Luna Chronicles (4) - Winter by Marissa Meyer
And last but not least: Winter (Wie Schnee so weiß, Winter), originally published 2015. I read the 827 pages in English.
All her life Winter has been afraid of her stepmother. Levana. The queen. And since Winter's thirteen, she suffers from another fear: The one of her own mind. She's gradually loosing her wits, seeing bleeding walls and dancing shadows, transforming herself into a breathing ice statue. But this is better than using her glamour to manipulate the people around her. But when Levana suddenly tries to use Winter's only love, the guard Jacin, to kill her, Winter has to flee and join the rebellion of her beloved cousin... but this could mean she has to use her curse to save her new friends' lives. All the while, the marriage and coronation of Levana come closer, while Linh Cinder's alliances break apart.
This book was long. It makes sense. You probably need all of that scenes to show character development and how bad the situation is, etc. But... couldn't you have made two books instead of one? One for... Winter and another one for... I don't know, Levana? Or Iko? Or ANYONE? Because this way, it's way too long.
Now, to the good stuff. I used to dislike the fairy tale Snow White because the princess's only good quality is her beauty and that she can order animals around (in the Disney version) and because, in the real fairy tale, she falls for the same trick thrice. Two times? Okay. But three? And is redeemed through falling out of her coffin and coughing up the apple. That's... well, that's just not how a good ending is supposed to be.
However. This version is neither by Disney, nor Brothers Grimm: it is so fascinating! I like Winter. Well, I love her, just like everyone else does. She's not only beautiful, but charming as hell. If she and Thorne would get a child... no one could resist. Back to topic: What makes Winter fascinating is not her beauty or her charisma. It's that she's crazy. Okay, this sounds weird. But it's true. Read the book, then you'll know. Winter is all good. There isn't one ounce of egoism in her, and she does everything in her power to protect everyone else from the queen. Like Scarlet, Jacin and Cress.
I love the relationship between Scarlet and Winter. And the love story between Jacin and her. Did I mention I like Jacin? He's cool. Even though I was so sorry for him. How he struggles to fight for her, when it seems that she herself already gave up. She's his life line, in a way. She always thinks that she's a girl made of snow and ice. But it's him she's describing – without realising so. Levana has hardened him to ice. Winter's the only one who can get under his skin and tease out the real Jacin. By trying to save Winter, Jacin kind of saves himself from turning into an emotionless killing machine. Plus, he's the only one who looks at Winter and sees her, not her beauty or her sickness. Just her. Winter. It's a beautiful love story – but a tragic one.
Especially the ending, where it seems like there is no hope for the two of them. Every other part of the ending is full of hope. But I think that their potential future comes a little too short. I'd have liked it better if she'd already have the device inserted in her and felt the better – not healthy, but... well, capable of leading something remotely like a normal life. And that the doctors monitor her to see whether it will hold. That would make Cinder's decision to make Winter her first ambassador better as well. Because right now it's like “are you serious? She howls. Who takes a country with a howling ambassador seriously?”.
I like the development Winter makes. From the little girl who's too caught up in her own vicious circle to fight for herself to the one that trusted her and Scarlet enough to go to the wolves.
Spoiler:
To the one who acted in the fight with Aimery, even if that meant to kiss her own sanity good-bye. It was such a... such a horrible scene. Yet, it makes sense. It's necessary.
And I like how this insane side of the Lunar Chronicles is balanced with the beautiful aspects. Like the development of Cinder.
She has been a rebel at heart from page 1, but know she managed to trust herself enough to face down all the politicians in the world and to fight for what she believes in. She had to go to extreme measures in order to solve the Levana-problem, but she did it – when there wasn't another way to do it. But she still gave her a fair chance to resolve this conflict in a peaceful way. I like that she's able to let go of her past. That she doesn't feel she has to fight Pearl and Adri to make them believe in her. A feat that has been difficult for her in the prequel. I also like that she didn't take revenge, but rather gave them a chance to have a life. A life that sure as hell won't include her, but a life with everything they need. I like that she gets rid of her foot.
As I'm already talking about the ending... I mentioned above all the hope that's in it. This has mostly to do with the relationships in this series.
Cinder and Kai had their thing going on for a while.
Spoiler:
Always dancing around each other. Finally, they found a way to be together – “wire cutters” are quite handy, by the way – but I like that they don't jump into marriage. They accept the duties of the other and that they have to be apart for a while. That their duty towards their own peoples is more important than their love. But they also found ways to have reunions of the Rampion crew and to spend their lives with the other. This... this is so beautiful. I love how they haven't only grown to love each other, but also to have a mutual acceptance, respect and trust. This is how a relationship should be. With equality.
I like that you can also find this kind of love in the other relationships.
Like Cress and Thorne. They have changed – a lot. I love how Thorne a) grew some brain cells since Scarlet (Wie Blut so rot) and b) how he doesn't try to see himself as the charming criminal any longer, the one who doesn't deserve Cress, but more like the one he could be – the one Cress sees in him. Likewise, I love that Cress grew self-confidence and actually talks about her feelings, that she doesn't shy away from the others any longer. And I love how they manage to be together as well. Again, not in the let's marry kind of way, but with the possibility that this could be the case – one day.
The ones that are with a 100%-chance going to marry more or less as soon as they reach Earthern soil are Wolf and Scarlet. I LOVE these two. Okay, I love Scarling. How she and Winter manage together to rule the wolves. It's so cool that Red Riding Hood manages to be the Alpha of each and every pack she encounters. Without having to fight for it. Everyone accepts her as their leader. She's just that cool.
But what I didn't like about their relationship was, that they never had the chance to be together for more than a week between Scarlet (Wie Blut so rot) and Cress (Wie Sterne so golden). Instead, they have been parted again and again. The second they were reunited, they had to split – usually because one of them was mind controlled. And in between, she tells him for the first time that she fell in love with him and he doesn't even react. So. This could have been better.
Additionally, I think that another love affair could happen in the future. I'm not too sure, but I think that Iko might get lucky. I hope so for her. Kinney can make her flip like no one else, but he's also a good person and absolutely fascinated by her. I think that she will charm him out of his prejudices in no time... Well. I guess we'll never know. But I'd like to think that they'll be a “thing” at some point. She deserves love and happiness. And, like I said, he's a good guy.
Well. In the process of describing Winter, the ending and especially the development of the relationships, I totally forgot the in-between. As already mentioned, the Scarlet-Wolf-problem was overdone. This is probably because the book was so long. The heroes stumble from one problem to the next. Most of this has to do with Levana's mind control and Cinder's lack of it – or better, that Cinder does it and suddenly forgets to focus and suddenly Wolf's on the run again. Additionally, I don't understand why Kai stayed on the Rampion for an entire month. There's a war raging on. They have to stop it as soon as possible. Why didn't they... I don't know, make it a week tops, just long enough for Kai to really grasp Cinder's plan and write that speech? The delay doesn't make any sense. By the way, why didn't he use the time to teach Cinder politics? Would have been cool. He really got better in it. Finally!
I like his wedding, by the way. Especially his... let's call it creative vows. Nice.
Okay... this is basically all I want to say about this book.
In brief:
So: no star for style, because it's well done, but way too long. A star for the ideas, which where gorgeous as usual, and one for characters. There weren't that many mistakes, but still a few, so no star for content. And, last but not least, a star for the developments of the relationships. Which led to a very interesting ending. So: three stars it is.
Prequel: