Review: Fairest by Marissa Meyer (+ Giveaway!)

Review: Fairest by Marissa Meyer
Goodreads
Release date: January 27th, 2015
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan)
Length: 222 pages
Source: Purchased/finished copy from the publisher
Rating: *whimpers* Can it pleeeeease be November??



In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told.Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now.

Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series.

This is a short book, so I'm going to make this a short review. I read this book the day it came out, aka the day it showed up on my doorstep, in one sitting. I was so eager to get back to the world of the Lunar Chronicles that I cracked it open, plopped down on my couch, and zoomed straight through. It's just such an inviting book! It's absolutely BEAUTIFUL and the cover has raised glossy bits and smooth bits and the endpapers inside are covered in GORGEOUS ART and I simply couldn't resist. It's also a very easy book to get into if you've already read Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress (which I would recommend doing before reading Fairest). There are tons of easter eggs, but I also don't need to do all the hard work of getting acquainted with a whole new world, since I've had over a thousand pages of experience with it.

Though this was the first book set entirely on Luna, aka the queendom on the moon where I a thousand percent do NOT want to live. No thank you, Luna.



Fairest is Levana's story, detailing how she went from an insecure, newly orphaned, younger princess to the all-powerful Queen of Luna. I loved getting into her mind. If you've read The Lunar Chronicles, you know how completely twisted Levana and her actions are, but it's also cool to see the reasons behind them. Horrible things happen to her, and they shape her in horrible ways. Levana is an extremely insecure girl who has been tormented by her sister her whole life and relies completely on her glamours to feel worthy. You see her get legitimately hurt and vulnerable and you get so sad for her...and then she Levana-logics completely terribly, and you realize there's no hope for her. Even as you read her story, you hope it'll turn out differently than you know it will. You keep hoping she'll make the right choices, and time after time, she fails.

And that's why she's the villain.

I think I keep offending her

I think the only problem with Fairest (besides the fact it makes me want to CRY with wanting Winter so badly) is that it does move very quickly. We don't really get to sink too deeply into the big events of Levana's very dramatic life, or get too terribly attached to anyone besides her. But as a "bridge book" in a series full of fat books rich with character development, that's not really necessary. It perfectly serves its purpose: to show you the way Levana's mind works, to depict more of Luna and Winter's background, and to get you absolutely rabid for Winter's release (that little two chapter teaser at the back was CRUEL, I tell you, CRUEL).



Somehow I ended up with three copies of Fairest, because I'm the idiot who accidentally preorders twice and then gets a free copy sent to her from the publisher, so I've decided to give my two spare copies away to two lucky readers! PLUS a Fairest mirror! US only since this is coming out of my own pocket. Sorry!

Offering you a presentttt

a Rafflecopter giveaway