Cress by Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles #3)

Genres: Young Adult, Sci-fi, Romance
My Rating: 4 out of 5

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In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

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I think this series would be a lot better if it kept its focus on Cinder instead of always getting sidetracked with new characters and trying to force another fairy tale into the story, when it would be so much better without it. The fairy tale princesses is a gimmick that this series doesn't need in order to be good.

Although, this book did focus a great deal more on Cinder than Scarlet did, which is a shame since if one of these books needed more Cinder, it was Scarlet. I really didn't care about either of the new characters in that book, and it only got good at the end when Cinder was reintroduced.

But luckily this book only introduced one new character instead of two, and it didn't take as much time away from Cinder, and Cress wasn't so bad. Although their relationship is only in the very early stages, she and Thorne seem to make more sense together than Wolf and Scarlet do. And Cress really comes in handy. I really couldn't care less about what is happening to Scarlet right now. She is the most useless character in the book.

But still, every single time there was a chapter from Cinder or Kai's POV, I would forget about everyone else, I would forget that it wasn't their story all along. Because it should be. This is Cinder and Kai's story and everyone else just fades away into the background. They are the only characters with the power to keep bringing me back to this series, as well as the great story. And Thorne of course. And the last chapter. Oh my gosh! That is what I have been waiting for for the past 2 books! My heart is singing!

“But you're a prisoner," said Thorne. 

"I prefer damsel in distress," she murmured. 

One side of Thorne's mouth quirked up, into that perfect half smile he'd had in his graduation photo. A look that was a little bit devious, and all sorts of charming. Cress's heart stopped, but if they noticed her melting into her chair, they didn't say anything.”