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3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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Re-read.
Rating: 4/5
Pages: 550
Started: 28 December 2023
Finished: 29 December 2023
Summary:
For six years, Cress has been the sole inhabitant of a small satellite orbiting Earth, a station she uses to hack Earthen systems and intercept information for the Lunar government. Though she was the one who gave Cinder vital information about Levana's plans, she's still surprised when Cinder, accompanied by Thorne, Scarlet, and Wolf, attempts a rescue mission to free her from her captivity. When the mission goes catastrophically wrong, sending a captured Scarlet to Luna and crash landing Cress and Throrn in the middle of the Sahara, Cinder has no choice but to reformulate and replan. She desperately wants to save her friends and stop herself from becoming more and more like queen Levana, but she's willing to do whatever it takes to usurp the queen and neutralize her threat.
Thoughts:
This book is far more exciting than Scarlet. I like Cress as a protagonist less; her timidity is a bit frustrating to read, even if her daydreaming is very relatable. But the plot of the book in general is so clever. The character dynamics get a lot more complex here, since there are more characters for Meyer to play with, and it's a blast to read all their banter and conniving. The heist at the end of the book is also a lot of fun.
Cinder's characterization was what I payed the most attention to this book, especially in the way her character is foiled by Queen Levana. Cinder spends a lot of time worrying about becoming Levana, while also recognizing that using her power is her best chance at stopping the queen. Especially considering that Levana is a character defined by illusion, beauty, perfection, and control, Cinder's struggle and Levana's evilness create a very interesting message opposing those traits, one that is not super common in dystopian or science fiction. I'm definitely going to look at this idea further when I read Fairest, and I'm excited to continue my re-read.