Review: Fairest (Lunar Chronicles #3.5) by Marissa Meyer

“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”

Review:

“She was so stupid. Such a stupid, stupid girl.

For ever thinking she could be admired. For ever thinking she could be beautiful, or adored, or noticed. For ever thinking she could be anything at all.”

Disclaimer: Please read the Lunar Chronicles – Cinder, Scarlet and Cress in this exact order for better understanding of this novella.

This is Queen Levana’s story. This is the story of the Queen we all love to hate. Hers is a character that has actually frustrated me without ever giving me closure because there is a tiny part of me that has always hoped that she could actually be a redeemable character. This novella disabused me of that notion with the first few pages 😛

There has not been a villainous character that I have hated to hate (Dolores Umbridge doesn’t count cause I absolutely love to hate her :P) than Queen Levana. Her narcissistic, egoistic attitude coupled with a lack of consciousness and compassion for fellow living beings never failed to astonish me.

The psychologist in me is fascinated by her, for she is what we would term as a “subject who makes your career” but the reader in was appalled and disgusted by her actions, never being certain whether this “Queen” was kidding or was she just bat – shit crazy (Lunars know what I’m talking about :D)

“She cried for the girl who had never belonged. A girl who tried so hard, harder than anyone else, and still never had anything to show for it.”

I started of Fairest with the understanding that it might just give me a back story to understand Levana and maybe even endear her to me with at least some redeeming qualities. I felt a lot of things for her, but pity for the first few chapters was dominant. But that didn’t last long.

She is the result of her circumstances, but she is also the consequences of her choices.

Her circumstances aren’t her fault, but her path was her decision and maybe that’s why I could never feel any empathy towards her. She consciously makes decisions that she knows will haunt her, yet she makes them anyway, because she honest to god, believes that it will get her what she thinks she deserves – to be adored and loved.

Her thoughts in this book, shows a woman who could have gone right, if she just hadn’t chosen so wrong.

“The guilt and the horror and the memory of that awful smell might stay with her forever, but she was the queen.”

I can’t honestly say much without giving spoilers (and believe me, this will least spoilerish review you will ever get!!) but this book just whets your appetite for Winter, because I distinctly remember shouting “I NEED WINTER NOW” and my mother responding “ARE YOU HIGH? IT IS WINTER NOW!”.  Yeah, my mom’s not exactly open about my obsession with fictional characters 😀

The sneak peak into Winter though honestly just opens up a lot more questions but doesn’t give any single answer (believe me, I looked!). But I couldn’t help but draw comparisons between Levana’s and Winter’s childhoods. And I can’t help but think, that one of the reasons why Levana hates Winter is because despite the same circumstances, Winter has the compassion and the capacity to love, both of which Levana lacked.

It’s getting hard to wait, because Winter is coming ❤

Rating:

4 / 5 Stars

Only because I have to wait months for Winter. That is so not cool.

Also, Levana scared the bajeesus out of me.

Recommendation:

Honestly, if you have read the Lunar Chronicles, you do not even need me to recommend this one for you. It is a must!

But if you haven’t yet read the Lunar Chronicles, I highly suggest you do before you read this novella, because your life is incomplete without this one.