My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The conclusion to Meyer’s re-telling of classic fairy tales in a futuristic setting is loosely based on Snow White. Princess Winter is loved and admired by all the Lunar people. She is beautiful despite the scars on her face, perhaps even more beautiful than her mother, Queen Levana. Levana is jealous of her stepdaughter, and Winter despises her stepmother for her cruelty and vanity. Winter also knows her stepmother would never approve of her feelings for a palace guard who has been Winter’s lifelong friend. When Cinder, Cress, Scarlet, and the rest of the rebels from Earth arrive with their plan to overthrow Levana and reveal Cinder as the rightful Lunar Queen, Winter joins forces with them to start a revolution that will change the fates of Earth and Luna forever.
I have enjoyed all of the Lunar Chronicles stories, and this is no exception. If you’ve followed the story from Cinder on, you will be both happy and sad at this last installment. Happy to see the series come to its conclusion in another well-done retelling of a classic fairy tale, but sad to see it end because the stories have been so well done.
Like the previous books, the characters are true to their roots in the classic stories, but also fit well into the futuristic setting used here. The pacing can be a bit jerky at times, with action scenes short and swift followed by lulls that at times are a bit stretched out. But the flow is generally good, and the book reads quickly and well. The ending is appropriate to the story arc as defined across all the books. The future setting is believable and complex without dragging the story with technical details.
Winter is a very nice conclusion to a series that is entertaining, well-written, and will please both fans of YA and science fiction, in general, and may even be enjoyed by those who would like to see new spins on classic stories.
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Coming soon: Two’s Company, a sci-fi novel in the space opera tradition. Artificial intelligence, corporate plots, spaceships, a heroine with an attitude. More details soon!
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