Six of Crows

The Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is a fantastic read and I can't wait for the next one to come out. But the sad part is, right now, it's fairly fresh off the press.

Right now I love most everything about this book. The world is new and so inventive--though I have found out that there is another series that takes place in this world that Ms. Bardugo has written. This world is about to be thrown into more chaos that it already is because a new wave of super drug is about to be unleashed. It heightens the powers of the Grisha to be able to do the impossible. But it also sucks the Grisha in with a crazy craving that practically consumes life, either driving them crazy if they don't get it or whittling them down to a zombie if they until they die.

The heroes of this story are a bunch of thieves in it for the money. They are contracted to perform a jailbreak to get the maker of this new drug out of possibly deadly hands. Easy enough right? Wrong. The prison they have this scientist in is the most guarded complex in the world. It's easy enough to get in; getting out is the impossible part.

Bardugo takes us through this story in all six characters points of view, though it's nicely in third person. While it can be hard keeping track of all six of these thieves, it is cleanly done. I found a deep love for the characters especially because Bardugo takes the time to explain back stories. While some might find the time jumping disconcerting, I found that it gave so much more to the characters and their roles in the story. We understand where they are coming from even though some of them aren't very likable characters at the beginning. I found a love for all the characters in this book and my heart wrenched when I thought they would die--and it happened on more than a few occasions.

All of the characters seemed real, too. I mean to say that none of the main six were flat through I would like more from the "bad guys." We got a little at the end of a potential bad guy, at least someone who will have to be dealt with, but I would have liked a little more from the other antagonists.

I guess my only other thing that I didn't care too much for, though at the end of the book I didn't mind, was that we simply get thrown into this novel. There are lots of places and sayings and meanings that were completely foreign to me and it felt like I was drowning in this world for the first while. But as you keep reading (or if you've read the previous series--the Grisha series: Shadow of Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising) you might fare better. But so long as you're a good reader and pay attention, you'll get it.

Again, I can't wait for the next book. Kaz, Inej, and Jesper, you've all stolen my heart.

"No mourners."
"No funerals."

Please don't die.

Winter

Winter is the last book in Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles. I think one of the best parts of this book is the depiction of how Winter is crazy. Because Winter has chosen not to use her Lunar Gift she legitimately is going insane. She sees blood dripping down walls, thinks she's a wolf, becomes ice and is about to shatter... Her episodes may have to grow on you, but Winter is amazing.

For the climax of the series, Cinder and the crew must sneak onto Luna (the moon), find Scarlet who is somewhere held captive inside the palace, raise an army, and take the crown from Levana.

But of course nothing can be so simple as their plan was. The moment they step foot onto Luna the chase begins and they are separated. Cinder's group heads to the mines where friends may be found, others are hidden inside the palace do to Jacin and Winter's help. Scarlet is being held in the menagerie as Winter's pet, so then she wouldn't be executed.

Constantly when things start going right, everything gets flipped on it's head. Jacin is ordered by Levana to kill Winter because Levana knows he loves her. Cinder and Wolf are captured. Wolf gets changed into more of a brute and begins to forget Scarlet. Cinder is brought before Levana and Kai who just got married and is to be executed. Iko constantly is getting shot at, which is kind of funny. Everything constantly goes awry and the we, as the reader, have to constantly remind ourselves that this has a Happily Ever After, right? Meyer isn't going to wrench in our Happily Ever After is she? She's messed with all of these stories soooo much, she wouldn't take the Happy Ending away! Right?

Oh, it's such a good book. Although there are 830 or so pages in the book, it reads fast and like all the rest of the series (Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress) such a joy to read. This series, next to some of my Brandon Sanderson Favorites, these are my favorite books. I work at a library and constantly tell the patrons who are looking for a good book to read these. They aren't your normal fairy tale, but I love them just as much.

Read and Enjoy!

Cress

Probably my favorite book in Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles, Cress is the third book in the series. Following Cinder and  Scarlet, Cress follows the Fairy Tale story of Rapunzel. And the relationship she has with her Prince Charming gives me butterflies.

Cress is a shell, a Lunar who has no Gift that can manipulate the brainwaves of those around them and cannot be manipulated either. Which means that Levana, who is constantly has her glamor on, can't hide from Cress. Levana has taken all the shell babies and done who knows what to them. Cress, being taken away from her family when she was very little, doesn't remember them and only knows to do what Mistress Sybil says. She is stuck in a satellite orbiting around Earth, instead of a tower. All alone except when her Mistress comes to visit and give new instructions, Cress finds games to play when she's not spying on everyone on Earth. She watches all the news feeds, listens in on political private conversations, and is a wiz at games online.

Our heroine is first debuted in Cinder at the end when she informs Cinder of something terrible that is about to happen at the ball. But when Mistress Sybil boards her satellite when Cinder and the rest of the crew are there, the satellite breaks orbit and crashes into the Sahara. Thorne, now blind, and Cress, with no shoes and very little survival experience, have to trek across the desert to find friends.

But then back in China Kai is marrying Levana?!  They must stop this or Levana will kill him after she becomes Empress. But how? In an awesome way, that's how.

There is so much going on in this book! Cress is such a sweetheart and this quirky girl captures so many hearts. My friends who have read this series have loved Cress more than most of the other characters. The relationship that develops is too cute. I get twitterpated for them. Their comebacks and dialogs are hysterical and...ugh, I love them so much. This is a must must must read.

Scarlet

UPDATE: In honor of finishing the book Winter, by Marissa Meyer, I am posting up my reviews of two of the previous novels that I'd read a while ago. The first book in the Lunar Chronicles is Cinder, which I've reviewed previously and is a great read. If follows Cinder in a futuristic Cinderella story. However at the end of the book, she finds herself in prison instead of with her prince charming, a drastic change of events, right?

In the sequel, Scarlet, we follow Little Red Riding Hood in her attempt to find her grandmother who has disappeared. Scarlet lives on her farm in France and meets up with this burly, odd man who has never eaten a tomato in his life.  Wolf *hint hint* insists on joining her while she goes to Paris to find her grandma. They end up hitting it off and she starts falling for him until things turn for the worst. Wolf ends up belonging to a Pack of Lunar Special Agents who are sent to massacre millions as well as get information about Cinder from Scarlet's grandmother.

Cinder, having just found out she's the Lunar Princess Selene, needs to find out more. With the help of a thief, pilot, extraordinaire, Carswell Thorne, who helped her escape from prison in New Beijing, they fly in his stolen spaceship to France to investigate Cinder's past that she can't remember. Scarlet's grandmother is the best one to ask as she was a military pilot who has something to do with her escape, however, she's missing.

I think this was better the second time through. The relationship between Wolf and Scarlet was originally obnoxious and weird with him being Alpha of his pack and she has an Alpha personality... However, this I like the way the wolf is side of things is presented, "she snarled" and other such things slid into her personality descriptions that mimic him and help them come together as a couple.

Scarlet is a strong, and resourceful woman who doesn't take nonsense from anyone. She has her vulnerable moments where she can get beat around by real bad guys and where she gets taken in by mind manipulations. But she is a very determined and willing to stand up for the people whom she loves. Wolf, I know, can have a personality that can be domineering and can be manipulative. Reasons are given as to why he is still a good guy and not just one of the Big Bad Wolves. He's different than the rest of the canine toothed, rip-your-throats-out-as-soon-as-sniff-you kind of guys. He's different because he loves her. Somewhat cliche and originally why I listed this as my least favorite of the Lunar Chronicles. But I'm mostly able to look past it. Mostly.

I also really enjoy Cinder's side of things and the development she went through. Still very much moving and progressing individually while having her own challenges of finding out who she really is.

But much like Cinder, Scarlet is well written and captivating. Her descriptions are well done and it flowed really well even when jumping from different characters points of view. This is a book you can easily get sucked in and not want to come out.