Stars Above

Title: Stars Above
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Pages: 369
Rating: 3.5 Stars
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The Lunar Chronicles may be over, but Stars Above completes the last novel with its epilogue and other short stories, including The Keeper, Glitches, The Queen's Army, Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky, After Sunshine Passes, The Princess and the Guard, The Little Android, The Mechanic, and Something Old, Something New. 

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I thought this collection was okay. There were nine short stories, and I only really only enjoyed three of them.

The first four stories, The Keeper, Glitches, The Queen's Army, Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky, and After Sunshine Passes were somewhat entertaining. I mean, you learned a bit of background about some of the characters, but it doesn't add anything to the story. I could've gone without reading them. 

I did enjoy The Princess and the Guard, as it was all about Winter and Jacin's relationship as they grew up. Winter is my favorite character, and I loved getting to read a story showing us all the trauma she went through as a child. It really helped me understand and respect her as a character. 

The Little Android was sort of cool, as it was a retelling of The Little Mermaid, but the story itself was very boring, and was about all new characters we were meeting for the first time. I did enjoy The Mechanic, though. It was Cinder and Kai's first meeting from Kai's point of view, and I liked reading about what was going on through his mind. 

And finally, the epilogue, Something Old, Something New. I'm definitely glad I got to read this epilogue. We find out all about the relationships we'd grown to love, and how they played out. No, it wasn't so amazing that it made this book a four star, but I'm still happy we got this nice, cute, fairytale ending. 

So if you're contemplating reading this, I'd say give it a shot. It's not very long, and for the most part, it goes fast. You'll get to learn the background of the main characters, and find out how the series concludes. 

Winter

Title: Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Pages: 827
Rating: 5 Stars
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Haughty, manipulative, vain- all common stereotypes of the Lunars.  But Winter doesn't want to be any of those things.  Winter wants to be different.  But, when a Lunar doesn't use their power, a mental disease slowly takes over their mind.  Few people would ever give up their ability, let alone allow it to be the cause of their madness. However, Winter's prepared to face the consequences of disregarding her power if it means she's free from the prison it weaves.  In the final book of the Lunar Chronicles, Princess Winter joins the rebellion against Luna's Evil Queen Levana.  

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This book is by far my favorite of all the novels in the Lunar Chronicles.  It's very lengthy, but I'm so happy they didn't split it into two books or something stupid like that.  If you've read the first three books, you need to stop what you're doing and pick this one up right now.  Seriously.  It's really good. 

You meet the new character, Winter, in the last book, but we learn so much more about her in Winter, predictably.  Winter's a really interesting character.  She's extremely optimistic; she sees the good in everyone.  She's also astonishingly beautiful, but she doesn't seem to care all that much.  She's very similar to the Snow White we're all familiar with, except for one thing: Winter is a lunatic.  Literally. She's slowly gone mad ever since the day she gave up using her lunar power. Personally, I thought this was a really unique twist to the story, and Winter ended up being my favorite character out of the whole lot. 

Something I really enjoyed reading about was the countless different relationships in this book.  Scarlet and Winter's relationship would be one of my favorites.  Scarlet is a down to earth, no no nonsense kind of girl, while Winter is anything but. You'd expect Scarlet to despise Winter, but instead we get to see Scarlet's softer side as she and Winter interact more and more throughout the book.  There are plenty other relationships I enjoyed too.  Iko and Cinder's endless loyalty to each other, Cress and Thorne's cautious, innocent romance, and Jacin's adorable, but slightly annoying, protectiveness of his childhood friend, Winter.  Watching all these and so many other relationships develop and change was just really enthralling.  

The last thing that contributed to the five stars I gave Winter was simply the plot.  The book is pretty long, and I was wondering what could possibly happen that would entail so many pages.  I got my answer.  The book is filled with plot twists and cliffhangers, and the pacing allows you to fly through the book.  I believe I read 400 pages yesterday, and it felt like I'd only read half that. 

I'd fully recommend you read this book. It's a fantastic concluding novel, and I know you'll enjoy it.