My review of Cress

Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer
Release Date: February 4, 2014
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Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. 

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. 

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

**May contain spoilers for Cinder and Scarlet**
How can I honestly sum up how I'm feeling right now? This book.... IT ENSLAVED ME FOR SIX WHOLE HOURS AND WOULDN'T LET ME PUT IT DOWN BECAUSE OF ALL THE PLOT BOMBS THAT WERE DROPPED. My body and brain can't cope with the scales of epic proportion that this book is breaking. 

Cress is the third book in the Lunar Chronicles after Cinder and Scarlet. This series is the height of YA sci-fi perfection. It involves Cyborgs and Lunar (those that live on the moon) and the ordinary people of the world. So, in the previous books we have established that Queen Levana, who is from Luna, is trying to marry Prince Kai in order to get to the throne and take over the world, yes? 

Well, this book is about Cress. She is a computer hacker and the equivalent of Rapunzel in our world. She has been trapped in a satellite by the Queen to hack and spy on the earth below. All Cress has ever wished for is to be free and find true love. Therefore, when Cinder and her gang, including Scarlet, Wolf, her cyborg, and the irresistibly dreamy Captain Carswell Thorne, make a move to save Cress; she could not be more ecstatic. But with an unlikely twist of events, their rescue mission fails and Cress ends up not leaving her satellite, as it is plummeting towards earth right into the middle of a desert; and she only has Captain as company. 

Hacker. Satellite in the sky. Desert desertion. Oh. My. Gosh. I knew that it could only get better. PLEASE GATHER WE MUST ALL BOW FOR MARISSA MEYER; OUR ROYAL GENIUS. I mean, I thought that Cinder and Scarlet were fantastic and perfect, but Cress has set a whole new level to live up to. The addition of being able to see all the characters from the previous books that we loved, and the new ones just gives it that edge and more lovable feel.

Cress is not like our previous Heroines. Nah, she's not really feisty or particularly badass or ready for a fight. She's more shy and naive and sweet. She's grown up in the confines of a satellite with no one to interact with accept a computer, what can you expect? However, she manages to bring something so pure and beautiful to the book. I felt a connection to her character very fast as she likes to make up little fantasies about what could happen and she's a hopeless romantic. 

“I promise, I will not let you die without being kissed.” 

CAPTAIN CARSWELL THORNE. 

He is confident and sassy and charismatic and lovely and protective. I obviously fell for him very quickly. I know, I can't help but love all the boys in this book they are too dreamy and... I want them. But Thorne was so easy to love. He didn't have a hard and brooding exterior, and was more entertaining and warm which simply accelerated the whole fangirl progress. 

As previously mentioned, we get to see our favourite characters! Cinder, Kai, Scarlet and Wolf are all here. The gang. My heart was racing for these characters from the beginning, and I fear of what is to come for them in Winter, but it's really so easy to form attachments to the characters and that's something that not all books can do. That is the beauty of this series, it's so easy to fall into.

There were probably over 101 moments that I swooned over, and probably ten times that figure when we're talking about the number of bombshells dropped. I didn't think a book could hit me so hard or give me so many "OH MA HOLY GOODNESS I NEVER SAW THAT COMING WHATTTTT" moments. Maybe I'm just really naive and don't catch on to foreshadowing too well, BUT THAT MAKES THE "SURPRISES" SO MUCH MORE SURPRISING! I can't tell you how much I cried and laughed through the book. Oh, Marissa, you kill me so.

I wish I could simply gush out all of my emotions at once. However, I fear that you will all be swept by a tsunami full of: "I need Winter", "Why is Captain so perfect?", "Why do I have to wait until 2015?", "Why is this series so addictive?", "Why is this taking over my life?", "Oh my, I love Marissa Meyer so much" and finally: "Shall I fly to America and hunt Meyer down and steal her laptop to read Winter?" But, of course, I shall not be doing that. *Ahem* As the wait is torturous, yet is a way of building up excitement for the book! I cannot wait for the final story. I want to cry. And sob. But I shall wait. (WE SHALL BE REUNITED SOON MY DEAR BOYS: Kai, Wolf, and Captain.)

Cress was simply the perfect book to get me out of my reading slump and back loving the printed word again. For all those out there who are not sure on sci-fi, this series will completely change your view of what sci-fi can be about. No, it does not always have to be about aliens. What else can I say apart from the fact that the Lunar Chronicles has now officially become one of my favourite series of all time. So if you love a gripping plot, which is perfectly executed and intricately planned in a futuristic-type world filled with sci-fi and paranormal elements, with fierce and charming characters to lead the way; then honestly, I could not think of a better series to recommend to you.

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