Fairest: The Lunar Chronicles: Levana's Story (Lunar Chronicles, #3.5)

by Marissa Meyer

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.

• ISBN10: 1250774055
• ISBN13: 9781250774057
• Publish Date: 1 November 2020 (first published 27 January 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Square Fish
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[Artemis]

Rarely am I impressed with a companion novel to a series – but Meyer’s Fairest definitely changed that. Told from Levana’s POV, this short story confirmed just how evil she is. The reader is given a free pass into Levana’s head and its not the most comfortable place to be. She is insecure, broken, and completely alone which is usually a recipe for having some kind of general sympathy for a character but I found myself just wishing she would disappear most of the time.

https://artemisreads.wordpress.com/2016/02/03/review-fairest-by-marissa-meyer/

[liz089]

Loved it ! Review comes soon !

[Katie King]

I knew Winter had just come out and I was still a few books behind, so I decided it was time to wrap things up, starting with Fairest.

Let me just say - I really enjoyed this! I loved getting all of Levana's backstory because let's face it - she's a crazy bitch but she wasn't born that way. I had been curious about her since her first appearance in Cinder, but I never realized how badly I needed to know more about her until reading Fairest. I actually wish I could get even more about her because now I'm pretty much obsessed with her. Everything about it was great except her romance. That really struggled in my eyes and even though she was clearly forcing it, I felt like nobody is that dumb or forces things for that long. You would think she would get tired of him not loving her and break it off, but she still felt the same way after all that time? Nah.

[Amanda]

December 2015 reread: Oh, Levana. Can't wait to see what's in store for you.

Levana may not be likeable, but she certainly is readable.

In fact, I had trouble putting Fairest down. A chance to learn how the villain of The Lunar Chronicles series came to be? Sign me up. It's possible I have a soft spot for villain back stories -- the best villains are relateable and human-ish, after all -- but truly, Marissa Meyer just writes a good book.

Though Fairest is a prequel to the series, it's likely best read as it was released: the book in between Cress and Winter. What we've learned in the first three books gives Levana's story greater context.

Would it still be good on its own? Probably. Is it even better within the context of the series? Heck yes. If you've loved this series, you need to read Fairest. It's really that simple.

And so subtle you barely notice it -- yet so profound you can't help absorbing it -- is the worldbuilding. We haven't been introduced to life on Luna, until now. It's brilliantly worked into the narrative, giving us glimpses of earth from the moon. I kinda want more now.

I loved, loved the brief look we got at Winter and the beginning of her story. It makes me that much more excited to get her story.

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

I'm so glad I decided to give this is a chance. I usually think of novellas (or .5's) as marketing ploys that don't add much to the overall series or move the main plot line forward. But this one greatly enhanced my understanding of The Lunar Chronicles. Its pace and smaller cast of characters actually made the story much easier to keep up with than Cress!

[cornerfolds]

Although I purchased Fairest way back when it was first released, I put off reading it because I just wasn't in a Lunar Chronicles mood. After finishing Winter, however, I was in dire need of more of this world! And although I hated Levana with a passion, I was really curious to discover what made her so very evil. I'd heard around from several people that I might come to sympathize with Levana. I'm not sure I feel sympathy for her, but it's definitely complicated.

Having read Winter before Fairest, I already knew some of Levana's backstory, but getting the full story was a much more emotional experience. I did feel for her, my heart breaking a tiny bit while reading about her need and constant search for love. At the same time, I found myself extremely uncomfortable on multiple occasions, which I suspect is what Marissa Meyer was going for with this story. The romance between Levana and one of the palace guards was downright creepy.

I mean, okay. I haven't seen this in any other review for Fairest and I'm wondering if no one else really put it together or it's just that no one wants to say it. Levana was essentially raping Evret, her one true love. She was forcing him to be intimate with her against his will. I felt pretty gross just reading about it. I understand that Levana had some insane desire to feel loved to the point where she forced a marriage with a recently widowed man, but ugh. *shudder*

The conflicting emotions that I felt for Levana are similar to what I experienced with Winter's character. Meyer definitely has a lot of skill when it comes to developing complex characters.

I loved getting to dive back into the world of The Lunar Chronicles for a couple hundred more pages, although I'm really sad it's really (almost) over this time. I also really enjoyed the little tidbits about Cress, Jacin, and their families. In this regard, I feel like reading Winter first actually helped me because I was able to pick up on adorable clues that I might not have noticed otherwise. It was interesting to read about all of the truly terrible women in Cinder's family. How lucky that she ended up on earth...

Levana is a difficult character to read about, but I definitely recommend Fairest for every single fan of this series! I think it goes a long way toward explaining her often disturbing actions.

[Chelsea]

Quick Thoughts:
1. This book made a lot of people feel really bad for Levana but it just made me hate her more.
2. If Levana was a strong enough person, she could have turned out to be a good ruler and that makes me sad.
3. I HATED the whole part about her husband. Not the story itself but her. It made me feel really bad for him and I was expecting Winter to turn out horrible because of Levana's influence.
4. I'm kind of glad that Cinder's mother wasn't the greatest either. It made the family feel more realistic.
5. I don't know if I could reread this book. I hate Levana way too much. She has a horrible upbringing sure, but she didn't choose the right way to overcome it.

[Berls]

I really love getting into the mind of the bad guys and Fairest is no exception. Marissa Meyer did a really great job with Queen Levana's story. One of my concern's going in was that I was going to get all conflicted about thinking of Levana as the bad guy - that didn't happen. I do understand her a lot better and even feel a little sorry for her - she didn't exactly get dealt the best cards - but at the same time, she CHOOSE badly over and over. So I'm not conflicted, just better informed and potentially more understanding.

I'm super excited to see how Winter will pick up the story - will we start where Cress left off or will there be a connection to Fairest's earlier time line? I technically could have found out since there's a sneak peak at the end of Fairest, but I really didn't want to get started and not be able to continue. So I'm waiting till the fall...

Oh and, as always, Rebecca Soler knocked her performance out of the park. I'm so glad she narrated this, even though it was only a novella and not a full length novel. Reading it just would be the same!

[jnikkir]

3.5 stars, I think?

I had no intention of reading this novella, originally; but when I saw it was available from my library as an audiobook, and having loved the narrator for the original three books, I decided to give it a chance. And it was okay! It was good backstory for Levana, but I didn't enjoy it overly much. Levana isn't a terribly compelling character, to me, so her story just wasn't really my thing. Still a pretty good read, and I'd definitely recommend it as an audiobook if you like those.

[stefu1]

Liked the book, really made me see Levana's side.