winter – Zakiya N. Jamal

Synopsis from Amazon:

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.

*Note: If you haven’t read the first three books in The Lunar Chronicles, DO NOT read this review unless you want to be spoiled. You’ve been warned!*

First, I would like to applaud Marissa Meyer for the diversity in her novels. Winer is DARK skinned, y’all! Do you even know what that means? That’s crazy and unfortunately rare in YA novels (and literature in general). And Prince Kai and the people of the Common Wealth are Asian. Also, unlike most dystopian novels this doesn’t take place in America, although we do have Thorne who’s American.

Plus, Winter has a mental health issue and Jacin handles it perfectly by being there for her and telling her she’s perfect just the way she is. Meyer handled this so well. I loved everything about this book and this series. So good!

Winter picks up a few weeks after Cress ended and Cinder and her crew are planning their revolution, although that’s, of course, easier said than done. Plus Wolf is still distressed about Scarlet and I just wanted to give him a hug and tell him everything would be okay.

Cress and Thorne were the cutest and I loved how shy they were with each other. Also, seeing Cinder and Kai work together was so cute and they made a great team. Basically, all the ships sailed in this novel and I absolutely loved it.

This novel was more than just romance though. There were some kick a** fight scenes and just great strategies all around. Cinder and co. kicked butt and took names and I loved it.

I’m so sad this series is over. I loved binge reading it and I’ll miss it. Thankfully there’s a collection of short stories coming next year so I can still get by Lunar Chronicles fix.

Borrow or Buy: Buy!

Stars: