Book Review | Winter by Marissa Meyer

Title: Winter
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publication: November 10th 2015 by Feiwel and Friends
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #4
Pages: 824
Genre: Fantasy, Re-Telling, YA
Copy: Hardcover, Gifted
Summary: Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

I read Cinder about two years ago, and I was really skeptical going into it.  For some reason, the idea of the book didn't really appeal to me, but I wanted to read it because all of my book friends kept telling me how good it was.  I read it, and I enjoyed it, but not that much.  I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.  

Looking back at it now, I want to smack myself over the head.  I mean, 3 STARS.  Really?!?!?!  Obviously my taste in books has gotten a lot better in the past couple of years, because re-reading Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress has been the best re-reading experience I've had in a long time.  I LOVED it.  I don't know what has made me like this series so much more reading it the second time around, but I am so much more into the story and the characters than I was the first time.  I read the entire series in one go, which probably helped.  But still, I don't understand how I possibly could have thought this series was "okay".

Okay, enough ranting.  Let's get onto my thoughts about Winter.  If you didn't know already, this book is long.  824 pages to be exact.  That being said, I felt like there was a good balance of fast-paced parts and slower parts.  It being such a long book, there were times when I got a little bored with the slow parts.  However, Marissa did a great job of making sure that things never got too slow!  There was always some new plot-twist waiting at the end of those slower parts, and that's what really kept me going through this book.  

My favorite part about this book and the rest of the series is the characters.  I LOVE the characters.  Like, all of them.  I would probably have a heart attack if someone asked me what my favorite character in this series is.  Cinder always holds a special place in my heart, because she's there from the very beginning.  I think I always connected with her the most.  Iko took a while to grow on me, but by the end of Winter, she easily became a top favorite.  I really loved Scarlet and Wolf in the second book, but I feel like they took a back-seat in Winter.  Augh and don't even get me started on Thorne.  I love him so much it physically hurts to think about him.  Cress is the baby of the group, and I thought I would be annoyed by her personality, but it really just made me like her more.  As for Winter and Jacin, who are introduced in this book (though they are mentioned before), I love both of them.  It's crazy (no pun intended) how Meyer made an essentially insane person such a great character.  Winter is so strong and sweet despite her illness, and Jacin is the perfect balance to her.  Overall, the characters are so different and unique, but they somehow all fit together in this book perfectly.  I can't get over how everyone has a different relationship with each other, and how I love each and every single relationship in this book.

My only complaint about this book is that it felt like it was too drawn out.  There are only so many times that someone can get captured and escape before it starts to get a little repetitive.  It seems like those 824 pages could've been condensed down a little in order to cut out some of those repetitive or slower parts.  However, this was really minor and didn't make me enjoy the book any less.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book!  It's the perfect ending to one of my (now) favorite series of all time.  It is spectacularly well done, and I'm still in awe of how Meyer managed to create such great characters and world-building in this series.  I'm definitely looking forward to reading any other books she has in store for us (Heartless!!).

Let me know if you guys have read this series and how you liked it!