Winter (Lunar Chronicles, #4)

by Marissa Meyer

Rebecca Soler (Narrator)

Don't miss the thrilling final chapter of Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles series.

Princess Winter is admired for her grace, kindness and beauty, despite the scars on her face. She's said to be even more breath-taking than her stepmother, Queen Levana...

When Winter develops feelings for the handsome palace guard, Jacin, she fears the evil Queen will crush their romance before it has a chance to begin.

But there are stirrings against the Queen across the land. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even find the power to launch a revolution and win a war that's been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter claim their happily ever afters by defeating Levana once and for all?

• ISBN10: 1427258244
• ISBN13: 9781427258243
• Publish Date: 10 November 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: MacMillan Audio
• Format: Audiobook (CD)
• Duration: 23 hours and 30 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[kimbacaffeinate]

Spoiler-free Zone.

Five reasons to read Winter and the Lunar Chronicles

• Originality- I love how Meyers gave each book a character and a story weaving all of them together as we moved towards battle with our villain Queen Levana. Never have I read a retelling so spectacularly done. Meyers blended science fiction and fantasy into the story introducing readers to the genres and nothing tickles me more.


• Friendship- I loved the bonds that formed between these characters. Loyalty and the depth of caring that develops was strong and felt authentic. This motley crew of different personalities formed this family.I believed them, understood them and rooted for them.


• Plot-All of the stories were well done, but Winter kept me on the edge of my seat from the very first chapter. Meyer weaved these different threads and intense battle scenes into an epic tale. All of the characters face down death, so many times, I steeled my heart thinking this is it she is going to kill off so and so, and then I will have to hate her. One moment it seemed we would triumph and in the next chapter, we were doomed. What a roller coaster of a ride. I have heard a few people say there was too much going on, but I never felt Meyer lost control and appreciated all the threads. I tried to savor the story but never have so many pages slipped through my fingers so quickly.


• Romance The romances in the series were served as side dishes allowing for the intense action and twisted plot to develop. They were brought to the forefront for a spell allowing us to fall for and believe in them before being pushed to the back. This left the reader to trust characters saw growth and made progress. Each couple had their own moments and their own obstacles to overcome. As my young friends would say, I loved all the ships! Each couple was tested, separated and made to suffer but along the way, I connected and fell for them all. I did have a favorite couple, but I will leave you to decide yours.


• Villains- Meyer’s gave us plenty of characters to loath, fear and dare I say long to burn. From Cinder’s stepfamily to the wretched Queen herself. I loved to hate them and oh, how Meyer has made me loath them.

This review was originally posted on Caffeinated Book Reviewer

[cornerfolds]

Winter, how I love thee. Let me count the ways.

Seriously though, this series. It's amazing. Every time I read one of these books, it starts out slow, I have a brief moment of uncertainty, and then it takes off and I'm sucked in and I'm awake until 3am. It's a problem.

Winter picks up right where Cress left off, with Winter and Scarlet becoming sort of friends, and Cinder and crew working on a plot to overthrow the evil queen. While this is the final chapter in a four book series and does a fantastically amazing job of wrapping things up over 800+ pages, it is also the story of Winter, the princess of Luna, and Jacin, a castle guard. I don't know why, but no matter how many times Jacin was described as pale and blonde, I couldn't help but picture him as a huge tall, dark, and handsome guy. My brain is still working this one out. Despite my inability to picture Jacin as Marissa Meyer intended, I completely adored their love story. In fact, I think that they might be my favorite couple out of the entire series. Maybe. I don't know.

I honestly spent most of the book trying to decide how I felt about Winter as a character. I constantly went back and forth by almost being repulsed by her complete insanity and the actions that came with that, to admiring her for refusing to use her Lunar gift to the point where she WAS insane. To be honest, I kind of agree with the others who said there had to be a way she could've used her gift enough to -not- be insane, while also not hurting people I mean, I can't believe every person on Luna is evil because they use their gift. Cinder isn't!

Speaking of Cinder... What a total badass. I mean, wow. She surpasses my expectations in every single book I read. I love her spirit and her humility and her, um, her Kai. Can I say that? Is that allowed? While he did feature from the beginning of this series, I feel like I got to know Kai so much better in this final book. I loved seeing him as the emperor and making necessary sacrifices while also putting so much faith in Cinder. It's just... swoony.

Honestly, the most impressive thing about Winter is how it brings together every single character from the first three books and isn't overwhelming. Cress, Iko, Kai, Scarlet, Wolf, Thorne, Cress, Winter, and Jacin, all play major roles and I never found myself confused as to who was who or what was going on. Scarlet and Wolf's story was a little uncomfortable at times, but it had a satisfying conclusion. The same can be said for Cress and Thorne. These two... their cluelessness is something that might have irked me a little in another book, but here it was adorable and I loved every second of it! Levana is terrifying and insane as always and I don't think I have ever rooted against a villain so hard in my life. I truly don't have time to talk about all of the characters, so I'll just leave it there. Suffice it to say, I loved all of them. A lot. And I'm going to be sad to see them go.

The plot of Winter is just amazing. While I was terribly daunted by picking up a book that came in at 827 pages (not the kind of thing I usually spring for), I can definitely see why every single page was needed. The beginning was a little slow for me, but I honestly feel like all of the detail included was necessary for the big picture. The slow takeover of Luna, the final, heart-stopping battle, and the way everything came together was more perfect than I could have imagined! It's full of action and romance. I laughed, I gasped, I (almost) cried. Winter is the book you've been waiting for!

And of course, we FINALLY get to see Luna in all of it's glory. I feel like the series has slowly been building up to some kind of big reveal of Luna in its entirety and the waiting was all worth it because Luna is breathtaking! I loved the descriptions of each sector, the tunnels, even the caves! The amount of thought that went into making this fantasy world is really pretty impressive.

I could really go on and on (and on and on) about my feelings for Winter and The Lunar Chronicles in general, but I'll stop. I love this series and I'm kind of devastated that it's at an end. I binged Fairest in a day after finishing this one and I'll be pre-ordering Stars Above in the very, very near future. If you haven't started this series yet, I really hope you'll give it a chance!

[Joséphine]

Initial thoughts: I'm happy, happy, happy with how this book turned out. I didn't think it could edge out Scarlet, previously my favourite book in the series. Winter did it — it (slightly) edged out Scarlet for me. At first I wasn't sure how I'd like reading 800 over pages because I did think that Cress could've been a bit more concise. In this case, I must say, the length was absolutely perfect. After all, there're quite a lot of characters weaved into the story and this way, they each could have their moments.

The ups and downs made me smirk, laugh and gasp in horror. There's just so much to be had from this book, I can't believe I almost didn't pick up Cinder last year. I only did because I owned the ebook through a Kindle Daily Deal. Well, it's been beyond worth reading The Lunar Chronicles and what a way to wrap it all up!

[Amber]

For a series ender, Winter was actually pretty good! I rarely love series finales because I tend to have such high hopes and then they fall flat. Winter, however, was good. Not amazing, but still. I’ll take what I can get.

First thing’s first, Winter is our new heroine and she’s black. YES TO DIVERSITY AND AWESOMENESS. This goes to show that excuses such as “(S)he’s white in the original and so (s)he has to be white in this remake!” are a load of bollocks. Don’t even try.

Winter is a huge book. Like, 800 pages long. And for an 800 page book, it was surprisingly lacking in slow moments. Sure, the characters spent a lot of time running backwards and forwards around the moon, but there aren’t any dull moments. There’s action from the start, and there are so many moments where you’re like “the book should end here, surely?!” and then something else happens and messes things up or throws something else into the works.

Scarlet is my FAAAAAAVE and I’m so glad we got to see so much of her in this one. She’s slightly traumatised by what happened to her, but she’s the baddest mofo and I adore her. Her relationship with Wolf? Not so much. But whatever, apparently I have a problem with canon in this series because I ship literally none of them.

Speaking of ships, Cinder and Thorne continue to be the best ship ever. Their moments in this book were EVERYTHING. Not as great as their reunion in Cress, but I still got the feels. Even if Meyer tried to tone down the chemistry. It didn’t work so well.

And I’m still so pissed off about Cress and Thorne. I really don’t think Cress should be with anyone considering she has been trapped on a shuttle for the majority of her life and she doesn’t really know anything about anything. I think she should have taken the time to explore the world and herself and discover things. She mentions in this book that she knows less than twenty people, and yet she’s in love with Thorne? Okay.

Anyway, I really liked how this series wrapped up, and I like how things were a little open ended in regards to just how things will pan out in the future for the surviving characters. You don’t know, but you know it’s a new start for them, for Earth, and for the Lunars.

[Chelsea]

Quick Thoughts:
1. I'm glad this book stuck true to the fairy tales and had a happy ending. I'd be disappointed any other way.
2. I was disappointed that there wasn't as many Snow White similarities as there were Cinderella or Red Riding Hood.
3. We finally got to see some relationships develop between the "princesses" and their "princes". Loved that.
4. I was especially glad that the "final battle" was actually hard for the characters. It wasn't easy for any of them. I was glad for that though.
5. I was disappointed with Wolf's ending though. It makes me sad.
6. I really hope that the epilogue she's writing matches up with Cinder's plan at the end of the book. That was my favourite surprise!

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

Winter was everything I wanted it to be. It was the perfect series ender. There was tension and love, sadness and happiness. Everything seemed so perfectly balanced. I sped through 800+ pages in a little over two days and when I was finished, I wanted to read it all again. The entire series. I am a #LunarticForLife.

What I find most amazing about this final book is that all the characters were given somewhat equal time. Everyone, from Cinder to Torin, is brought together in this final book. The storyline isn’t muddled. Everyone still maintains their own voice, their own thoughts, their own personalities. I was amazed. Floored that someone wasn’t shuttled to corner and left out. Everyone played a part in the Revolution.

I did read the book with a bit of a heavy heart. I started it on the Friday night of the Paris attacks. As the news of the terror was broadcast, I was reading about Earth being attacked by mutant wolves and how Earth wasn’t prepared for war because they had been at peace for so long. What a beautiful dream, right? As a diverse cast of characters fought to save their respective homelands from a vicious ruler, I couldn’t help but be hopeful that perhaps someday, like in Winter, we could work together to destroy those who terrorize us.

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My copy of Winter is studded with post-its marking my favorite quotes. In fact, I considered making my review a list of my favorite quotes and the text, “I LOVED IT! READ IT NOW!” However, I thought perhaps my fans would want a bit more detail on why Winter is worth reading. This series sits near the top of my list of fairy tale retellings. The women are strong. The storyline is compelling. The world (as is the case with strong science fiction and fantasy) is a reflection of our own. I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to read this entire series again once I acquire all the books. (Note to my family and friends who are still out Christmas shopping, I need Cinder and Scarlet in hardcover yet.)

If you haven’t attempted to read The Lunar Chronicles yet, I encourage you to do so. Don’t let your fear of trying science fiction scare you away from these books. I’m almost certain that once you finish Cinder you will see a reflection of yourself in the key players in this story and want to continue on to the bittersweet end.


This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews

[nightingalereads]

Amazing. Of course. Though I may have chewed off all my nails from anxiety.

[KitsuneBae]

NOVEMBER 10? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

First Impressions:

Winter by Marissa Meyer is the conclusion to the Lunar Chronicles.  Ever since I finished Cress I had looked forward to reading the conclusion to the Lunar Chronicles.  Sadly, I was not as swept up by the story as I had hoped to be.  Cress ended with a cliffhanger and I expected that same energy to continue through this book as well.  However, that high-speed spaceship chase and kidnap of Scarlet only led to disappointment.

Character Impressions

I quickly became sick of Kai and Queen Levana's will they won't they wedding. The indecisiveness of Kai going through with his shame marriage to save the country became tiresome. He needed to make up his mind and stop pining for Cinder, or grow a pair and go after her. Instead, he was Princess Leia, but not as bad-ass.

Cinder was her usually save-the-day-self making the responsible choices to save the kingdom and risk her life in the process. Cinder was a steady character who unfortunately didn't show any growth from the novel's predecessor Cress

As a child Snow White was my favorite Disney Princess and I looked forward to her story. Unfortunately, she came off as an annoying child who had nothing behind the surface of her good looks. In fact, it was annoying that she was able to gain control through this attribute. However, considering Snow White was able to win over the huntsman and seven little men in the Disney adaptation, this should not have surprised me.

Scarlet and Cress were strong characters in the earlier books and seemed to get lost here. Scarlet's go-get-em attitude and Cress's IT skills had been cleverly built on were put on the back-burner as the fight for Kai's heart and the throne to Lunar took center stage. Their lack of individuality and tendency to blend in bothered me

Narration Impressions

The saving grace of the novel was the narrator, Rebecca Soler. Her voice-over work in the series was superb as she had the astounding ability to make the listener lost in this fairy tale retold.

Final Impressions

The conclusion was predictable. All four of our heroines end up with their prospective lovers and, surprise, surprise, Cinder and Winter jointly rule in peace and harmony. Overall, Winter was an unsatisfactory ending to a series which held great potential.

This review was originally posted on First Impressions Reviews