Review: Winter by Marissa Meyer

Book: Winter, Marissa Meyer

Series: Lunar Chronicles series #4

Publisher: Feiwell & Friends

Release Date: November 10^th, 2015

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters? 

Rating: 5 stars

Wow. Oh wow.  I’m still reeling from this book. My heart is still pounding, my eyes are watery, and my hands are shaking. Winter was the finale worth waiting for. It has everything you want and need in a finale: action, romance, drama, shocking plot twists; the works. I found it impossible to put this book down and am itching to pick it back up and re-read it all over again.

We get a quick recap of what happened in the previous books: Cinder is the lost Princess Selene and is starting a revolution to take back her crown and country from the tyrannical ruler Queen Levana. In a bid to delay Levana’s wedding to Emperor Kai that would make her Empress of Earth, Cinder and her crew kidnap the emperor and keep him captive aboard their ship. Scarlet was captured and is now on Luna as a prisoner, leaving Wolf inconsolable. Cress and Captain Thorne are planning on sneaking onto Luna to rescue Scarlet and overthrow Levana once and for all.

Even though this book has been released for about a month now, I realise that many people may still not have gotten their copy or aren’t finished reading, so I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum. I will say however, that is most definitely worth the year long wait and will leave your emotions and feels in bits afterwards. I know I'm going to have a book hangover for days.

Okay, let’s start with Cinder. She is one of my favourite heroines of all time and such a badass. She spent her whole life as a servant, and then, in the space of a few months, she’s leading a revolution to take back her kingdom and people are looking at her reverently, like a leader; in a role she was born to play. She got so confident throughout the course of the four books, and yet she still can’t believe that people are willing to follow her. Despite her tough, cyborg exterior, she’s still a fragile sixteen-year-old girl inside, but she’s willing to push past her insecurities to save those in need.

And might I just say how adorable she and Kai are together? An Emperor and a lost Queen willing to do what it takes to save everyone. While Kai doesn’t have a huge role in this book, he’s still an awesome character and will do what he needs to help Cinder. He’s no longer a naïve prince but an Emperor willing to risk whatever to save his people. I know the two of them can accomplish anything together.

Scarlet, the poor darling, is trapped on Luna at the start of this book, but she doesn’t let being in a cage dampen her strong and determined attitude as she waits for her friends to rescue her. She forms a unique and tentative friendship with Princess Winter, who is keeping her in a menagerie with other animals. Even though Scarlet isn’t stingy with insults for Winter, somehow her presence helps keep Scarlet sane.

And Wolf is completely devastated without Scarlet around. All he does is clutch a can of tomatoes and impatiently wait until he can be reunited with his mate; his alpha. These two go through some really tough hardships in this book, but come out incredibly strong on the other side. It’s these hardships that strengthen their relationship, and allow them to be prepared to face anything that may come their way.

Cress is still a little cutie in this book; still socially awkward from being stuck in a satellite for much of her life, but still a genius hacker. She may not have leadership potential like Cinder or have a brazen attitude like Scarlet, but she’s still incredibly powerful and dangerous in her own way, and is just as important to our group of misfits as everyone else. She really grows in confidence in this book as well; she stops hiding every time someone looks her way but stands up proudly.  

Thorne is still a cocky Captain, determined to be the hero and save everyone while looking amazing doing so. Cress has affected his life in a way he never imagined as well, and he has to adjust his future plans to include our adorable little Lunar to stay at his side.

I feel like Winter and Cress would get on really well together, despite the fact that they don’t have many scenes together. Just like Cress, Winter is very sheltered, having grown up in the palace. She has purposely stopped using her Lunar “gift”; however this means that she is slowly losing her mind and seeing hallucinations. Therefore she doesn’t always act in the correct way around people and can come off as weird, very similar to how Cress acts in social situations.  A line from the book perfectly described Winter as a character: “She was quirky and strange and ridiculously charismatic.”

Jacin, her guard and friend since childhood, is the only one who can help her get through her hallucinations and understand what’s real and what isn’t. It’s no secret that she’s madly in love with him, just as he’s in love with her, and their scenes together just made me melt. Jacin is the hero hiding in the shadows; willing to do whatever it takes to save his Princess. He’ll betray anyone and swap sides constantly if that means Winter will be protected. Kai is still my favourite of the romantic interests in this book, but still.

Iko, our favourite android was as charismatic and sarcastic as ever, the best friend anyone could ask her, always trying to be useful, even at the expense of herself. Levana was still deliciously evil, almost crazily so, and I adore how well Meyer wrote her character. She won’t be forgotten anytime soon, and if I had a shelf for “best-evil-villains”, she would be on it. She tried so hard not to let Cinder’s appearance get to her, but you could see her glamour breaking bit by bit, before eventually cracking. It was amazing to read, yet chilling as well.

There’s not much else to say that I haven’t said already. The plot flowed wonderfully, with plot twists thrown in at just the right places. It happened more than once that I thought we would win, but then I’d realise that I was barely halfway through the book and a lot more shit was about to hit the fan. Our heroes are separated and reunited, then separated again, and when it looked like all hope was lost, something miraculous would occur that would cause me to scream out in happiness. It was a constant race and I loved so much.

Overall, Winter was an amazing ending to a much-loved and imaginative series. Over 800 pages and still not enough! This book was worth the wait and so much more. I encourage everyone to start reading this series immediately and fall for these characters as much as I have.

 “She’s our lost princess. And she’s coming home.”