Title: Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles #3.5)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publication Date: January 27, 2015
Pages: 222
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Date Started: September 7, 2018
Date Finished: September 8, 2018
Format: Hardcover

Phew! Second book for the read-a-thon completed! I used this book to count for my “Charms” OWL.

When I read a series, I tend to prefer reading the books in order, but save side stories, prequel, and in-between books for the end. That is what I had planned to do with the Lunar Chronicles, though then I stumbled upon Marissa Meyer’s opinion on the order that the books should be read, and she suggested reading them in the order they were written, and reading Fairest between Cress (#3) and Winter (#4). So I listened to her, because if anyone were to know best, it would be the author.

If you aren’t familiar with the Lunar Chronicles, it is a YA retelling of classic fairytales, with a futuristic, sci-fi twist. For example, Cinderella is now a cyborg and the classic evil queen is the queen of the moon and is attempting to take over the earth. Cool.

Fairest provides us with the back story to said evil queen, Levana. While in the previous books you could probably piece a lot of the events together, it was surprisingly interesting to hear it from her own perspective. And worry not, there will be no conflicted feelings about her. Levana is not a character that deserves sympathy, and while she consistently aims to do what is best for her country, how she perceives “best” revolves solely around economic and diplomatic standing, not citizen well-being.

This was a fast book, though littered with dark themes and fast-paced references that are connected in the previous three books. I, for one, am glad I read this book before moving on to Winter, as I realized I didn’t remember half of what was going on, so this provided a great refresher while bringing so much more to the story.

Overall, 3/5 moose