Book Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Cress
Marissa Meyer
Genre(s): Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young adult
Published: February 6th 2014
Pages: 550
Rating: 5 stars

“In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. 

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. 

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.”

These books just get better and better. If Winter is anything like this then I might need a six star rating.

Meyer again wastes little time in introducing more aspects an areas of the neat little world that she's created. I really love how yet another continent has been included, and that we even get a bit of a glimpse of space and Luna - I think that set things up really nicely for the next book. The development in this book - in fact, in the whole series - is truly A*; I'm really looking forward to book four because of it because who knows what else will be introduced? I'm also really excited to meet all the new characters, as Meyer has yet to write a main character who I dislike. And if the scenes with Scarlet and Winter are anything to go by, I'm going to adore Winter. Cress was so sweet and innocent in this book, yet she was also so smart and determined. I liked the balance and found that I didn't even mind her crush on Thorne because it fit the two characters so nicely.

I didn't really find things to be explained in any greater detail, although things are changing rapidly (and the plot twists! I can't even begin to talk about them!!), but at this point in the series that's okay. Bits and pieces from the previous books came back to me as I read and that was enough for me. Things were still complex and intriguing, but now that I'm immersed in the world, I found them to be gentle and more comfortable to read and understand. Kudos to Meyer for achieving that in her writing.

Cress is a fantastic addition to the series. If you haven't started these books yet then you really, really need to. You won't be disappointed.