Winter

By: Marissa Meyer

Narrated by: Rebecca Soler

Length: 23 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

The #1 New York Times Bestselling Series!

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? Fans will not want to miss this thrilling conclusion to Marissa Meyer's national bestselling Lunar Chronicles series.

The audio includes an interview between the author and the narrator.

©2015 Rampion Books, Inc (P)2015 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Reader Soler is one of those magical voice actors who can create a seemingly endless supply of memorable voices. Here, she offers an appropriately sweet, fluttery Snow White-esque voice for Winter; a deliciously purring, cooing "popular mean girl" voice for Queen Levana; a French accent for Jacinl and many, many more. Even background characters who appear for just a line or two get distinctive voices, such as an Australian-accented guest at the wedding banquet. Soler's pacing is excellent, and she skillfully navigates listeners through Meyer's 23-hour story." -Publishers Weekly

"Narrator Soler returns to deliver an epic performance. She continues to enrapture listeners as she takes on the vocal stylings of 10 main characters and a plethora of secondary voices. She breathes personality into each while maintaining distinctions among the voices with a variety of pitches and accents, including French, Australian, and Irish. Her whimsical portrayal of Winter as seemingly vague and almost fluttery is a perfect contrast to the flawlessly venomous Queen Levana. Solar ramps up the pace to bring listeners to the edge of their seats in a thrilling escape scene and just as expertly slows it down for the romantic interludes. Soler’s narration helps bring this epic series to a wonderfully engaging conclusion." -Booklist

On Luna at last!

Recall: Cinder and the gang (Iko, Wolf, Cress, Thorne, etc) infiltrated the royal wedding and kidnapped Prince Kai. While hiding out on the Rampion, Cinder decides she is going to Luna to reclaim her throne as the lost Princess Selene. We were also briefly introduced to Princess Winter who is keeping Scarlet as a “pet” in the menagerie (saving her from Levana) and that she refuses to use her Lunar gift. Princess Winter is loved and admired by all of the people of Luna for her grace and kindness; one of the many reasons that her step mother, Queen Levana, despises her.

Finally! The plan is to go to Luna, start a revolution, and overthrow Queen Levana; it sounds easy, right?

I loved this book, I listened to it non-stop until I was done; I think Marissa Meyers did a great job wrapping up the series and it was artfully narrated by Rebecca Soler. It was written for an audience that was a little bit more mature than the prior books (not including Fairest); I say this because of all of the romances that were going on, along with heavy petting and passionate kissing. There was Cinder & Prince Kai, obviously, Cress & Thorne, Winter & Jacin, and Scarlet & Wolf. While all that romance was going on there was still mayhem and war.

I’m really glad that we finally get to see Luna after so much anticipation. Part of me feels that the book was dragged out a bit longer than necessary, but the other part is grateful that the final book was so long. The characters were strong and admirable; at first, Winter’s whimsy bothered me a little bit at first, but she was actually very insightful; Cress really came into her own in this story too. Cinder, our heroine, was strong, selfless and passionate.

Overall, a really great book with good female role models, (and good examples of what would constitute “good boyfriend material”) and while there is a lot of love in the air throughout the story, it’s not too provocative for the younger readers.

Going out with a bang

Wow, it's going to be so hard to live without this series! It has been with me over almost half a year. I loved this and Cinder the most out of all the books.

Winter was such an interesting, and heartbreaking character at times, I loved her story arc and how the author reshaped that classic fairytale to suit the needs of this story. Her love story was just so sweet and endearing.

I loved seeing all of our characters come together and plan a revolution, on Luna, and how they all were very relevant and instrumental to the plot in their own way, and I liked the way they all used their own unique skillset.

I also appreciated the overall mesage of self-acceptance in this, it was an ending with a bang that I wouldn't have missed for the world.

Rebecca Soler is a great narrator, who does sublte but very distinct characters

Very sweet

First off, I am so impressed by Rebecca Soler's performance in this. Each character is distinct, and she really commits to the sound effects and singing.

It's also a really great story. I love that this series has lots of strong female characters who are each strong in their own ways. It may be a little naively optimistic for some, but I love it's sweetness and the fact that, even if everything else is vastly different, the romance in this book is fit for a fairy tale.

Great book wonderful narrator

I loved every minute of this book. This series has become one of my favorites.

Illuminating and Satisfying

It was (as expected) a little cheesy, but overall- a satisfying conclusion.

I loved seeing how Luna was composed; the differences between the aristocracy and the labor sectors, coupled with the treatment of the armies and the shells really helped develop a complete view of the world.
I liked looking at the characters understanding and fitting into that world and figuring out how they were going to exist in the world at the end of the book. And I liked seeing the "Selene Squad" interact.

Learning Levana's backstory through Cinder was really interesting. I'm glad Cinder will have that knowledge to help her during her rule; I think, and hope, it will really help her.

I liked Winter, although I still felt like I don't fully know her character, even after the book. Her only character traits seem to be kind and "doesn't care that she's beautiful;" I would have liked to understand her more completely.
I really loved how snarky Jason was in Cress, so I was super disappointed in how stiff and formal he was in this book. He never loosened up, which was understandable to a point, but his character seemed to have lost all his attitude.

As cheesy as the whole "alpha-mate-true love" thing was, I actually really liked Scarlet and Wolf's development in this book, both separately and as a couple.
I loved that some of the characters really got put through the grinder, and the way both Wolf and Scarlet's trials were described were harrowing without being grotesque.
The true "monsterization" of Wolf was poignant and chilling. While the whole protection/love instinct in Wolf at the end was, again, so cheesy, it was nice to have proof that the hybrids were still human despite what they had done to them.
I really liked that Scarlet was shown despairing and strong, which was very dynamic for her characterization.

I'm glad Kai and Cinder finally got together; they were both so hesitant about admitting anything. While the Love At First Sight™ trope is unbelievably saccharine, and I despise it, since it was what canonically happened, the resolvement of Cinder and Kai's feelings was well-timed.
I liked that Kai was adopted into the friend group.
I loved Cinder and Thorne's friendship; the reader can tell they are actually very close and it's so nice that this book shows that platonic relationships are important too.
I was really happy with Cinder's decision to disband the monarchy because that really fit best with her character.

Watching Thorne and Cress dance around each other was extremely awkward; I'm glad it was resolved, in an expectedly cheesy way, but also with a dash of drama and action.
It was interesting to watch their character arcs develop and shift because of the other, and how their characters and the plot developed as a result of their love.

Kinney is my favorite; I want an entire series about him.

Holy Macaroni

This is one of the best book series I have ever come across. The there's no distance between narrators and the characters at all. The words are so rich with description that it had me in awe for the whole series. I love it!

loved it!

This series is amazing! I loved all for books. They are appropriate for all ages!

Fitting Conclusion

What made the experience of listening to Winter the most enjoyable?

I love how the narrator had a wide range of voices. Listening to the narrator you could really visualize each character. None of them sound the same.

Which character – as performed by Rebecca Soler – was your favorite?

I loved Wolf. He is the fitting example of not judging a book by its cover. Such a protective man in the shell of a wolfish hybrid.

Any additional comments?

Took me a while due to life itself to finish this book, but I am so happy that I read it. I absolutely love the Lunar World!! I love how Marissa Meyer is so balanced with all of her characters in the conclusion to this series. I was worried that some characters were going to be short changed when it came to their ending. But that was not the case. All of the characters became more vulnerable in this book. All of their walls were put down. There were plenty of twists and turns throughout "Winter". For me that's what makes a good book; the constant ups and downs throughout the story. I love the aspect of constantly guessing and being surprised throughout each chapter. Looking forward to reading "Stars Above" If you haven't read "Winter" yet I would recommend reading "Fairest" first then proceed to "Winter." Doing that, will help expound on some of the main characters in "Winter".

a wonderful ending to a thrilling adventure

This was wonderfully written, the author had a cast of characters that you got to know and love in the last books. Everything was tied up neatly, and mostly satisfying.
This narrator is abut one of my favorites. I would listen to her read physics textbooks. The way she was able to bring the android's personality to life is amazing.

loved it

the whole series was great. I was happy and sad when I reached the end.