Book Review: Winter; Marissa Meyer.

I had a few nightmares that I would fall into old patterns and not get round to reading this book but I did it! And not only that, but I managed to read this beast of a book in less than three days (I read the last fifty pages or so today, does that even count?). I'm so excited to share my thoughts on what could possibly be the best book I've read this year, and amazing finale to a wonderful series.

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: Paperback

TITLE: Winter
AUTHOR: Marissa Meyer
SERIES: The Lunar Chronicles (#4)
PUBLISHER: Feiwel & Friends
PAGES: 824
GENRE: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Retelling

RATING: 5/5 Stars

Blurb:
When Princess Winter was thirteen, the rumour around the Lunar court was that her glamour would soon be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana. In a fit of jealousy, Levana disfigured Winter. Four years later, Winter has sworn off the use of her glamour altogether. Despite her scars, Winter’s natural beauty, her grace, and her gentleness are winning admiration from the Lunar people that no amount of mind-control could achieve.

Winter despises her stepmother, but has never dreamed of standing up to her. That is, until she realizes that she may be the only one with the power to confront the queen. 

Can Cinder, Prince Kai, Scarlet, Wolf, Cress, Thorne, Princess Winter, and the palace guard Jacin find their happily ever afters?

What I Liked:

• Where do I begin? How about some focus on the newest additions to the Lunar Chronicles world: Princess Winter and Jacin. They both played minor roles in 'Cress' but in this final installment the focus was all on them and I loved them both. I have remained thoroughly impressed with Meyer's diversity and that did not stop here. Princess Winter was not only POC (an interesting and brilliant choice given that she's based on the character of Snow White) but also suffered from debilitating mental health issues. As a result, the loving relationship between these two became even more poignant and they fit in nicely with the rest of the established characters.
• The world-building was probably the best I've seen in this series to date. To start with, we finally got to see and experience Lunar through it's Capital City Artemisia. It's structure was vaguely reminiscent of 'The Hunger Games's' Capital and outlying districts but it felt very fresh also. It was nice to see a totally new place in it's entirety and Meyer built up a stunning visualisation of a previously unseen world.
• Let's talk about plot. This is quite a lengthy book so it comes as no surprise that it's full of plenty of twists and turns to keep readers going. I have to say the second half of the book was probably my favourite, as it's when the severity of the situation really managed to shine through and the pace dramatically increased. I don't often say this about series finales but I loved the ending! It truly was the happily ever after that I've come to expect from Fairy Tales and desperately wanted to see for these characters. Perfect!

What I Disliked:

• I wouldn't necessarily call this a dislike but the length of the book did originally throw me off. With 'Cinder' and 'Scarlet' being pretty short and 'Cress' not a whole lot longer, this book is huge! That's good because Meyer got to focus on all the characters that I knew and loved, not just Winter. However for those that were loving how short this series was and it's fast-pace prepare for a shock. There's a much longer build-up in the first half and I had to take some time to re-adjust.

Overall Conclusion:

I loved this book so much! I think of the whole series, 'Cress' remains my favourite but this was a wonderful finale to a series that has been close to my heart since the moment I started reading it. The world-building blew me away, the characters were diverse and well developed and I really liked the plot. The romance too was a big factor for me, I will ship every one of the couples that Meyer introduced to me until the day I die. There's a book boyfriend in here for everyone too: pick from sweet and courageous Kai, protective and strong Wolf, hilarious and charming Thorne or brooding and loyal Jacin. The choice is yours! I'm looking forward to getting a copy of 'Fairest' and owning 'Stars Above' when it's released because I can't get enough of this book!