Winter

By: Marissa Meyer

Narrated by: Rebecca Soler

Length: 23 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's Summary

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 best-selling Lunar Chronicles series.

This audiobook includes an exclusive interview between the author and the narrator.

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

love it

The narrator for this book was amazing. I loved the accents and different voices she did for the characters. The story itself was nothing short of flawless. A fitting ending to the series with all characters getting their time. Loved getting to know princess Winter and hearing her story and her trials. The epic battle between Levana and Cinder was awesome. All in all I am intensely satisfied with this series and the last book Winter.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Nice Ending

A worthy finish to a very good series. Starts out a bit slow but is well paced after it gets going. Predictable finish but that's to be expected with modern fairy tales.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

LOVE this series!!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Toss up between Winter and Cress. Both get what loving means. They embody a Christ like love for others. Such a breath of fresh air for that character trait/gift to be shown--there really are people like that!

What about Rebecca Soler’s performance did you like?

LOVE her!! She is amazing. I have to admit though that often her voice for Cinder turned into Cress and/or Winter towards the end of the book. It was all pretty exciting at the end and I'm sure it was hard to stay in character. But all in all she is an outstanding reader. I'd listen to another book just for her.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES! I had a hard time turning it off and yet at the same time I never wanted to get to the end.

Any additional comments?

Wonderful series. One I will listen to time and time again just to revisit the characters. I hope Meyers keeps writing and keeps writing fairytale inspired books. She is completely clean and all her books can be read with the soccer kids in the car! Love that too.

8 of 10 people found this review helpful

Best Series almost since Harry Potter

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

All of my friends are huge fairy tale dorks. Who wouldn't love a story that melds all the best components together? A little Hunger Games, a little Disney, a little happily ever after.

What other book might you compare Winter to and why?

It's like Disney meets Terminator meets a teensy bit of the Hunger Games.

What does Rebecca Soler bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her voices are INCREDIBLE!! Can every book be read by Rebecca Soler kthx.

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

My favorite story is either Cress or Scarlet. I love how humbly brilliant Cress is, but I also relate to how PASSIONATE Scarlet is.

Any additional comments?

This book will forever be in my Audible. In fact, I may have to buy the hardcopies because I love it so much. Thank you Marissa Meyer!

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

captured, escaped, captured, escaped, lost, won...

If you have read the others in the series, you will love this and find it fulfilling.

I love these books. I have listened to Cinder more than 50 times, and Scarlet and Cress at least 15 times each. I am now listening to Winter for the second time.

Full of surprises, action, heroics and resolutions, this book is long enough to satisfy any of us Lunatics! I laughed, cheered and cried. I was surprised the book was so very long, but didn't want it to end, not really. There were so many reversals in the revolution that the excitement remained high throughout. The main characters and many others are required to reach within themselves to find strength and fortitude. Some find they have it, and others find they do not.

This series is about opposites, among which are blame and responsibility, fear and courage, goodness and evil, truth and lies, reality and illusion, coercion and self will. It is also about biological warfare, medical testing on humans, subjugation and human rights. It is set many hundreds of years in the future with some sci-fi technology, yet incorporates the features and details of the old tales of Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White. One could argue that Beauty and the Beast are here also. Each detail is masterfully worked in without forcing the plot so you just smile and nod and say, "hmmph!"

All of the female characters are distinct and strong in their own ways. They exhibit the psychological effects of their childhoods and the treatment they received. Of course Cress would be timid, shy and awkward never having been around people. Of course Winter would be psychotic. But they still have that strong center core of the hero. All four grow in this last book as they are confronted with needs they must fill.

The men, too, are no mere pretty boys. Each has his character and his flaws, and each must decide between personal choice and the safety of the world. Thorne still gets the best lines and chuckles, but Winter surprises with wit and wisdom: "One should never save cake for later when it can be eaten now" and "Well done,...you didn't trip! The hard part is over!"

I love the philosophical conundrum of the question of whom Cinder is more like--Channery or Levana. There are more similarities between Cinder and Levana to be discovered here, (and not mentioned by me) but notice that Levana uses her glamour to cover her true face and Cinder uses her gloves. Levana uses her gift and Cinder uses her brain interface. Both claim to be working for the good of the people; Channery never did that.

I was a little disappointed in the final face-off. I was expecting something like Yoda fighting for the first time, or Gandalf facing the balrog, or at least Cinder sparking and glowing as she did at the ball.

This book has far fewer mistakes than Cinder did, but is still rife with grammar, collocation and word choice errors to the extent that at small moments it sounds as if English is not Ms. Meyers' first language:

"No matter how bad of shape her body was in..."
"No sooner had he disappeared did Winter slip off the bed."
The use of "predator" as if it is worse than "manic killing monster." It's not.
"I am a vestibule of [peace and tranquility]" (vessel, receptacle, repository)

And I have never read a book with so many mentions of knuckles, elbows and stomachs. People using their knuckles to caress or to wipe away tears. Who does that? People touching others on the elbow, all the time. People hunching over their stomachs.

Rebecca Soler's narration is outstanding. Her voices are varied and perfect. She doesn't sound like a woman deepening her voice; she sounds like Thorne (one of her best voices) and she sounds like Iko. She makes a few pronunciation mistakes and muddles the other Earthen leaders' voices and accents, but these others are so well-done that we can overlook it.

Despite the lack of a final editing, this is a fantastic finale to the series. It is sufficiently substantive to fill our hearts and souls. We would always love more, but this is good. This is good.

11 of 15 people found this review helpful

Great End To A Great Series

One of my favorite book series ever! A must read! I was sad it had to come to an end.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

So amazing

I honestly don't think she could have ended this amazing series any better! So great!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Best Book Ever

Would you listen to Winter again? Why?

Yes, because it was amazing, wonderful and I loved everything about it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I think I loved them all. All of them were great in their own way and I loved them.

Have you listened to any of Rebecca Soler’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Only the Lunar Chronicles and I love her. She has an amazing reading voice. The emotion, her different character voices and her ability to bring the story to life.

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

There were a lot of moments to where my emotions took over from anger, fear, happiness and a few others I can't decide. I think it's because of how Rebecca Soler's bring the story to life that grabs me.

Any additional comments?

Lunar Chronicles is amazing and one my top favorite book series. Sad it's over but oh my stars it was great.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

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.

5 of 7 people found this review helpful