Cress by Marissa Meyer
Lunar chronicles, Bk 3. Penguin, 2014. ISBN 9780141340159.
(Age 14+) Highly recommended. Science fiction. Fairy tales retold.
Survival. Imagine that Rapunzel is trapped in a satellite, with no
way out, and no way to cut her long hair. That is what has happened
to Cress, who has been imprisoned on a satellite since she was a
child, spying for the Lunar Queen, Levana. She has exceptional
skills as a hacker and has been told to find Cinder and Captain
Thorne, who are accompanied by Scarlet and Wolf. In a daring bid to
rescue Cress, Cinder and her crew's plans go astray and the group is
separated.
The Lunar Chronicles, first Cinder, then Scarlet
and now Cress, are a highly imaginative and compelling set
of books that combine all the ingredients to make readers want to
finish them in a hurry. Cress is no exception: it has a
heroine that the reader will want to embrace as she awkwardly tries
to work out the real world after her incarceration and comes to
grips with her infatuation with the handsome and cunning Thorne. The
action is nonstop as Cinder and her company attempt to rescue Cress
and evade the lunar queen, who will stop at nothing to gain control
of Earth through her machinations to marry Emperor Kai.
Humorous and witty dialogue lifts the tension and believable
characters that involve the reader make this a most enjoyable read.
Meyer has brought together many of the strands of the series as she
describes how Kai is being manipulated, the terrible use of
technology on children and the horror of what it is like to live
under the rule of Queen Levana.
This is one of the best series that I have read and it comes highly
recommended for its originality, strong female characters who are
happy to play with technology and wonderful world building. I can't
wait for the next in the series.
Pat Pledger