Tynga's Reviews: fairy tale retelling

Monday, January 26, 2015

Fairest: Levana's Story by Marissa Meyer

Fairest has been one of my most anticipated books of 2015. That and the final book of the series which is coming out fall 2015. Marissa Meyer keeps wowing me with every new book she writes. Although Fairest is more of a novella than a novel, it's longer than most novellas and long enough to give us a good analysis of Levana, the lunar Queen that reader love to hate.

As far as antagonist origin stories go, this one is pretty toxic and twisted. It introduces us to a sad and pathetic Levana, and honestly, after reading all those awful things about her in the other books, I never thought I would actually pity her. Her loveless childhood is probably the reason she is the way she is now. Being raised with no real affection from her parents is probably the reason why, as a queen, she wants the love of all her people. We see her transition from a pathetic teenager looking for love in the wrong places, to a Queen that wants the be the fairest of them all.

As Queen, she really wants the best for her people but in trying to achieve too much, she's running out of resources. That's why she turns to earth and we finally learn the origin of letumosis, a deadly disease the people of Luna are immune to but that is deadly to the people of Earth. The beastly soldiers the scientists are building for Luna are also introduced, but we don't actually get to meet any of them. As far as Evil Queens go, Levana's probably not the worse one out there. She really thinks she's doing the right thing for her subjects, but she's definitely going about it the wrong way. She wants to be loved by all her subjects, probably because she suffers from low self esteem and is trying to compensate by getting what she never got from her parents. I get that she suffered a horrible accident as a child that left her scared and disfigured but frankly, she is very good at glamour and can look like anyone she wants. Still, the illusion of beauty isn't enough for her. The things she does are truly evil, but to her, they are just means to an end. I shiver at all the evil things she did. In a way, I understand why she did them all, but I still don't agree with her reasoning

Timeline-wise, this story begins before Cinder was ever born so I guess it can be seen as a prequel to Cinder but honestly, I think everyone should read this after the three full length novels that were published prior to this one. I think the author made the right decision in not sharing too much information about Levana in the previous books, keeping her a mystery as long as possible. Now is the perfect time to publish Levana's story, right before the full length novel about Winter, Levana's stepdaughter, is released in the fall. I can't wait to find out more about Winter and to see how all the other characters live's unravel.

Read an excerpt

by Tynga at Monday, January 26, 2015

fairy tale retelling, Fairy Tales amp; Folklore, Feiwel amp; Friends, Macmillan, Marissa Meyer, Purchased, Review, Science Fiction, Science-Fiction, The Lunar Chronicles, YA, young adult 3 People left their mark

Monday, November 03, 2014

Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis

I thought Stitching Snow was fantastic! But then, I haven’t read the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. Anything negative that I’ve heard is only that Stitching Snow isn’t the Lunar Chronicles. Well, of course not! Does Marissa Meyer hold a patent on fairy tale retellings set in space? So for me, this book was incredibly fresh and exciting.

I started the book and was immediately sucked in by the main character, Essie. I wanted to know more, and to see where she was going. Do you remember the old TV show Firefly? I was getting to know the main character, Essie, and I was picturing Kaylee from Firefly. Like Kaylee, Essie is a very strong, independent young woman who is incredibly talented at mechanics and computer programming. In fact, the title of the book refers to Essie’s hobby of “stitching” computer circuits to repair a malfunction in equipment or to create a new computer program. I will always be a big fan of highly intelligent heroines. A bonus: not only is Essie smart, she also kicks butt. Literally. She’s definitely not a “damsel in distress,” and her gritty, rough edges only serve to add to her humanity.

Coming in a close second in my list of favorite characters is Dimwit, a mining drone who helps Essie. I think it’s safe to say that he’s “Dopey” of the famous dwarves. The author gives so much “life” and personality to Dimwit the drone! Dimwit is just one of seven mining drones that Essie works with, but he’s definitely the most developed. I do think that the author could have given a little more personality to the other drones to add to the story, but this wasn’t enough of a hang-up to ruin my enjoyment of the story.

Stitching Snow also has good world development. The action moves between three planets, and I really felt like I could picture all of the different landscapes in my head. The book never tends toward dry descriptions; rather, the author has the characters make observations about their environment as the plot advances. There is a time and place for lengthier, more detailed passages, but that would have drastically slowed down this stand-alone novel. For this book, the subtle setting descriptions are my favorite. For example, when Dane and Essie land on Windsong (her birth planet, and the capital), she observes how much sunnier it is, and how she wears lighter clothes than on Thanda (the planet she’s been hiding on) due to the warmer temperatures. On Thanda, a secondary character reminds Essie to wear a coat, as it’s cold outside. Showing is always better than telling when it comes to setting (and character) development!

While this wasn’t the most exciting, edge-of-my-seat read (it’s a fairy tale re-telling; of course there will be a little predictability), this was definitely an enjoyable ride. The space setting; the active rather than passive Snow White character; the action; and, of course, the drones make this a one-of-a-kind novel.