{"id":29982,"date":"2016-04-16T23:35:33","date_gmt":"2016-04-17T03:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=29982"},"modified":"2016-04-16T23:35:33","modified_gmt":"2016-04-17T03:35:33","slug":"review-of-winter-by-marissa-meyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=29982","title":{"rendered":"Review of Winter, by Marissa Meyer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"winter_large\"<\/a>Winter<\/p>\n

The Lunar Chronicles<\/em>, Book Four<\/p>\n

by Marissa Meyer<\/p>\n

Feiwel and Friends, 2015. 827 pages.<\/p>\n

Ah! The Lunar Chronicles<\/em> come to a satisfying end in this book. If you have read this far, I don\u2019t have to say anything to get you to read the final volume, so let me make some comments about the series in general.<\/p>\n

What I loved most was the fairy tale parallels. Cinder<\/a><\/em> paralleled \u201cCinderella,\u201d Scarlet<\/a><\/em> paralleled \u201cLittle Red Riding Hood,\u201d Cress<\/a><\/em> paralleled \u201cRapunzel,\u201d and this final book, Winter,<\/em> parallels \u201cSnow White.\u201d However, all the characters from each of the previous books are still in the story \u2013 and by the final book, elements from Snow White\u2019s story seemed forced. (Whereas in Cinder<\/em> they arrived in natural and clever ways.) In particular, the part about the poisoned apple seemed totally unnecessary in the overall scheme, and I didn\u2019t really believe that a disease would progress the way this one was portrayed.<\/p>\n

But I do like the character of Winter, and even her status as Queen Levana\u2019s stepdaughter worked well. I do like that each of the main characters is very different from the others.<\/p>\n

I still didn\u2019t really believe in the wolf-human hybrids, which has been a problem for me since Scarlet.<\/em> I didn\u2019t particularly like the additional information we got about that in this book \u2013 didn\u2019t make it easier to believe.<\/p>\n

At first when I opened this book, I thought, okay, we\u2019ve got four couples. Two have matched up with the one they love but have some obstacles between them. Two are in love but haven\u2019t admitted it to each other yet. And I knew all four would get together by the end of the book, and I thought that was a bit much. But I have to hand it to Marissa Meyers \u2013 she kept each romance distinct and interesting. All four plotlines are definitely not simple!<\/p>\n

In fact, if anything the plot was a bit too convoluted with all those characters to juggle. But that did keep things from being at all boring or predictable and kept you turning pages. She is one of those authors who gives you a lot of interior monologue \u2013 which means it takes a little longer for actions to happen. This book is more than 800 pages long, since that\u2019s what it took to tie everything together. In some spots, we were following three different sets of characters in different places, so that slowed things down, too.<\/p>\n

However, all that said \u2013 in this book pulling all the threads together, Marissa Meyer accomplishes a well-earned Happily Ever After. Though I was able to put down the book and go to sleep, I was never even slightly tempted to set it aside altogether, and I began reading the same day my hold arrived. We\u2019ve got life and death situations and the fate of earth at stake. We\u2019ve got an intrepid band of rebels who go deep into the tyrant\u2019s territory. Can they win the day?<\/p>\n

marissameyer.com<\/a>
\nthelunarchronicles.com<\/a>
\nmacteenbooks.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Teens\/winter.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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