Joint Review: Winter by Marissa Meyer

Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Date of publication: November 2015

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

I know Winter is one of the most anticipated books of 2015 for both me and Autumn. The book isn't really totally focused on Winter as all 8 of the main characters get equal time in the over 800 pages of the book. That's right, 800 pages.  I swear when I finished I felt like I had run a marathon.  If I was rating the book I would have to take a half star off for length.  I think there were scenes that could have been cut short or cut out all together.  But, that is just me being nit-picky.

In the end, I loved the story.  I remember when I finished Cress, I spent time  trying to figure out how it would all come together.  I won't give anything away, let's just say the author did a great job of world building and bringing all of  the elements together to make sense.  I have enjoyed the spin the author has put on each of the fairy tales in the series.

If I had to choose, I would say favorite couples are Wolf/Scarlet and Cinder/Kai.  The other two weren't as strong as I would have liked, but they were still enjoyable.  Each of the couples have some very touching scenes throughout the book.  I'm sad to see the series end, but I have to say, I did enjoy the journey immensely!

I agree with Kari, even though I'm so anti-never-ending-YA-book-series, this one was fantastic.  I've enjoyed every single book in this series and I'm sad this is the ending...or is it?  There's an author's interview at the ending of the audiobook that hints at another book or short story to come.  

I also agree with Kari that this book got entirely too long at times.  I felt like it was the author not wanting to let go, which I can understand.  Honestly, most readers probably won't care because at this point they're loyal to the story.  It got tedious and repetitive and could have used at more heavy handed editor.

If you haven't read this series yet, I would start.  If you're looking for a Christmas gift for a reader in your life, get this!!