“The Lunar Chronicles” Series by Marissa Meyer
- Cinder
- Scarlet
- Cress
- Winter
- Fairest – Prequel Novella
- Stars Above – a collection of short stories
Recommended: Yes and No, All except Fairest are recommended, but they have some sensitive material not all parents might condone. The prequel, Fairest, is not recommended due to sexual issues.
Recommended age
- (Volumes 1 – 4, Stars Above): 14 – 16; 16 – 18; Adult.
- Fairest: None; Intended Age: 14 – 16; 16 – 18; Adult.
In a brilliant futuristic revision of the old familiar fairytales, three spirited heroines take center stage: Cinder, a teenage cyborg mechanic with a brutal stepmom and an invitation to the Eastern Commonwealth Prince’s ball; Scarlet, an 18-year-old French farm girl with a missing grandmother and only one lead – a street fighter named Wolf; and Cress, a gifted computer hacker with crazy hair, who has been stuck on a satellite endlessly orbiting the earth for the last seven years. The fourth (brave, but not as spirited) heroine is Winter, Queen Levana’s step-daughter who is kind, incredibly beautiful (without the help of Lunar “glamour”), and losing her grip on sanity because of her refusal to use her “Gift”.
The stories take place 126 years after the devastating World War IV. Now Earth has joined in a Union and is living in relative peace (with the exception of a ravaging plague and the constant threat of attack from the rival nation of Luna – yeah, the moon.) These girls are caught up in a desperate attempt to save the world from the evil and merciless Lunar Queen Levana by finding the malevolent queen’s missing niece and true heir to the throne, Princess Selene. All four girls have secrets, some more unexpected than others, and all are destined to be fugitives from the law. But time is running out. Levana has a plan to take over the Earth, and Cinder, Cress, Scarlet, Winter and their friends are the only ones on the planet who can stop it.
Fairest gives the backstory about Levana (including why she hides her real appearance, how she developed her particular mind-controlled “glamour”, and how she became Queen), as well as filling in other details about the history of various other characters and plot lines. Stars Above gives some background on several of the stories.
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