 | Winter Marissa Meyer Book #4 of The Lunar Chronicles 824 pages Published November, 2015 Goodreads My Rating: 2.5 sad, floppy stars |
-flops down heavily into a chair-
Where do I start? Words cannot express just how excited I was for this book. I have struggled for weeks to assign it a star rating I felt was fair, shuffling from 4, down to 2, back to 4, and then down to 3, before settling on an uneasy 2.5.
Where do I start? Words cannot express just how excited I was for this book. I have struggled for weeks to assign it a star rating I felt was fair, shuffling from 4, down to 2, back to 4, and then down to 3, before settling on an uneasy 2.5.
I didn't hate this book. At all. But I didn't love it, either. It left me with a truly uncomfortable emotion to be saddled with after the conclusion of a series I had up until this point absolutely devoured: disappointment.
When I first picked it up, Meyer's writing flowed over me warmly. It was like falling back into conversation with an old friend like no time had passed. I was so excited to meet up with my favourites again, the banter between Cinder and Thorne as entertaining as ever. Except that's kind of where the good ended, and it breaks my wee heart to admit that.
Alas, if you haven't read this book this is where the review has to end for you, because to explain what I didn't like I need to get specific.
BEWARE! SPOILERS AHEAD!
My first major gripe with this book was the pathetic little conflict resolutions; most were convenient, unbelievable, and just downright fucking lazy. Cress is stuck in the palace. I mourn, she is now awaiting certain doom. Except then she isn't. Because who should she run into but Kai. Yay? Saved now?
Cinder, the metal laden cyborg that is kept alive by electric -non water resistant- circuitry hardwired into her actual brain falls into the lake, to her certain doom, (you catching the trend here yet?) but this time I don't mourn. You know why? There are way too many pages left for this to be her end. And oh wow. How shocking. She lives. But then wait, there's more, the rest of the gang have suddenly made their way from fucking woop woop to appear on the shore and stage a valiant rescue. -sigh-
Winter is infected with a super dangerous strain of letumosis. Oh no! But wait, the little town happens to have a spare chamber lying around to freeze her in.
I get it, these books are fairy tale retellings. But seriously, I was not expecting the cheesy fairy tale end. Apart from Wolf, whom Scarlet loves regardless so no loss there, the extent of the damage done to our friends by the end of the novel is a few missing fingers. GASP How will they manage?! It is not that I wanted them all dead, but these saccharine resolutions removed the suspense so that the book just seemed to drag on. So a word of advice: Kill your darlings.
Another of my main gripes was Cinder's decision to abdicate and instate a government in the near future. Great idea Cinder, because of all of society, politicians are totally the least self serving and are truly valiant and pious individuals. This was a total copout, Cinder should have stepped up to the plate, and made sure that she implicated the values and morals that would see her future generations surging forward with the country's best interests at heart. Kai was raised with such values, and you can be god-damn sure he would not be giving up his crown anytime soon. Not out of greed, but out of loyalty and obligation.
Despite my major gripes with this conclusion, I didn't hate this book at all. My emotions towards winter can be more accurately summed up thus: meh.
I'm probably going to pretend this book was never released. It was just too disappointing an end to an otherwise excellent YA series.
When I first picked it up, Meyer's writing flowed over me warmly. It was like falling back into conversation with an old friend like no time had passed. I was so excited to meet up with my favourites again, the banter between Cinder and Thorne as entertaining as ever. Except that's kind of where the good ended, and it breaks my wee heart to admit that.
Alas, if you haven't read this book this is where the review has to end for you, because to explain what I didn't like I need to get specific.
BEWARE! SPOILERS AHEAD!
My first major gripe with this book was the pathetic little conflict resolutions; most were convenient, unbelievable, and just downright fucking lazy. Cress is stuck in the palace. I mourn, she is now awaiting certain doom. Except then she isn't. Because who should she run into but Kai. Yay? Saved now?
Cinder, the metal laden cyborg that is kept alive by electric -non water resistant- circuitry hardwired into her actual brain falls into the lake, to her certain doom, (you catching the trend here yet?) but this time I don't mourn. You know why? There are way too many pages left for this to be her end. And oh wow. How shocking. She lives. But then wait, there's more, the rest of the gang have suddenly made their way from fucking woop woop to appear on the shore and stage a valiant rescue. -sigh-
Winter is infected with a super dangerous strain of letumosis. Oh no! But wait, the little town happens to have a spare chamber lying around to freeze her in.
I get it, these books are fairy tale retellings. But seriously, I was not expecting the cheesy fairy tale end. Apart from Wolf, whom Scarlet loves regardless so no loss there, the extent of the damage done to our friends by the end of the novel is a few missing fingers. GASP How will they manage?! It is not that I wanted them all dead, but these saccharine resolutions removed the suspense so that the book just seemed to drag on. So a word of advice: Kill your darlings.
Another of my main gripes was Cinder's decision to abdicate and instate a government in the near future. Great idea Cinder, because of all of society, politicians are totally the least self serving and are truly valiant and pious individuals. This was a total copout, Cinder should have stepped up to the plate, and made sure that she implicated the values and morals that would see her future generations surging forward with the country's best interests at heart. Kai was raised with such values, and you can be god-damn sure he would not be giving up his crown anytime soon. Not out of greed, but out of loyalty and obligation.
Despite my major gripes with this conclusion, I didn't hate this book at all. My emotions towards winter can be more accurately summed up thus: meh.
I'm probably going to pretend this book was never released. It was just too disappointing an end to an otherwise excellent YA series.
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