Winter (The Lunar Chronicles, #4) by Marissa Meyer Series: The Lunar Chronicles #4
on November 10th 2015
Source: Purchased
Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Amazon | Book Depository | Angus & Robertson
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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?
What a beautiful ending to my favourite Lunar Chronicles series! There were so many beautiful moments throughout the book. At 800 pages, the book never drags or slows down.
This is war, where Cinder rallies the Lunar Citizens to overtake Levana’s mind control rule. I wasn’t quite prepared for the bloody massacre within the book, and the ruthless choices that needed to be made for the greater good. But in the end it’s all for the better. I must say it made it all the more epic, there’s so much action and so many point of views here because you want to hear from every single one of these beautiful characters. And they each get their defining moments and their happily ever afters, even though it’s tense, thrilling and you just never know if they’re all going to pull through.
Thorne: “Oh, Cinder, I’ve missed seeing your face when you make sarcastic comments in an attempt to hide your true feelings about me.”
Cinder: “Please.”
Thorne: “See that eye roll? It translates to ‘How am I possibly keeping my hands off you, Captain?'”
Cinder: “Yeah, keeping them from strangling you.”
Now if you’ll excuse me I’m just going to fangirl about all the couples in the series:
I just love Cinder and Kai so much, and they really play their roles well here. I wanted to mush them together! But there was so much as stake as Kai needs to fulfill an important role for distracting Levana. He showed so much restraint and his pure repugnance at what he had to do was mesmerising. I love his speeches and how he just rules with sophistication. I LOVE YOU KAI.
Cinder, you beautiful brilliant girl. It doesn’t matter that you’re half an android, because you have the bravery and the confidence to move a revolution. I just loved that after all odds, your sheer determination kept you moving and going. I just loved how you’ve come from your humble beginnings and grown into an incredible inspiration. Your strength and bravery is stunning and there could be no better person to lead the series. MY OTTTTPPPP
How about Wolf and Scarlet? Oh my goshhh they have the sweetest moments! Those stolen kisses, being each other’s alpha, and being able to protect each other. Scarlet, your spunk is so incredible and I wouldn’t be able to do half the things that you did. When you walked into the alpha base and OWNED EVERYONE I was like YESSSS! Totally winning. And Wolf, you poor ferocious beast. I just love your softer side. It’s so completely adorable, because you’re not just all jaws.
“He is your Wolf now, and you are his alpha.”
AND CRESSS AND THORNE! Omgg I don’t know what happened, it’s like so much happened here and I missed something. They’re still pretty conflicted because of Thorne’s overconfidence and playboy self. His cocky attitude but utterly charming personality over an awkward girl actually reminds me so much of my partner. My heart totally melted at their kisses and the SLOWW BURRRNNN of their romance and admitting they had feelings for one another. Oh my gosh guys, seriously they are ADORABLE. Thorne is the besttt!
I can’t talk about the wonderful characters without bringing up Iko. She’s just such a loyal, adorable android and I just love her humour and her bright, unwavering personality so much!
And last but not least, Winter and Jacin. Winter is completely crazy, with her hallucinations and suffering from Lunar disease, but beneath all of her strange utterings and behaviour, she’s just a really lovely girl that just CARES. My heart just ached for her, this sweet and beautiful girl who has been mentally and physically damaged by Levana and not wanting to hurt people like her. And the beautiful, protective Jacin who shows restraint and makes absolutely EVERYTHING about Winter. How beautiful!
“You’re my princess, right? You were always going to be my princess, no matter what you were born, no matter who your dad married.” – Jacin
So I didn’t expect my entire review to be fangirling but guys, if you haven’t already, you really need to pick up the Lunar Chronicles. It’s one of my favourite series of all time and being a massive sailor moon fan I can see glimpses of it through the series. The characters are completely adorable and utterly charming and all the stakes get higher in the last book. My HEARTTTT
Half a star off because of some character conveniences but it’s the last book so everything has to work out!
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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Aaaaand now I want to re-read Winter! Goodness how I loved the boooook!!! *Squeals* And yeah, 800 pages that never felt like 800 pages or long or slow at all!!
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Yessss I want to re-read the whole series after reading and writing this review lol. I completely agree, that's a testament to how much we love this series!
SO, SO GOOD, RIGHT? I mean WOW. What a way to end a series. The romance and the action and the amazing worldbuilding all came together and created something pheonominal. It just goes to show how much Marissa Meyer has improved as a writer since the series started. Thanks for sharing Jeann and, as always, fabulous review! <3 (All the OTPs in this series though!)
I completely agree Zoe, I just love how all the characters were given appropriate time to properly tie up their loose ends and omg the character development and the feels were insane. She really has, and she really did it justice! Thank you so much Zoe <3
BRING ON THE FANGIRLING ANYTIME JEANN.
Literally though it made me smile when you wrote that Thorne reminded you of Romeo. I THINK THAT'S THE CUTEST THING EVER. #relationshipgoals <3
All the couples just brought out ALL THE FEELS. :')) I'm clutching my heart even while reading this review.
LOL I loved all of our fangirling over the series too when I was reading it! HAHAHA it may be cute but omg he can get so annoying sometimes XD but he still makes me smile. Awww I know right? OMG SCARLET AND WOLF AND CRESS/THORNE'S KISS
Totes agree, Jeann. 800 pages flew by and at the end of it all, I still wanted more. lol.
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I completely agree, I'm so sad it's over Joy! But at least there's Stars Above.
AHHH, I really need to finish this series! I am definitely going to try and finish it ASAP. But I will have to get my hands on a copy of Winter before I can, so I can binge the last two (or maybe the whole series, since it's been a while).
So much fangirling and shipping here, Jeann! 😀 I LOVE IT. And it totally makes me want to read the rest of The Lunar Chronicles right now!
I cannot wait to meet all the characters I haven't met yet 😀
It's a bit of a shame that there were conveniences, but hopefully it wasn't too bad.
Lovely review, dear! <3
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Yesss I can't wait for you to pick up Winter Chiara, I absolutely love it so much! LOL yeah it's not often when I just let myself go on like that HAHAHA. I can't wait for you to read the series and discover all my favourite ships! The conveniences weren't too bad, just obviously because the series is ending we want a HEA.
When it comes to this series I say fangirl away. As far as series conclusions go, Winter takes the crown for me. It was everything I wanted and so much more. The ships, the friendships, the banter – everything. I must say Kai and Cinder will always be my favourites. They are too precious. They both have such a weight on their shoulders and yet they take it all on board with no 'woe is me' like drama. Kai/Cinder = OTP.
I also love how unapologetic Levana was in her evilness. She literally had no remorse and had plenty of tricks up her sleeve. That final battle had me on edge.
I am so glad we have the Stars Above collection to look forward to because I am not ready to let go of my Rampion crew just yet. 😀
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I completely agree Lois, it was a fantastic series ender and at over 800 pages it enver felt too long! I'm so glad you're another CinderKai shipper, it seems like more people prefer Scarlet and Wolf or Thorne/Cress. I just love their leadership, strength and reliance on one another! Levana was definitely an interesting conflicted villian. That final battle was epic, even though I thought it was slightly too quick. But mannnn my heart was pounding so fast at it. I'm hoping there's going to be a wedding in Stars Above <33
I'm glad to hear that Meyer gave this series a satisfying ending! I've only read Cinder so far but really enjoyed it. I can't wait to meet Scarlet and Wolf in the next book.
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Absolutely, the series is so fantastic and she really did it justice with Winter! I can't wait for you to enjoy the rest of the series!
I FREAKING LOVED THIS BOOK!! I am still devastated by its ending. That banter was adorable and funny and I loved every single romance AND friendship in that book. All of it was sheer perfection.
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I'm so glad you loved it too! I can't wait to read Stars Above, it will be out soon!
Reading this review put a ridiculously huge smile on my face – I am SO excited to read this! I actually just finished Cinder a few hours ago and loved it, so I'm kind of in a major book hangover as I wait for my trip to library tomorrow. Great review, as always!
Hehe I'm so glad you enjoyed the review! I hope you will enjoy the rest of the series!
YEEEESSS.
I mean, I love this series for A LOT of reasons, but let's be honest: it's all about the ships for me. Wolf/Scarlet have always been my favorite. I love their dedication and I feel like they've been put through the toughest tests while still coming out the strongest. But Cress and Thorne stole the show for me in Winter; adorable beyond words and holy kissing Batman!
I completely agree! Wolf and Scarlet are such a passionate couple, I love them. OMG how cute were Cress and Thorne! *fans self*
I have to finish this series. It's a favorite of mine and I have this book. I'll be setting time aside to reread the other books and review all of them.
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I hope you get to pick it up soon Laura, I absolutely LOVE this book as well!
I really need to catch up on this series so that I can read Winter! I plan to start Scarlet next month and go from there. It may just turn into a binge read. I've been doing a lot of that lately with book series that I'm enjoying. Great review!
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It's sooo good Lekeisha! All of the books are awesome. Scarlet was probably my least favourite but I loved Cress and Winter! I still enjoyed it though.
Can you believe that I havent started this series yet? Now when it is completed I have no excuse but to finally read it, right? I hope to find time and binge read it this year! Great review, Jeann 🙂
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OMG Lucia it is one of my favourite series! I can't wait for you to pick it up – please do so soon so we can fangirl 😀
I always get really excited to find another Kai-Cinder shipper! (Do they have a ship name? Cindai? Kander? Lol) They are my favorite in the series. I won't pretend things didn't wrap up a little too perfectly, but it was nice that everything worked out.
I know, I feel like everyone ships the other ones but I love Cinderkai! hahaha Yeah, the wrapping up too perfectly is why I deducted half a mark, but I kinda don't care 😀
Oh man, I cannot wait for Stars Above to come out!! I need to know how my babies are going!! If they don't all get married in the short stories, I'll probably flip a table! HAHA. I think there are only 10 days to go?!!!!
WHAT THAT IS SO SOON!!! I'm so excited Jenna and we need all the weddings <33
I am so excited to start this one! I have loved all the books and I am sure I won't be disappointed int his one. Glad you loved it! Great review and fangirling 🙂
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Yessss I can't wait for you to pick it up Grace, it's SOO good!
OMG!! Fangirling at the moment!!!
I swear I am the only one who hasn't read Winter yet and I have no idea why!! Wait. Actually I do. I just want to buy the whole series before I read Winter so I can say goodbye to these lovely characters properly. ARGH, why did I have to read this series out of the library?!
If you've rated it a 4.5 stars, I KNOW that it is going to be out of this world and I'm going to sobbing and just an emotional wreck.
I will need you, Jeann when that moment comes!
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Lol probably my most incomprehensible review ever! Winter is SOOO good Faith and I can't wait for you to pick it up! YOU WILL. I WILL BE HERE FOR YOU.
*hides* I still haven't started this series, but Alana has been RAVING about how great it is. I'm a little ashamed because Cinder is staring at me from my book shelves but I just…yeah. *hides* So glad to hear that the concluding book was amazing Jeann! I can't wait to one day meet these characters and fall in love with them too! 😀
Oh my god Joy you HAVE to pick it up! It's soooo good and one of my favourite series!
Wasn't it GREAT?? So glad I got on the bandwagon and binge-read the first three books. AND ALL THE OTPs. Omg. Fangirling on point, Jeann 😀
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I loved it so much Emily, I'm so glad you got to binge read them because the wait between them was hard! Hahah thanks Emily XD