Title: Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles #0.5)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publication Date: January 27, 2015
Rating: 3 Stars
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.-Summary from Goodreads
I have never had so many strong and varied emotions towards
a book as I did Fairest.
It began with hope. Before I even opened the book I had hope
that it would be good because it’s by Marissa Meyer and it's a part of the Lunar
Chronicles. How could it not be good? Part of me worried about getting too close
to Levana if I knew her backstory. I was assuming that her story would be on
where she’s really an okay person, but some event changes everything and she becomes
a tyrant. I was so wrong.
The second emotion I felt was hate. I hated Levana’s guts.
I was only 20 pages in and I wanted to DNF this book. The only reason I
continued is because it’s part of the Lunar Chronicles and I have some sense of
loyalty, but I will admit to skimming through some of the pages and even glancing ahead. I know, I know, I'm a terrible book lover. I felt sorry
for Levana because of her situation and how her sister treated her, but her
weakness made her respond in ways which were cruel. Unlike her sister who is
purposefully cruel, Levana rationalizes her cruelty away and believes that she
is in the right. She truly believes her own delusions and uses and manipulates
people to bring her fantasies to life. Her patheticness and cruelty twisted
together made me sick and I despised her.
Eventually I began to warm up to the story. This book covers
a long period of time so that which was so abhorrent to me at the beginning
wasn’t as big a part of the story later on. Levana didn’t change. She was
still as pathetic, cruel, and delusional as before, only now she has more
power. She is a tyrant who believes that her tyranny is what is best for the
people and that they should love her for it. I really liked getting some
background on Winter’s character and I can’t wait for her book.
I can’t say I liked Fairest, but by the end I was a little
in awe. For under 300 pages you are able to see into Levana’s head, and you
will never forget it. The way she thinks is very specific and doesn’t really
vary. Now that I was in her head I am able to understand exactly what she would
have been thinking during the events of the Lunar Chronicles and I can’t deny
the value of that.
I don’t believe this book is a necessary to enjoying the
rest of the series, but it does offer some very interesting insight into the
villain of the series. Even though it was hard for me to endure this book, I
consider it worth it overall.
-Christina
I really really loved this, so I'm sad you didn't enjoy it BUT I UNDERSTAND. It was interesting seeing from Levana's POV. I kind of felt like I understood her better, but she was totally messed up. I felt so sad for her, though, because no one ever ever liked her or loved her. :(
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by @ Paper Fury!
I should probably hate her (by the sounds of it- I still have to read Cinder yet) but I do love truly evil characters, and she sounds like she is. I always feel a bit sad when you get a back story on a bad character that shows you why and how they became what they are, since usually it's there to humanise them and show them they weren't always that bad. I know I don't have to read this one to read the rest, but now I'm going to have to. Do you think before Cinder would be better?
ReplyDeleteThere are events that happen in Fairest that are big plot twists and secrets that the characters later in the series have to find out. Although things aren't completely spoiled, I think it would be easier to figure these things out if you already had an idea about them from Levana's story. It might just be safer to read it in the order it was published (for the first time reading the series) because there's nothing too spoilery in there.
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