Cress

The Lunar Chronicles

By: Marissa Meyer

Narrated by: Rebecca Soler

Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

In this third audiobook in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, 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 prevent her army from invading Earth. Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl trapped 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 being forced to work for Queen Levana, and she's just received orders to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is splintered. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a higher price than she'd ever expected. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai, especially the cyborg mechanic. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

©2014 Marissa Meyer (P)2013 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Meyer continues to show off her storytelling prowess, keeping readers engaged in a wide cast of characters while unfolding a layered plot.... The momentum Meyer built in the first two books continues to accelerate.... The next installment cannot come fast enough." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Once again, Meyer offers up a science fiction fantasy page-turner that salutes women’s intelligence and empowerment.... Old and new romances, unfinished story lines, and the prognostication of wartime horrors all pave the way for Meyer’s much anticipated next installment, Winter, expected in 2015." ( Booklist)

shoots other re-told fairy tales out of the water!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would definitely have to recommend this book. because of it's retelling of old fairy tales in a way most others have not taken an approach towards it is what makes it unique. most retelling of fairy tales only very slightly this one however is so much more complex.

What did you like best about this story?

The merging of classic fairy tales with sci-fi fantasy is what drew me to this most and at it's center a young heroine among other classic heroines whom is part cyborg, part lunar & and all mechanic!

Did Rebecca Soler do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

I still found the reader a tad bit disappointing when differentiating of the characters. the only character whom is drastically different is Scarlet whom seems to have a really heavy accent.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was impressed throughout the majority of the book and was especially moved by how one of the main characters loyalties to some of the others are wound so tightly to them that they are willing to throw down their life "If necessary" to protect them over their own self preservation. their loyalty is what makes that particular character so moving.

Any additional comments?

Rapunzel the space cadet & hacker!!!

Great read!!

Another wonderful installment in a fantastic series! Twists and turns kept me captivated and in suspense and I can't wait for the final book!

The series gets better and better

I can't wait for the next book!! This series just gets better and better. Winter is coming

awesome book!

this is a great series! I'm addicted! fresh story content and great use of classic fairy-tale stories.

Great!

Loved it...can't wait for next story. I have really enjoyed all books in the series .

Interesting and widens the LC world

More corny "romances"........ but otherwise good.
Once again, I'm impressed by the world-building, but the cliche romantic subplots are still annoying me.

Honestly I'm extremely curious about Jason and am excited to see more of him in the next book.

I really enjoyed Cress as a character, although I disliked how she went from a very unique character to a bit of a character with "standard YA protagonist" traits. At the beginning of the novel, she was very sweet, naive, and hopeful; about halfway through, though, she somehow magically became someone who seems a lot like most current YA protags, e.i. sassy, tough, hardened by struggle (as opposed to someone who grew up kind and with no social interaction). Not that she couldn't have been a bit sassy with her other docile characteristics, but I don't understand why every main character must be?
Cress' softness and vulnerability was really refreshing.

I guess I can excuse the lack of writing an actual romance for Wolf and Scarlet by saying that he is a Lunar hybrid and therefore ?? regular rules don't apply because of his animal instincts.... i guess? Still I wish we had gotten to see more of their relationship develop because at this point it's entirety is more or less: I hate you, I love you, I really hate you, wait you're the one-I really love you. And we don't get to see much of how they interact except for Wolf absolutely adoring Scarlet and her also liking him, so ??? I just feel like the reader is supposed to fill everything in with this assumption that they somehow fell in love in a few days.

I appreciate Thorne, and watching his character development because of his blindness was really interesting. He seems sort of like a stock character: handsome, cheeky, skilled....but at least the other male characters aren't the same as him.

Cinder is an interesting character, although sometimes it seems like she's trying to have too many personalities at once to be likeable for the reader. It was great to see her struggle with so many different things during this book, especially all these causing her to fear that she will end up like Lavana.
It was nice to see a little more of Kai; he will obviously be more integral in the next book, so his parts in this one helped shape the reader's perception of his character.

Riveting

Good story, good pace. Problems made the audio difficult, character voices were confused at times, edited repeats were not cut, robot characters voices screeched a lot even with full Bass. The audio was best heard with earphones it was very poor in car. Still I did enjoy.

Engaging drama, intriguing characters

I enjoyed the drama, and the shifting locations of the different heroes of the story. Some of the reactions and stress situation did not seem to fit the characters, but it was hard to put the story down until I finished it.

soo good!

i loved the book and i’m ready to devour the next one and i love the reader ! i love the voices for the characters iko is my favorite and i love how she made winters voice almost sound like luna lovegood and that just added to the story to me !

Very clever story (and series)

STORY (YA fantasy scifi) - Cress is the third book in The Lunar Chronicles series. Like the first two, it is a futuristic twist to a classic fairy tale. Cinder(ella) is a cyborg mechanic with a mean step-family who dreams of attending a ball and meeting Prince Kai. Scarlet (similar to Red Riding Hood) has a boyfriend named Wolf and has been searching for her lost grandmother. Now we add Cress, who is a long-haired computer hacker trapped in a lunar satellite (like Rapunzel in her tower). The characters are all working together to foil an attempt by the evil Lunar Queen Levana to extend her reign to Earth, and the author has done a masterful job of combining the characters and stories together into one clever plot.

This is a fun, easy listen which works well as a break between "heavier" books. It is fast-paced, with lots of action and touches of romance. You should listen to the books in order, as each one introduces a new fairy tale character to the overall plot. Cress comes to a nice stopping point, but the adventure will continue into future book(s) as the plan to thwart the conquer of Earth by Queen Levana continues...

NARRATOR - Good job, but nothing special.

OVERALL - Recommended for listeners of all ages -- a great story for family listening.