My Initial Reaction...
OMG Why isn't Winter out already?!? Cress was incredible and I'm dying for the next book!
The Narration...
Rebecca Soler is a narrator I wouldn't think twice about listening to again. She's done a fantastic job with this series and Cress is no different. The characters are really growing - and that means more accents and personalities. Rebecca doesn't miss a beat! Each character's voice comes across with a unique personality. I listened to Cress at 3x speed and it still sounded great.
Note:Expect some series spoilers.
The Characters...
Before reading Cress I had been warned that I may not like her for the first half or so of the book. Personally, though, I LOVED Cress from the get go. She's wacky - but in a way that's makes perfect sense. The girls been locked up in a SATELLITE for 7 years! If she weren't a little nutty, I think I wouldn't have believed it. She's created this computer friend - little Cress (because it has her younger voice) - and they play games together. She works out and watches the human news reports. And she's obsessed with Captain Thorne. Let's just say, in this fairy tale re-do she is Rapunzel and Captain Thorne is her Prince.
I loved Captain Thorne in Cress. He's so cocky, but rather than being annoying, it's hilarious. And then he's also a messed up kind of chivalrous. In that he's a disaster - but he's got great intentions. The other characters continued to develop - though we really saw very little of Scarlet and Wolf to my dismay. Iko developed so much in Cress and I loved every minute with her. She's got such a great personality, I really have a hard time remembering that she's not actually human. She's increasingly more integral to the team and is doing things I wouldn't have dreamed she'd do way back in Cinder.
We also finally met Winter in Cress. I'm so excited to get to know her better in Winter because she is UNIQUE. If you think Cress sounds weird, just wait. Winter is off her rocker! But the reason - no I'm not going to tell you why. Read it! - tells you so much about her. She's a GOOD person. She's got a good heart and I can't wait to see what she does in her book.
The Story...
Like the other books, Cress is loosely connected to a fairy tale - this time Rapunzel. Marissa Meyer amazes me with the way she's able to take a few pivotal details from a fairy tale and reshape it to a whole new story. Especially connecting so many disparate fairy tales into one much larger story. And this master story is GOOD! Cinder's crew decided to contact Cress right at the start of the book and when they find out she's being held prisoner, they decide to go rescue her. You can just imagine all the ways that could and did go wrong.
And then there's also Cinder's plans to take care of Queen Levana - especially since Kai announced his engagement to Levana in Scarlet. Those plans get exciting and action ensues. It was so exciting to see the plans come together, along with all the unexpected twists and turns Marissa Meyer threw in.
Concluding Sentiments...
Cress was a great combination of humor, twists and turns, not to mention action packed. I can't wait for the conclusion to this great series.