Monday, December 2, 2013

Cress!

Cress, by Marissa Meyer.

Cress was absolutely marvelous, far exceeding the mediocre Scarlet. 4/5 stars.

It picks up almost immediately after the end of Scarlet, with our ragtag band of heroes preparing to save the earth from the Lunar Queen, Levana.  This time though, there's a new friend: Cress, a hacker who lives on a satellite orbiting the moon.  She's the Lunar's secret weapon, jamming scanners and hacking secure networks under the orders of Sybil Mira.  (You may remember her form the previous books.)  Cress hasn't had contact with another person in seven years, and alleviates this loneliness by creating a SIRI-like interface for her computer, and by hacking earthen secure networks and security feeds.  After she views Cinder's escape on the cameras, she decides to help our heroes in their quest to depose Levana and crown Cinder as the rightful queen.  Cress' newfound resolution sets a cascade of events in motion, ending with a botched rescue attempt and the separation of our heroes.

Cress takes the tangled (ha!) storylines of its predecessor and weaves them together into a cohesive narrative with fabulous characters and a twisty, suspenseful plot.  Like the other books in the series, Cress has the obligatory romance, but here it's downplayed, unusual, and something one actually wants to read, unlike Scarlet's rather weird relationship with Wolf.  Cress is a magnificent lead, relatable and balanced.  Overall, much more nuanced and interesting than Scarlet and maybe even Cinder.
4/5 stars.

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