Winter By Marissa Meyer

Winter is the fourth book in the Lunar Chronicles, and probably my least favorite.  I was excited to read this and find out what happens and how the story will end.  Cinder sneaks on to Luna, Cress gets seperated from the group Winter escapes death with the help of Scarlet who finds her way back to Wolf. Everything escalates and ends the way we pretty much expect them too. I am not saying the entire book is predictable nor is the process to getting to the end, but every reader has to expect the Cinder becomes to Queen she is meant to become.

The book is slow to start off and begins to pick up pace as you get farther into the story.  I had a hard time with the slowness of the plot-line and how easy it was to predict some things that were happening in the story. The overall story was great and interesting, I enjoyed the adaptation of Snow White mixed with Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Red Riding Hood.  I haven't seen to many books that weave different fairy tales into one story (Jackson Pearce is one who is doing a great job at it as well).  This is a story that makes all the characters strong on their own without the need for a prince to come save them, but still desire love because really who doesn't desire love?  Meyer's descriptions are great and made me want to visit Luna! I wish I could live there it sounded so gorgeous.

I am not sure entirely why I struggled more with this one than I did the other books, maybe I wasn't in the right mindset to read (I am in the midst of moving and starting a new job, lots going on).  There is a lot that is happening in this novel, I think it is longer than the other three, so there is a lot for the reader to take in as they are reading.  Many of the characters get split up so the story jumps from Cinder, to Cress, to Scarlet and Winter that sometimes it is hard to keep up until they find each other once again.  I could easily see this series made into a movie series, and maybe expand on the story a little, maybe a book after on how things are after Cinder takes back her crown.

Despite me having a hard time with this edition to the series, I enjoyed it and would recommend not just this book but the entire series to those who are looking for an interesting book to read.  I would give this novel a 3.5 out of 5 rating.  I will come back to the book after some time when things have calmed down and re-read it, maybe my feelings towards it will change.