Book Review: Fairest by Marissa Meyer

I rated it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

 

 

Overview: In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told.

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now.

Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series.

 

Review: So, my rating may be a little biased because The Lunar Chronicles is one of my favorite YA series, nonetheless, I gave this a high rating because it was a great backstory into our villain.

 

Normally I don't read novellas or spinoffs in series because 1) they never interest me 2) I thought they didn't bring much to the over all series 3) they're always on the shorter side and thus never had quite the story arc.

 

Fairest nixed my three excuses completely. It was interesting because it answered the basic villain question: what happened to the villain that made them so, well, villainy? The story argued the 'why' pretty clearly and gave an understanding to Levana's history. To my second point, it brought a great deal to the story because we finally get more of a glimpse of the kingdom in the moon. We are finally off of Earth! So I really enjoyed the change in setting, it made me hungry for more. It also cleared up one of my questions: why does Levana have a step daughter, and how does she, Winter, fit into all of this? And to my third point, this wasn't a story arc type of novella, rather is was more of a character arc as we see Levana go from naïve girl to ruthless Queen. And you know what? I was okay with that because it was entertaining throughout.

 

Now, if only I could get an ARC of Winter, my life would be complete!

 

Big thanks to my friend Lisa for letting me borrow this one! Will return in perfect condition ;)