Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4) – Marissa Meyer | Review + Giveaway!

Title: Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4) by Marissa Meyer
Publishing Info: November 10, 2015 by Macmillan
Source: Purchased
Genres: Young Adult, Retelling, Dystopian
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: November 28, 2015
Related Posts: Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1), Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles #2), , Glitches (The Lunar Chronicles #0.5), The Queen's Army (The Lunar Chronicles #1.5), Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky (Lunar Chronicles #3.1), Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1), Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2), Cress (The Lunar Chronicles, #3), Stars Above (A Lunar Chronicles Collection), Heartless, Wires and Nerve, Volume 1 (Wires and Nerve #1), Renegades (Renegades #1)

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? (less)

How does one read the last book in one of their favorite series much less REVIEW it? Actually, as highly anticipated as WINTER was, I really do have some coherent thoughts. (They’re much more coherent than I was with CRESS, I think, because I’ve been preparing for this!)

Let’s start off with the amazing, shall we? I absolutely love that this series adds layer upon layer with the story and the characters. We finally get to meet and spend time with Winter in this book and it was so awesome to have that final piece of the puzzle fall into place. This book had some serious #squadgoals when this team comes together and I adore how they just fit together as a crew so well. Their personalities just mesh, their stories collide, and it’s absolute perfection.
I also love how much these characters evolve over the course of the series. It’s really about getting to know each one of them as they’re simultaneously going through the most complicated things of their lives. I really got to see their true character and how much each one of them grew throughout these experiences.

ALL THE SHIPSSSS. Cress and Thorne are my absolute favorites and they have some really, really great moments in this book. I’ve been rooting for them since CRESS and their relationship is just too adorable. Things really start to amp up with another one of my new favorites ships — Cinder and Kai. Yes, yes, I know. You guys have been on board since CINDER but I didn’t quite get into their relationship as much until CRESS and then I fell in love all over again with my re-reads. I just love their banter and how much strength each of them has not only individually but together. They had some super sweet moments and some really serious ones as well that really pushed my love for them over the edge! I actually do wish there had been a few more swoony moments? Oh boy were there some big ones… But I’m such a sucker for these relationships that I just want more!

The second half of the book really started to bring everything together and this is where the action was at! I actually wished a few more “holy cow” moments had happened in the beginning/middle because as exciting as all that action was, I didn’t quite feel stunned until later on in the book. Naturally, though, the halfway-point is where it’s at! The pacing really picked up and the book took off running and I was so excited and scared and happy all at the same time! I rather enjoyed the take on Snow White and it was really fun to see some very obvious comparisons (especially after hearing Marissa tell us the tale at her WINTER signing!) and then realize much later on that something was totally fairy-tale related and I hadn’t even realized it the whole time (the mining sector, right)! I just loved the ending and how much non-stop action there was. These characters came into their own and really proved how brave they were to stop crazy old Levana from tearing the world apart.

So as we know, I’m a huge fan of The Lunar Chronicles. To start reading the final book was a mix of emotions with excitement and sadness dominating them all. I think because I was really not ready to say goodbye, I MAYBE ended up distancing myself from the book so I wouldn’t be too heartbroken when it ended and that could be the reason why I didn’t feel AS connected as I had with the other books. There’s also the fact that there’s just so much going on throughout this finale (it IS over 800 pages, after all) that it is a lot to take in. That’s not a bad thing but there is a whole lot of action, many characters, high stakes, and final countdowns so it really is putting that final sense of urgency on everything. I also have to say that Winter was my least favorite leading lady. It was just really hard to connect with her because of her visions and illness. It’s just a thing for me where I have a hard time connecting to characters who are more childlike or fanciful. Cress was definitely on the naive side but she wasn’t childish, and I felt like it was hard for me to connect with her the way I had with the other girls. Obviously she’s incredibly strong for being able to keep from using her Lunar gift all these years and that’s the reason why she’s been going mad but that aspect still was a bit hindering for me to really love her as much as the other girls.

WINTER was absolutely wonderful and while I don’t think it was my favorite of the series (honestly, I don’t think series-enders are EVER my favorites of the series — too much pressure!), I still absolutely loved it. I will forever be in love with the world that Marissa Meyer created and I can’t thank her enough for this beautiful series. It’s brought me so much happiness, allowed me to work with so many awesome people, and has even presented me with amazing opportunities to become more involved in the book community. I’m so joyful that I read it (thanks, Alyssa!) and I’m sure I’ll keep re-reading it for many years to come!

“The View from Goodreads” is a featured section in my reviews that I decided to incorporate! I tend to update my Goodreads status a LOT when I read — reactions, feelings, notes — so I thought it would be fun to share the sort of “reading process”! All status updates are spoiler-free (no specific plot points will be revealed) but will contain reactions to certain pages and/or characters!

Winter // Character Obsessions: Loyalty, delusions, strength, honor. 
Winter is actually a total badass. She may not seem like it but she’s incredibly strong to resist her Lunar gift for so many years and allow her delusions to take over. She’s always stood her ground against Levana (to the best of her ability) and she’s always been determined to see the right thing through to the end. I didn’t connect with her as much because it was a bit hard, I’ll admit, but I really did love her.
Jacin // Character Obsessions: Brooding, Winter, duty. 
Jacin, oh broody Jacin. He really only has one true interest in mind and that’s Winter. It definitely felt different than Scarlet’s one track mind to find her grandma and I’m not sure if it was because it was romantic? Because it was approached differently? But I loved his dedication to Winter and how their romance was portrayed throughout the book!

Kept Me Hooked On: Space. I wouldn’t think I would really enjoy books set in space. I enjoy sci-fi but usually it’s more “light sci-fi”. I really enjoyed the colonization of the moon and the Lunar-Earthen conflicts/unions throughout this series!
Left Me Wanting More: Swoons. I just LOVE these characters and their romances. I felt like I could have totally used more swoons. I don’t know if I’m just being greedy there though!!

Addiction Rating
Buy it! Love it!

You know I’m such a huge advocate of this series. I’ve just loved it from start to finish and WINTER was such a fun ending. Thank goodness we still have STARS ABOVE though, am I right?

BOOKS LIKE WINTER

(Click the cover to see my review!)

    

GIVEAWAY!

Long story short, I ended up with an extra copy of WINTER… that I was also able to get signed when I went to meet Marissa back in November! Since everyone is so excited about the series, all of my friends had already purchased a copy and this poor, lonely book didn’t have a home. Since I know you book lovers take GREAT care of your books and would love to own a signed copy, I thought I’d do a giveaway for this copy of WINTER!
As a bonus, the lucky winner will also receive a Winter-inspired candle! It’s one of the Lunar Chronicles-themed candles that I came up with for my new Etsy shop called Novelly Yours! I thought it would be a fun thing to add in there for the winner.
US entries only, please! (Sorry int’l! I just can’t afford the shipping.) Must be thirteen years of age or older to win. Please only fill out proper entries as I will be checking the winner! Cheaters never prosper. Xo! 

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