on the netscreens [...] I think maybe you’re right, though. Maybe there isn’t such a thing as fate. Maybe it’s just the opportunities we’re given, and what we do with them. I’m beginning to think that maybe great, epic romances don’t just happen. We have to make them ourselves.” show less

4.75
This book is so good is frustrates me. I want super hero movies like this. Those movies are a step above the same repetitive plot but they all have a similar and somewhat predictable story. Renegades is completely different though. It plays with the idea that nobody is inherently evil and even villains have motives and reasons for what they do. Nova was so much more complex and had more inner conflict than we see from hero movies, which may have to deal with a different format, but show more either way I liked it. We also get to see some of the politics which was very nice. Also, well I totally ship Nova and Adrian like crazy I very much appreciated that this wasn’t her first priority. She didn’t pull a Romeo and Juliet “I meet you a week ago and I’m willing to sacrifice everything I’ve ever had for you.” Because that’s stupid. I’ll be real, I wasn’t sure that I would like this book because I’m not super into superhero stuff but I liked it. I also really enjoyed that the super powers in this world weren’t the regular generic ones. I just adored this book on so many levels and recommend it SO hard. show less

I almost NEVER buy books full price because as a university student it's just not in the budget. BUT AFTER THAT AWFUL CLIFFHANGER IN BOOK ONE I COULDN'T LEAVE THIS BOOK ON THE SHELF! I mean, I did get a good sale on the book BUT I STILL BOUGHT IT FROM A FANCY SMANCY BOOK STORE!

So, dear Marissa Meyer, you have crafted an excellent story that forced a university student to find the money in her budget to continue this series. ONLY FOR YOU TO LEAVE IT ON ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER AND I CAN'T BELIEVE show more YOU WOULD DO THIS TO ME. Since this time, it's not in the budget to get the next book. So, poor little me is going to be waiting and waiting until I can find this book on sale somewhere.

UGH.

This book is absolutely delightful, despite my epic rant. I think Marissa Meyer has crafted a wonderfully epic story that is packed full of wild, fairy tales! Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, the Wolf and a Han Solo-esque man have made me fall in love with this book more than I did for the first novel! It's a rare feat in my reading world, so someone give Marissa ALL of the awards! Okay?!

This book continues on with Cinder's story but we also have another character, Scarlett (Red Riding Hood) to follow along with two. Their stories intertwine near the end and make for one epic finale (not a finale for the whole series, just this book - calm down epic readers! We've got two more books to go!).

I really enjoyed Scarlett and Wolf, especially the twist on the typical Big, Bad Wolf story. I thought they were quite cute and reminded me of a Leia meets Han Solo vibe (I love Star Wars too, I think Marissa and I would make great Star Wars buddies). Also throwing in our Captain Thorne who gives SERIOUS Han Solo vibes... Yep, this woman has crafted a story made for me! Why in the world did I wait so long to pick up this book?!

If I had one negative in this book, it was that Cinder and Prince Kai don't get to interact. I was really hoping for a reunion but I don't think we'll be seeing one until the next book. I really liked their interactions in the first novel and their relationship, but such is life... Cliffhangers galore.

I didn't exactly see this ending coming, but I did have a good guess. I still really enjoyed it despite there being a few predictable parts of this book. I honestly haven't loved YA this much in a while. I got tired of the tropes and predictable lines, but Marissa has sparked my love for YA and fairy tales all over again. We need authors like her who make these amazing stories that any age can love. Just because it's in the YA aisle doesn't mean it's only for Young Adults (I mean... I'm a Young Adult still, but I tend to move towards the adult aisles more).

This book is all around great! Pre-teens, teenagers and adults alike will love this book! There are some rougher scenes so I'd put this in the PG folder, but I think this would make a great book for parent and child bonding time. Because, why not?

Overall, I loved this book! I seriously needed to continue this series and I'm a little frustrated and flustered that I'm going to have to wait until I find Cress and Winter.

Five out of five stars! Heck, give it six or seven! I love this book! I hate when authors make me love books this much, I'm an impatient person and I don't want to wait! show less

Cursed is Marissa Meyer’s anxiously-awaited finale of her Rumplestiltskin retelling, and for me, it more than lived up to my expectations. It was dark and vicious, violent and tense; in essence, it is everything I love in my stories. I appreciate that Ms. Meyer took us out of Adalheid Castle and into a different part of the country as we learned more about the Erlkönig’s past. While others might complain about the slow pacing, I look at it as the calm before the storm because once show more Serilda and Gild figure out what the Erlkönig plans to do, the story rockets to the finish line. Overall, Cursed gave me everything I hoped for and more. I couldn’t ask for a better ending, and Ms. Meyer ties all of her storylines together neatly and in ways that make sense and fit the characters. With this one duology, Ms. Meyer is now on my sacred auto-buy list. show less