CRESS by Marissa Meyer

Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together they're plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only 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 goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

Yikes. It's been a while. I was on a stroll there for a while and then BAM. Life.

So, I'm back today to talk about Cress By Marissa Meyer. It is the third installment of the Lunar Chronicles series and introduces us to the new character that is Cress. Cress is confined to an orbiting satellite that is stationed around Earth. She acts as Levana's (the big bad) special hacker, taking orders to jumble messages or find information. Cress, having been stranded there for 7 years, decides to follow up on Cinder and protect her and her information from Queen Levana, in hopes to one day work with Cinder personally and be rescued. The story takes off the moment Cinder and her crew decide to do just that.

I really enjoyed this book. At first it was really hard for me to get into the story, having forgotten a lot of what happened in the two previous books, but for the most part, it didn't hinder my ability to follow the events and understand what everything meant.

Just like the first two books, this novel switches POV's like nobodies business, going back and forth between Cinder, Kai, Scarlet, Cress, and Thorne. There are multiple interwoven plot lines and although it works really well and it's easy to follow and catch on to what's happening, I almost wish there was more to Cress and her storyline than was represented.

I really enjoyed the places this story went and the introduction of all these characters and how they all interconnect. The world and society are interesting and really gives you an exciting look at the fairytales we all know and love but with a futuristic, steampunk twist to it.

It continued smoothly, it kept me reading and I was never bored or felt like the novel was moving too slow. Once I got into the book it became easy to continue with it, although it wasn't so engaging that I "couldn't put it down". It was a fun read, but it wasn't anything super insane, intense, or exciting that I was overly excited once it was done. I don't have the urge or need to have the next novel in my hands like RIGHT NOW. I'm interested in the continuation of the story, but I'm perfectly fine waiting for it.

Like I stated earlier, I wish there was more as far as Cress...seeing as this novel was titled after her. She doesn't offer that much to the story compared to Scarlet, who was the main character of the previous novel. Winter, who is introduced to us in this novel as well, has a bigger more complex storyline which is going to be really enjoyable to learn about in the next book. But overall...I felt Cress and her storyline was relatively lacking. Once her connection is fully realized, it makes sense and it's sad and effective, but I wish there was more depth, particularly with her romance with Thorne.

Overall I enjoyed this novel. I give it a 4/5!

Until next time friends...