Long Lost Reviews is a monthly meme created by Ally over at Ally’s Appraisals which is posted on the second Thursday of every month. The aim is to start tackling your review backlog. Whether it’s an in-depth analysis of how it affected your life, one sentence stating that you only remember the ending, or that you have no recollection of reading the book at all.
Published: 10 November 2015
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 827
Format: Paperback
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – 5 Stars
Princess Winter is admired for her grace, kindness and beauty, despite the scars on her face. She’s said to be even more breath-taking than her stepmother, Queen Levana…
When Winter develops feelings for the handsome palace guard, Jacin, she fears the evil Queen will crush their romance before it has a chance to begin.
But there are stirrings against the Queen across the land. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even find the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.
Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter claim their happily ever afters by defeating Levana once and for all?
Depressingly I was so sure I had review notes for this so now I’m wondering if I imagined it. It was a five star read, I remember reading it, and yet I can’t remember what happens in it. I think 2020 wasn’t the year to read books you want to remember the plots of. Either that or I read too many books, it pushes the old ones out. The other option is of course I shouldn’t wait years to write the review and maybe take some notes.
This is a monster book, exceptionally long but thankfully I read it during a time I had plenty of time and nothing else to do so I got to really appreciate it. It is also a stunning conclusion to the epic build up we’ve had since Cinder and everything comes to a head in a thrilling conclusion. I remember loving the drama and the tension, everything is about to happen: revolution, all the planning and the plotting, the unification of our four heroines and their love interests.
Amazingly I remember less about this book than Cress and it’s probably twice as thick. I don’t remember feeling bored, or that the book dragged on due to its length. I think Meyer uses the pages well and with so much planning around the revolution I understand the effort to include it all. She’s paced it beautifully. If it was less detailed you just know someone would then complain they managed to overthrow a kingdom too easily if there wasn’t any war talk or detailed plans. Besides, this is the story. It’s about rebellion and about secrets and taking people out of power who aren’t easy to overthrow. It takes planning. We’ve had three books of love with a side of rebellion, now we get to rebel.
I am a bit sad three out of four of these reviews have been Long Lost Reviews. I feel like I’ve done them a disservice not reviewing them properly since I loved them so much. Which is ludicrous, the amount of reviews I’ve seen over the years which were some variation on “I loved this book!! 5 stars!!” and nothing else which have been perfectly acceptable. But it’s like that rule: it’s fine for others, but not fine for me.
I’m not sure if I could get a reread in of Winter to review better, it was a massive undertaking, even in audio form, which I think is how I got around to finally finishing the series in the first place. But I did love it, I remember thinking it was a fantastic conclusion to the series and an amazing way to bring together Winter’s original fairy tale (Snow White), as well as the overarching plot we’ve seen teased since Cinder.
In conclusion, I loved this book!! 5 stars!!
You can purchase Winter via the following
Wordery | Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson
Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible
Wombat liked her things just so. Everything had its place, and nothing was out of order.
Selby hates homework.
In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told.
