Cress

I won a second book from the Goodreads giveaways. Hooray for free books! It’s an ARC, so some changes could still happen. Like the cover, obviously.

This is a review of book 3 in a series, so some spoilers from the first two books are inevitable. Don’t read unless you’ve read the first two, or don’t mind the spoilers. No spoilers for Cress, though.

In Cress, the characters from Cinder and Scarlet have been gathered together–as they were at the end of Scarlet–in a spaceship orbiting Earth. Nowhere on Earth is really safe for them, with the Lunar Queen wanting all of them dead for different reasons.

Cinder, Thorne, Scarlet, and Wolf are isolated, stuck in space while they try to figure out their next move. They want to stop Queen Levana, but it seems hopeless. Cinder’s especially determined to halt Emporer Kai’s marriage to Levana, since the Lunar Queen doesn’t need a foothold on Earth. She’s already dangerous enough–with her Lunar armies, modified wolf-soldiers, and her powerful mind control.

That’s where Cress, the story’s Rapunzel character, comes in. She’s been isolated in a satellite to do the Queen’s bidding, a tower that’s far harder to escape that the original fairy tale–but she also has computer skills honed by that isolation. She has no choice to work for the Queen, but she wants something much more–to help Cinder, and earn her freedom in the process.

This book provides a little more detail about the main characters from previous books, jumping inside the head of the main actor of a scene, but focuses mostly on Cress, the title character. All this point-of-view shift can be a little distracting, but it’s necessary for the plot, and allows for further character development of the older characters.

A lot of scrabbling around happens, punctuated by forced waiting, attempts at planning, and some seat-of-the-pants escapes. After all, a lot of people want to bring the rebels to Levana–either because they work for the Lunar Queen, or because they’re justifiably worried about what she’ll do if she’s not appeased. More of Levana’s evil plot is revealed–each new piece of information adds to how much of a villain she is.

Some important goals are accomplished, though the ending is a bit of a cliff-hanger, and the situation isn’t great. But this book feels like the turning point, before the big battle happens.

The next book, Book 4, is expected Feb, 2015, and seems likely to focus on a character introduced in Cress. Maybe in this one, the heroes will finally catch a break.