The Lunar Chronicals by Marissa Meyer - Series review by Claire Hobson

    The Lunar Chronicles series has four main books written by Marissa Meyer. Each of the first four books, Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter, introduces us to a new main character that is slightly based on original Disney characters. Those being: Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White.

    The first book, Cinder, starts off the series by introducing the first character, Cinder. Cinder originally comes from cinderella and is a cyborg, a very gifted mechanic, and lives with her stepmother and two stepsisters. Unlike the original Cinderella, Cinder’s younger stepsister, Linh Peony, loved Cinder and aspired to be like her. This first installment also introduces the readers to the antagonist of the series, Queen Levana. Queen Levana is the cruel ruler of Luna (the community on the moon) who can control people’s minds, as all Lunars can, but to a much higher capacity. Levana desires to kill Cinder. This is because Cinder is an escapee or Lunar fugitive, though more importantly, she is Princess Selene; Cinder would have been the queen of Luna if she hadn’t gone to earth. Levana wanted this crown, which she did end up getting, and now wants the one to earth. To do this, she plans on marrying the soon-to-be king, Kai. Kai is the last major character introduced. Prince Kai meets Cinder when he goes to her shop and asks for her to fix his android. He loves Cinder, though is forced to imprison her when he learns that she is a cyborg. He learns this after he holds a ball and Cinders cyborg foot falls off and is left behind as she runs down the stairs.

    Then there is the second book, Scarlet. This time, the character Scarlet is loosely based on the story of The Little Red Riding Hood. Throughout this installment, the readers learn that she is the granddaughter of the woman who brought Princess Selene, Cinder, to earth. She learns this with the help of a street fighter named Wolf who was originally part of the pack sent down to find and question Scarlet’s grandma. The pack's ordered to find her grandma because there's suspicion that she was the person to bring Princess Selene (Cinder) to earth. A pack in this book is a group of trained and genetically modified creatures from Luna and brainwashed by Levana. The character Wolf also becomes an important character in this series. While this is all being figured out, Cinder breaks out of prison and searches for clues about her true self, Princess Selene. This leads her to Scarlet’s grandma’s house and there she learns of Scarlet and her grandma and searches for them. Levana gets very angry at all of this and ends up controlling a worldwide attack on earth using her packs. This kills Scarlet's Grandma though Cinder, Scarlet, and Wolf make it out alive. In the end, Kai says he will marry Levana just to stop the attack.

    Cress is the third book in this series. The new main character in this story is based on Rapunzel and is named Cress. She is a lunar shell, meaning she was born on Luna yet cannot mind-control others or be mind-controlled. Cress became a spy for Levana though living on a small satellite constantly orbiting the earth. Despite these harsh living conditions and doing everything under Levana, Cress helps Cinder and the other characters. She helps them find evidence against Levana because they agree to break her out of the satellite. While they are in the satellite, Sybil Mira (someone working with Levana) ends up taking Scarlet back to Luna with her and turning Scarlet into Winter’s (a new character) pet. The rest of Cinder’s crew make it back to earth and devise a plan to capture Kai from the castle before he gets the chance to marry Levana. They barely, but still do, accomplish this.

    The final installment, Winter, introduces the character based on Snow White and finishes off the series. Winter is the stepdaughter of Queen Levana and is rumored to be even more beautiful than her. Winter despises her stepmother and refuses to use her lunar gift and with the help of a friend escapes the grasp of Levana. During all of this, Cinder and the other main characters separate on a plan to overthrow Levana and stop the wolf packs. Together they kill Levana and Cinder becomes the new ruler of Luna. As the new ruler Cinder signs the Treaty of Bremen with Earth and creates a true alliance between Luna and Earth.

    I enjoyed this series due to the unexpected twists and turns and the many new characters you meet along the way. I also liked how each different installment introduced a new main character that showed up in each of the next books and contributed immensely to the story. Along with the introduction of so many new characters, I loved how each character developed and changed over the course of the books they were a part of. For example, Cinder started as a shy mechanic who didn’t have any goals to do anything except avoid her stepmother's rash, but in the end, she became a ruler and warrior who saved the world. Thus, I think that anyone who likes sci-fi or fantasy, along with a bit of romance, would enjoy this novel and should take a shot at reading it.

-Claire Hobson