Review: Winter

Winter
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: BUY! 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher, Puffin! 

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? 

It's over guys. It's really over! I can't believe it, I fell completely in love with this series! It's been a bit of a whirlwind journey for me, reading all the books in one go in order to review the final book, and I found myself procrastinating from reading in order to make the books go on longer, and spend more time in the world! I'm not usually one for sci-fi books but after all the hype surrounding these books I got curious, and I can now fully understand why everyone loves these books so much! They completely blew me away. They're complete perfection and each book gets better and better until you hit Winter, the 800 page Game of Thrones level book. Not gonna lie, it was intimidating. It's such a huge book, and it's the FINAL book and I kept not reading to make the incredibly huge book last longer. Which makes soooo much sense I know! 

Cress ended so completely perfectly, and so I dived in to this eagerly and it didn't disappoint. Winter, while intimidatingly long compared to the other books, wraps up the series perfectly. Everything is tied up, everyone gets their happy ending. Although there is some room in that for you to imagine for yourself exactly how things wrap up with the characters and how they get to their happy ending! 

I was so intrigued by Winter when we met her at the end of Cress, I wasn't sure if she was going to be an enemy or not or if she really was "crazy" or what she was going to do with Scarlet, so I was excited to meet her in Winter. She was so fantastically different, I loved the take on her seeing as she's a retelling of Snow White. It was such a wonderful take, having her actually refusing to use her gift and how it affected her and the ties to Snow White through it. Her POV was just fantastic as well, it was so interesting getting in to her characters head, and I loved how she wanted to help Selene just because they where childhood friends and ya know...Levana is pure evil, but still! 

Jacin was tricky for me, because like, in Cress I knew he didn't know who Cinder really was but he betrayed all of them and I know WHY he did it, but still! I really didn't like him when we left Cress. When I started Winter I wasn't entirely sure I'd ever actually like him, especially when he threw Cinder and some information right under the bus to get back in with Levana, knowing who Cinder was that time! He and Winter where cute, not going to lie, and I did find myself warming to him through Winter and how he was with her, but other times I still wanted to smack him one! Meeting two new characters was fun, and I love how even though it was the last book, we'd been building up to meeting Winter and we still got a well created, multi dimensional character. Introducing characters in to the last book, I was kinda worried that they wouldn't be as well created as the others, but they where every bit as fantastically brought to life as the others, and you got a real feel for the both of them, and the two of them together! 

Each of the books continue on smoothly from each other, and the transition from Cress to Winter was flawless! Winter resumes on Luna after some time has passed since the end of Cress, and we get a much better glimpse at Luna and how it works politically and what it's like on Luna, as we spend a lot of time on Luna. The world building for the books has been so vivid and well done, and Luna was no exception in this book, you can easily picture what it would look like, what the people would look like. The writing is so fantastic and it creates the world around you, allowing you to form pictures of the world/settings and the characters as you read, and you end up falling in to the world of the book. The characters while being while created, where also ethnically diverse which was brilliant to see, and there was the perfect blend of seriousness and humour thanks mostly to Thorne and Cinder! All of the books, not just Winter have you laughing one minute and kind of heartbroken the next as events play out. 

The history of the world in the books, and of Luna was fascinating and I still kinda wanna know more about it all! The world building was already pretty extensive, but with the addition of Luna and new details being added about the world it just gets better and better. 

We've seen the characters grow and develop over the course of the books and this is no exception as you see Cress really come in to her own, trying to be brave and courageous, and Cinder dealing with all the responsibility she has and Thorne trying to be a hero for example. I also feel like we got to know Kai a bit better through this book, he was present in the other books, but not much and in this book we see him a bit more! The characters are just so well created, and brought to life off the page. Each one has their own distinctive voice and has a different personality that has lots of different elements to it. They're complex characters, even the newer characters of Winter and Jacin who we only just started to get to know. They're just such vibrant characters that really stand out and stick in your memory. The different distinctive voices of the characters really come in to play with the POV changes, making sure you know exactly which character is narrating. The switches between POV's are flawless and perfectly timed to move the story on and the different threads of it. Although sometimes stuff is happening, and the POV changes and you're like NOOOOOOO GO BACK GO BACK! 

It also has to be said that the supporting characters are just as lively and colourful as the main characters, and they're also complex, and there's a lot to them. Liam for example, I really wanted to see more of him! Torin is another example, he was a constant presence in the book and I thought he was one thing, and then I'd see him in a different light as he was with Kai. 

There are so many ships to be shipped guys, it's kind of insane. The romances are each perfectly pitched and are so freaking cute! Each girl has kind of their perfect match, I mean for Thorne my brain was so seeing Flynn Rider as well as ya know...a bit of Captain Jack Sparrow and he really brought Cress out of herself and helped her become the person she is at the end of the book by being supportive and watching out for her. I'm not going to lie Thorne is my favourite character, he made me chuckle so many times and I just loved him from the start, like don't get me wrong, I love Cinder and Kai and all the others but Thorne is the one I was like "yup. bae" so his romance with Cress was also my favourite because while Thorne was good for her, she was also good for him because of her Thorne was trying to be more heroic at the end. It was all the cutest and the best to watch develop as they where with each other the whole time whereas all the others ended up separated for so long. 

I loved the bits at the beginning with our little band of misfits on the ship, I'd have loved to have seen more of it to be honest, although poor Wolf! But Cinder and Kai where finally reunited and clearing the air and everything, and Kai was all out of his element which was kind of adorable. I love them together I do, it's totally cute, especially with the foot! Wold and Scarlet are also adorable, and his dealing with their separation made me feel for him so badly! 

The books have built up to this book and the moments in this book so perfectly with the pace picking up and more and more happening and more threads added. Winter was so perfectly paced despite being like 800 pages. There's so much action and so many plot twists and it's so hard to put the book down once you pick it up, but you find yourself trying to make the book last longer! It was kinda hard to pick it back up because I knew the onslaught of feels that where going to come! There's never a dull moment, it's not filled with waffle, every single page continues the story perfectly with the pacing spot on. It's all relevant information to the plot, nothings rushed and nothing drags. It's perfectly crafted, not going to lie. 

When you hit a certain point, things pick up even more and kick up to another level, and you're having actual reactions to the book even more, gasping and talking and shouting at the book and so on! The momentum leading up to the end had you turning pages frantically, you could feel the tension and the suspense like it was a physical thing. It was heart stopping, and had me on the edge of my seat and there was genuine shouting happening! 

I completely and utterly love the takes on the fairytales and the elements that have been included and in some cases twisted to fit the world of the book, it's so original and so brilliantly and I kinda fangirl a bit whenever an element or thing from the fairytale in question pops up. Some of them actually even have elements from two fairytales I swear! 

Another thing I love is that the world of the book is genuinely terrifying. I think it's one of the elements that brings the book to life and along with the world building pulls you into the book as the world rises up around you. Just the idea of the Luna people and their mind control and never knowing if you're being messed with...if you really think about it...it's terrifying. Like Levana is clearly straight up crazy, but you can still understand her to an extent and why she's doing what she's doing, especially if you read Fairest before Winter, and I would feel sorry for her but...she's completely evil and again...genuinely terrifying. That's why she's such a great villain for the book though! 

It's been such a great journey, and so original and so much fun. The Lunar Chronicles is a fantastic and unique blend of Sci-Fi and fairytales with characters you really come to love and care for. I would so love to see them all together again on the Rampion! Each new book has added something else to the story or the world and brought so much more to the table, culminating in Winter. 

Winter is the perfect finale. It's size is intimidating but once you get lost in the world you forget about how many pages there are and zoom through it. There's serious moments, heartbreaking moments, horrifying moments, but there's heartwarming moments and humour and cute romantic moments as well as suspense and edge of the seat moments. This book has everything you love in a book and a series. Terrifying villain, fantastical world, rich history, action, adventure, humour, fantastic characters, romance and more. 

I think things ended so well and fans will be happy with how it all panned out, but ya know....sad to leave the world and the characters you've come to love so much, behind. I know that's exactly how I feel now it's all over, like the last page is all "and they all lived happily ever after" and I was like sitting there staring at it with a stupid smile on my face reflecting on the journey through the books. I'm so excited for the novella bind up coming and to get to visit the world again one more time, if not the characters! 

January TBR

Happy New Year guys! I hope you had a wonderful New Years and didn't suffer too badly from the aftermath! I actually managed to complete my December TBR, which is kind of a miracle to be honest! This is probably ambitious because there's 4 books not actually pictured, and one books freaking giant! Let me know your TBR's down in the comments, and click the video to hear some more about the books! 

Trying out a new background for these, a background that's waaaayy easier to take photos on! 

Winter by Marissa Meyer

Buy

TBR

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J K Rowling

Buy

TBR

A World Without Princes by Soman Chainani

Buy

TBR

The Last Ever After by Soman Chainani

Buy

TBR

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Buy

TBR

The Snow Child

The Snow Child
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of BookBridgr and Headline

After losing their only baby a few years before, Jack and Mabel pack up and head to Alaska, they want to stake all they have on starting up a homestead. Things are tough in 1920's Alaska, winters are hard, and the ground isn't what Jack, from a large farming family, is used to. They struggle to make it through one winter. Lonely, and haunted by what could have been, Mabel isn't as happy as she thought she would be. But that all changes when Jack and Mabel spend one care free evening building a snow girl. Except when they wake up the next day...it's gone. And then the little girl appears. Gradually she starts to become less wary of them, but as Mabel and Jack make friends with their neighbors Esther and George, things start to change. At first they don't believe Mabel, but as the years wear on, well....they finally meet her, and one of their boys takes a shine. Is she just an orphaned girl, used to living in the wild? Or is she the snow child of an old Russian fairytale?

This book is so beautiful, not just outside, but inside too. The descriptions and the world building where astounding. The story, as heartbreaking at times as it was, was just...beautiful.

I'm not sure if it was just me, but when in Mabel's point of view, at the beginning, the landscape and the world seemed so bleak...so depressing, but as Mabel became happier, with help from their snow child, she started to notice the beauty in the landscape, it might just be me, but it seemed like the descriptions changed as she noticed the beauty in the landscape that she was slowly coming to love. Don't get me wrong though...the descriptions even when they're bleak and depressing, are beautiful as well.

This isn't a fairytale story, it's based on one yes, but there's emotional highs and lows, there is hardship. You see Mabel and Jack struggling to survive, and then you see how important friendship is when those friends lend a helping hand. It's all about survival and friendship and family, and not just blood family, as the book shows. But you also got brief flashes of how brutal it is to survive in the conditions in the book, there's a lot of animal killings, and I guess in this day and age, it's not something we think about much. I found myself thinking I quite probably would not have the stomach to kill and gut an animal, even if my survival depended on it, so there where this brutal/harsh flashes that reminded you that it's tough to survive, it's not easy, and while the landscape may be pretty, it's harsh and unforgiving. The tone of the book the entire way through was sad for me, there where a couple of light moments, but I felt so sad for Mabel and Jack the majority of the time.

It's hard to puzzle out in the beginning, is Faina an actual orphaned child now her dad's dead, or is she the girl from the fairytale who vanishes but comes back with Winter? I was convinced she was, despite evidence to the contrary with her father and so on, but when Esther and that saw her, and Garrett too, I was like "oh okay she's real" but then the ending....it leaves you wondering. You kind of have to draw your own conclusions.

I was spellbound the entire time I was reading, the incredible world building, the amazing descriptions that had me vividly picturing the location of everything, the story/plot, the intrigue regarding Faina, the characters and their struggles and inner hardships, I was sucked in by it all.

I mean, I've never been to Alaska, but I felt like I got a really vivid mental image through the descriptions, when I think of Alaska I think of this movie I used to watch as a kid, Snow Dogs, with the small town and the endless snow, but I feel like I got more of a sense of the place, or a wider/more extensive, sense of the place.

The POV was mostly Mabel and Jack, but we did get Garrett at one point, and the transition was smooth and the multi POV wasn't just the author showing the same scene twice, with the exact same information, there was always a purpose to it, a conversation or event may be mentioned, and then you'd see that particular characters opinion about it, and their feelings, and you'd understand why they acted a certain way which had confused or upset the other character.

The characters are all interesting, like I said, each has their own inner struggles. I did love Mabel and Jack's relationship, I loved the moments when they where like teenagers again, doing silly things like snow angels and you could see that despite the hardships they've faced, their relationship was slowly healing, with some help from Faina of course, but still, it was touching. I also loved Esther and her relationship with Mabel, I loved how Esther would just come barging in and was determined to be friends with Mabel, and you watched Mabel kind of grudgingly, at least at the beginning, start to like Esther, and you watched the friendship grow.

Mostly I loved watching Mabel change, with her drawings and her love of books, she really didn't seem cut out for the life that she'd actually suggested, but when push comes to shove, and she's finally allowed to get her hands dirty, she's out there sorting the fields out, doing all the farm work with help from Esther and Garrett, and your opinion of her changes from the beginning through to the end, and it's the same with Jack, I thought he was a bit of a douche in the beginning, but you realize he hurts too, he just doesn't show it. Garrett was also interesting, he started out as a character you kind of wanted to smack, because he was a bit annoying, and then he was all sulky about having to help Mabel, but again, you saw him change, he helped Mabel, talked to her, she lent him books and so on, and  your opinion of him did a total 180.

I can't really say much about Faina herself, we're kept distanced from her, we don't get to know her all that well, and I think it was done on purpose by the author to keep that air of mystery about her, to keep you guessing and wondering right up until the end and while it may annoy some people who need a straight answer, I thought it was very well done. We had such meaty characters that you where busy trying to work them out, but not too busy to not be intrigued about Faina.

The Snow Child is an ethereal, enchanting and spellbinding read, with an undercurrent of sadness despite the light moments, it's a perfect winter read to curl up with by the fire, or with a blanket and a cup of tea. It will leave you wondering what's real and what's magic right up until the end, and you're left to draw your own conclusions.

Now I'm off to go and attempt to locate a copy of the original Russian Fairytale the book was based on!