Book Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Cress – Marissa Meyer

*Warning – may contain spoilers*

Author: Marissa Meyer

Publisher: Puffin Books

First published: 2014

Cover: Paperback

Pages: 550

Blurb:    Incarcerated in a satellite, an expert hacker and out to save the world – Cress isn’t your usual damsel in distress.

                Cress grew up as a prisoner. With only netscreens for company, she’s forced to do the bidding of the evil Queen Levana. Now that means tracking down Cinder and her handsome accomplice Emperor Kai. But little does Queen Levana know that those she seeks, and the man she loves, are plotting her downfall…

                As paths cross and the price of freedom rises, happily ever after has never seemed further away for Cress, Scarlet and Cinder.

                This is not the fairy tale you remember. But it’s one you won’t forget…

History of my copy: I picked up Cress along with The Elite a couple weeks ago. Having recently read Cinder and Scarlet, I have been desperate to finish the series. Now I just have to wait and see when I can get my hands on Winter.

Cress is hands down my favourite book in the series so far. So much happens, but at the same time, things start to be tied together. I was a bit slow at reading it at first, due to a couple bad days, but then yesterday I read the last half of the book because I couldn’t put it down! That rarely happens to me, as I enjoy having numerous books on the go at once.

Plot: Cress starts with Cinder, Thorne, Scarlet, Wolf and Iko rescuing Cress, the girl with the D-comm chip. However, things don’t go directly to plan, and the group gets split up. At this point, the book gets frustrating as you want to know what happened to everyone, but you follow only one of the group’s stories and then suddenly, when something is about to happen to them, you flash to someone else! It’s so frustrating because the story is so gripping and you just need to know! And, whilst all this is going on, you’re yelling at Kai to not marry Levana.

         Cress and Thorne end up remaining in the satellite as it plummets to Earth, before being stuck in the Sahara Desert, made even worse by the fact that Thorne is blinded. They eventually make their way to Dr. Erland (and wait until you discover his secret!), but it certainly wasn’t an easy path, and the terror you feel for Cress is immense.

         Scarlet ends up as a hostage of Sybil Mira and taken to Luna, where she is tortured by Levana and becomes a pet of Princess Winter, which introduces the title character of the last book in the series.

         Wolf, Iko and Cinder remain on the Rampion and end up heading to Dr. Erland too, where the eventually meet back up with Cress and Thorne. When they are all united, apart from Scarlet, and Iko is given a new body (no more spaceship Iko!), they break into the palace and kidnap Emperor Kai.

         The plot of this book is so fast paced and interesting, it just keeps drawing you in.

Setting: Cress has numerous settings from the vast emptiness of the desert, to the confined prison of Cress’ satellite. From the magnificence of the New Beijing palace prepared for a royal wedding, to Scarlet’s cage back on Luna. I can’t wait to discover more about Luna in the final book.

Characters: Meyer’s characters are absolutely brilliant. They are flawed, they are misfits, and yet you still love every single thing about them.

                Cress is adorably sweet and innocent, and her reaction to everything Earthen makes my heart ache for her a little more each and every time. And, although at first I couldn’t see Thorne and Cress together, now it’s probably my main ship from these books. Thorne himself changes a little in this book, as he is now blind, but Meyer portrayed that so well. It was nice to see a main character end up with a disability as impacting as blindness.

                I still love Iko so much! The problem is, I find her hard to imagine as this beautiful escort droid when I’m so used to the Iko from Cinder. However, her character is just as funny as ever, and there are so many moments when I had to put the book down just to laugh at Iko for five minutes, especially when she was the spaceship.

                I was never hugely fond of Dr. Erland, but in Cress you learn a lot about him, and your heart will shatter into a million pieces when he finally reveals his secret to the person it matters too. (I’m avoiding spoiling it because it’s just so good!)

To read or not to read: Read. Read. Read. I loved this book sososososo much! It makes you feel frustrated, elated, heartbroken, angry and so much more. You will cry, you will laugh, you will squeal in pure delight. It makes you feel everything. I really don’t think words can show how amazing this book is. Go read it right now!