10. Crescendo

The book:  Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3)
The author:  Marissa Meyer
The rating:  5 stars

Sometimes, I feel as if reading has lost its luster for me.  Every book I read is pretty okay, but none are as amazing as the ones I've read in the past, and I wonder if it's not the books that are changed, but me.  Then I read a book like Cress, and my faith in literature is restored.  Books haven't changed--I just haven't been reading the right books--and Cress is most definitely one of the greats.

Rave reviews tend to be a bit dull, so I'll try to keep my praise brief.  Cress ties POV to pacing in a unique and effective way, with not one, not two, but with at least eight alternating perspectives.  It's not a big cycle, though--Cinder, Kai, Cress, Cinder, Kai, Cress, Cinder--or anything like that.  The reader never knows from whose perspective the next chapter will come, and this keeps the reader engaged and enthralled.  I'm particularly partial to ensemble casts, and Cress embraced this concept with bells on.  Each novel in the Lunar Chronicles series adds a few protagonists to their growing roster, but still keeps our heroes from the books of yore.  This results in a diverse cast that never overwhelms the reader.  It's like that picnic game that elementary school kids like to play:  the first person is bringing an aardvark, the second is bringing an aardvark and a banana, the third is bringing an aardvark, a banana, and a crystal ball... while you're unlikely to be able to remember a list of 26 items from the get-go, after going through the entire game, you will probably still be able to recite the list days later.  We became well acquainted with Cinder, Kai, and Iko in Cinder, as well as a slew of supporting characters, and then with Scarlet and Wolf in Scarlet, and Cress raises Thorne, Cress, and Dr. Erland to prominence.  I've never read A Game of Thrones, but it's kind of how I imagine the A Song of Ice and Fire series to be (except without copious amounts of death).

My other literary weakness is retellings; I adore them.  I feel that it can create an even richer world, drawing on the reader's knowledge of the source material, and playing off it or subverting it in a new environment.  Each novel in the Lunar Chronicles is a sci-fi retelling of a classic fairy tale, and Cress, as you might have guessed by the title, is based loosely upon the story of Rapunzel (if you're like my dad and don't understand the connection, cress and rapunzel are both types of leafy greens).  I'll admit, each time I caught a parallel between Cress and Rapunzel I felt a bit proud of myself (and I couldn't resist comparing Thorne to Tangled's Flynn Ryder).  Cress struck a great balance between old and new, never dwelling too much in Rapunzel or too little to make the premise pointless.

The setting was also phenomenal.  Meyer's worldbuilding is among the best in the business, and I'd love to spend a day wandering her future Earth with its cyborgs and androids, cultures and countries, even with Luna shining up above.  The Eastern Commonwealth is a delightful smorgasbord of culture, although it's arguably less prominent in Cress than it was in early installments, as Cinder and her gang are now on the run.  I'd say the most standout setting is the Sahara and the African cities, with their mix of old and new technologies and their intermingling of Lunar and Earthen traditions.  The world is so incredibly engrossing; the only shadow on the horizon as I read Cress was that the trilogy would soon be over, and I'd be forced out of Meyer's remarkable world forever.

Over the entire time it took me to read Cress, I was positive it was the series finale.  I'm not sure why I had it in my head that the series was a trilogy, perhaps just because so many are, but I had no doubt in my mind that this would be the end of the line for Cinder and the gang.  When I was at 91% complete, I was getting a bit miffed; after all this, the conclusion's going to be a disappointment; there's no way Meyer can wrap all this up in the last 9%.  And then the reader gets their first glimpse of Princess Winter, and I think:  Hey, it's Snow White!  Too bad she's not going to get her own book, and really, what is Meyer doing introducing new characters so late in the game? We're not going to get the chance to get to know them.

And then I turned the last page, and my paradigm shifted in the best of ways.  Cress wasn't the end--it was just the crescendo--and I absolutely cannot wait to see what Meyer has in store in Winter, what might be the last book in the series?  Maybe?  I guess we'll see in February 2015.