Cress by Marissa Meyer
37February 9, 2014 by Alice in Readerland
Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard.
In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, 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.
Short Review: This book and its titular character are perfection. Read it now everyone, okay? Okay.
Hmm…what if Rapunzel had Princess Leia hair?
Here are some of the reasons why I loved it:
Cress
I just 100% adore Cress. She’s made my list of all-time favorite book characters and I loved how there were different sides to her character. I’m a teen girl and love it when I read about such impossibly cool, kick-butt girls my age like Cinder and Scarlet, but I also think that Cress is the character that I’ve been waiting for. She burns a hole through all the stereotypes and comes off as feeling so well-rounded, real, and relateable. She’s smart, and she’s girly. She’s a whiz with computers, but she also feels a rush of excitement when she thinks about seeing her first tree. She has an enormous crush, yet she can think on her feet and save them both from dying. She uses mathematics and deduction to track a spaceship, but she loves getting caught up in music and singing to opera. She’s a brilliant hacker who totally saved Cinder and her gang, but she also daydreams. She’s awkward and shy but gets through situations with her own coping mechanisms. She doesn’t have much physical strength, but she has inner strength. She cries, but can throw a punch when she needs to. She needs to be saved at times, but she also does quite a bit of saving herself.
I love how Marissa Meyer created three girl leads who are so different, flawed, and yet so strong. Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress are all amazing. I’m excited to see what she does with Winter. Speaking of Winter, I’m really, really hoping that we get to see quite a bit more of Cress in Winter! I just love her, and I especially want to see her with more of her new confidence.
The Names
I was staring at the name Darnel wondering if it had any meaning when I suddenly realized that it was an anagram of Erland, and I think that’s pretty awesome!!! (Although I wonder whether Darnel or Erland came first…) I had figured out the meaning of “Thorne,” but I was curious about the words “Carswell” and “Rampion” so I looked them up, and I’m dubbing Marissa Meyer the Queen of Naming Characters.
The “Mission”
I love, love, love spy and heist stories, so when Cinder came up with their plan and they all donned disguises and into *spoilers* I thought it was fabulous.
The Ships
I can’t say anything because then this review would be full of spoilers but I’m pretty sure that if you read this book you will be squeeing and saying things like “My OTP! My OTP!” and also saying things like:
Cress’ Satellite
So obviously I wouldn’t want to be stuck in Cress’ satellite for seven years. But maybe I would for seven hours. The way Marissa describes the planets and stars and all of Cress’ technology are some of my favorite descriptions. They make me happy.
I want a castle satellite. Imagine him saying satellite.
The Writing in General
I made a guess about who Cress was before the book was released (and I was really excited to see that I was right) but the journey was twist after twist after twist. Marissa makes you laugh then makes you cry then makes you scream then makes you smile.
Also, Middle Book Syndrome? Marissa is all:
Marissa Meyer is completely immune to Middle Book Syndrome. All her books are awesome.
Cynical Cindy Says
This book has set ridiculously high standards for all other books for the rest of the year. I have a feeling I won’t be satisfied until I read Winter.
5 out of 5 teacups
I’ve only given 3 or 4 other books on my entire blog 5 entire teacups! This is also the gushiest review I have ever written and this book 100% deserves it. :)
You can also see my Cress nail art post and my From Books to Fashion with Cress post for Week of Rapunzel.
If you haven’t yet, go read Cress now!
Alice in Readerland 
May I just say that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the Tangled gifs. Haha. Rapunzel is darn cute! Your review made me excited to read Cress the most. Sigh, I can’t wait to get my hands on it as well!!
Thanks, I had so much fun looking for gifs! (Not ashamed to admit Tangled is one of my favorite movies.) :)
I hope you enjoy it!!!
And yes, I agree. She has no Middle Book Syndrome, Marissa Meyer, that is. Every book she churns out seems to be more quality than the last. I AM SO JEALOUS. Wish I can write as good as her </3
Faye @ The Social Potato
There are so many series where I’ll be like “Book #1 was good but book #3 was so boring,” but this series is just perfect.
Agreed! I’m so jealous too. Let’s get her to teach a writing class.
I guess maybe I need to check out this series. When it first come out I wasn’t really sure but the more I hear about it the more I think maybe I should..
I had been a bit hesitant to start it because I never read much SciFi before, but this ended up being my favorite series! :)
I love all the Tangled gifs xD I just bought Cress last night (whoops – wasn’t supposed to do that till March!), and after I finish my current read I’m going to sit down and set aside a good 4-5 hours and devour this entire book. I need more Wolf/Scarlet!!!
Thanks, I had a lot of fun with the gifs! :)
I seriously can’t wait to read this! I’ve read nothing but rave reviews! I ordered my copy today and I’m hoping it’ll be here before the week is over. Love the Tangled and Star Wars gifs!
I had fun looking for the gifs to match!
I hope you love Cress too!
Love your review and love this book!! Seriously, so amazing. I died. I need Winter yesterday. I have no idea how I’m going to survive an entire year before reading that book. *sobs* But seriously this book was amazing. I continue to be amazed by how much Marissa Meyer makes me care for these characters, each and every one of them. If anybody dies in Winter I’m going to ugly cry for days.
Yes! As soon as I finished the book I was like, “I have to wait 365 more days until I get the next one?!”
Yes, I love these characters and would so be doing the ugly cry if anyone gets killed off. Just thinking about it makes me a bit nervous for Winter!
I love how you’ve incorporated GIFs into this review, it just makes everything so much funnier and waaay more interesting. I haven’t actually read Cress or Scarlett yet because I’m still waiting for Scarlett to arrive from the library… HURRY UP!!!!… But I’m even more excited to read Scarlett and Cress now!
Aw, thanks! I had fun with the gifs!
YAY! I hope you love them!!!
*party*
I remember fangirling over the upcoming release of this book with you and I am SO SO SO glad you enjoyed it! :D I am ordering my copy this week and well… I am actually the most excited about meeting Winter. I know some things about her and her potential love interest and it really makes me excited about the final book. I AM SO GLAD MY SHIP FINALLY GETS A BREAK IN THIS ONE THOUGH.
You know what’s weird? Cress should appeal to me on a spiritual level but while I think I’ll like her, I had insta-connection with Cinder and I think she’ll be my favorite in the end. I guess it’s because I’ve kind of been in similar situations as Cinder and it really does suck that she’s had to live through that.
LOVE THE GIFS AND REVIEW ALICE! :D
I really, really need to hear your thoughts on this book because there is just so much awesomeness and so much to ship. I was excited because we do get to see quite a bit of Winter’s boyfriend and then some of Winter and I thought I was going to have to wait a whole ‘nother year to meet them.
Cinder is awesome and she keeps getting better with each book!
I seriously loved it too! So amazingly good! Your review rocked my socks off!
So glad you loved it too!
Aww, thanks!!! :)
THESE GIFS ARE FANTASTIC. The whole post is awesome, but I couldn’t stop smiling throughout. I wrote my review for Cress, which was surprisingly hard, and absolutely agree about how she did a fantastic job of creating each girl differently. THEN WINTER. Gosh, I can’t wait to see that character in the next book, she seems different as well. *applauds your review*
Thanks, Sunny!!!
I’m so curious about Winter and I’m really glad we got to meet her in this book and didn’t have to wait a whole ‘nother year!
I only skimmer your review since I haven’t gotten to Cress yet, but I definitely got the gushiness! I really enjoyed Cinder and Scarlet only a little less, so I’m excited to pick this one up :)
*skimmed
I hope you enjoy it too! :D
(I also enjoyed Cinder more than Scarlet, although I loved them both.)
I love all the Rapunzel gifs! I thought it was absolutely amazing that both Cress and Thorne were sooo much like Rapunzel and Flynn. The entire time I was reading that’s all I imagined! I think Cress has become my favorite of the three MC girls; there’s something accessible about her. I’m also extremely intrigued by Winter and how she’s a little crazy… getting that small glimpse of her was exciting and nerve-wracking! Cannot wait for it to come out!
Same here (and I totally love Rapunzel and Flynn)!I’m really glad that we now know all 4 leads and I don’t have to wait another year to meet Winter! :)
Yay! Another Cress fan!
I agree with you on every single thing you mentioned in this review! Cress is an awesome character and despite the length, I was never bored while reading this book. The writing is just so exciting. Your Tangled GIFs are brilliant, too! They made me lol. Great review :)
Aww, thank you! :D
You’re right, long books can be tricky, but this book was just so well-written!
When I saw you mentioning the meaning of names, I just had to search them up. And Marissa Meyer you have outdone yourself. I applaud her for her attention to detail.
She’s fabulous. I was smiling when I saw their meanings. *Applauds*
Yay I’m glad you like this one!! I know how much you loved this series and it’s so nice when the sequels don’t let you down!! These books all seem so unique and I like that!! I’m definitely going to start reading Cinder soon. I think it’s definitely the book that I think I should read to get me out of Contemporary for a minute :)
Thanks, I get equally excited and nervous when I start reading a sequel. :)
I hope you enjoy it!!!
Ah why have I not read this book yet! I loved Rapunzel as a kid and am desperate to start this one! I love that Cress is an intelligent character! I hate when YA books have weak damsels in distress that have no hope of thinking for themselves. She sounds like such a fresh and exciting character that I’m sure I’m going to love!! Awesome gushy review! :)
Thank you! :) I hope you love Cress too!
Cress was fantastic!! We can’t wait for Winter either!! I think I may die from agony….
I love Thorne. I love Marissa Meyer. So glad to find a fellow TLC fan!!
Rachel from thegirlsinplaidskirts.com
I’m really hoping for some (okay, A LOT) more Thorne and Cress in Winter! :)
*High-fives fellow TLC fan*
Me too!! I’m also hoping for more Levana back story. Marissa said we would find out more about her and I can’t wait. Despite her evilness, I find her intriguing.
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