We are back with another book review after quite a long time. We actually wanted to do the review immediately after reading Cinder, but we (~ patiently) waited till we finished all the four books in the series.
Before anything else, we find it essential to mention that the Lunar Chronicles are the first sci-fi / futuristic genre books we have ever read and honestly, at first, all the tech lingo seemed very new and unfamiliar to us. But, we soon caught on, and the series easily became one of our favorites.
Without any further ado, here's our review.
The Lunar Chronicles has 4 books- Cinder, Scarlet, Cress and Winter, each book being a retelling of a different fairy tale. The series is set in a future after a world war, where the technology has advanced to a point where cyborgs and robots exist and people live on the moon, Luna. The Earth is suffering because of a plague (sounds familiar, right?) for which an antidote is yet to be found.
The first book follows Cinder, a cyborg-mechanic, and an orphan adopted into a family where her stepmother often mistreats her. Cinder is also looked down upon because she is a cyborg (a part of her body is a machine). She finds a companion in her stepsister Peony who, unlike her mother and sister, treats Cinder like a real sister. Unfortunately. Peony catches the plague, which is just the beginning of Cinder finding out about her true identity, finding a cure to the plague and also the fate of the people on Earth (stopping here because we don't want to spoil the book anymore than this!!!).
The second book follows Scarlet, who runs a farm in Paris. When her grandmother disappears, Scarlet goes on a quest to bring her back, with Wolf, a mysterious man who she believes has some ties to her grandmother's disappearance. On the journey, Scarlet realizes she might not have known everything about her...
On the other side of Earth, Cinder finds herself as the most-wanted fugitive.
The third book revolves around Cress, a genius hacker trapped on a satellite for as long as she can remember. She happens to come into touch with Cinder and decides to help her claim what is rightfully hers. But Cress's rescue operation doesn't take place as planned, and the team is separated.
The last book, an epic conclusion to the series, is about Winter, the Lunar princess, who is entirely different from her cruel aunt, Queen Levana.
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We definitely would not be able to talk completely about this long and wonderful series in such a short post, without spoiling it completely.
Firstly, we loved the way the retellings were made into stories based in a futuristic society. Secondly, all the four female characters were so strong and capable of fighting their own war, which was a treat to read. The male characters were obviously another favorite, and the team as a whole had such amazing chemistry.
Overall, we loved this series and kicked ourselves for not picking it up sooner! It's a perfect series to pick up for both sci-fi lovers and novices. :)
Be sure to also read Marissa Meyer’s short story about the characters during COVID-19 here!