Me on Cress

Title: Cress
Author: Marissa Meyer
Release Date: February 4, 2013
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan imprint)

After escaping prison and discovering some new allies in France, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she's just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

Cress is entertaining and thrilling, a brilliant continuation to this series of fairy tale retellings set in a distant future. New characters are introduced as familiar ones return to face new dangers and carry out new missions as they all share one goal: to protect the Earth from the Queen. But it won't be easy, it never is easy, it's dangerous and painful, secrets will be revealed as truth, but it must be done.

Cress is trapped on all fronts. Trapped up in space in a satellite, trapped between following her Mistress's orders and helping Cinder, trapped between doing what she must to survive and doing what's right. And then all hell breaks loose and she's not as trapped as she used to be. But that doesn't mean she's out of danger.

Cinder and her rag-tag team return and their mission continues, but all she really has are questions. How will she stop the Queen? What will her plan of attack be? And what will she do now, with her team in pieces? Cinder is constantly pushed, to be their leader, to come up with their next plan, to take control, but how can she take charge when she's so unsure? When she's afraid of being caught?

Making difficult decisions is hard. Each character has to do it, and each decision they make will impact more than just themselves. They're inching closer and closer to a war, a war where their odds of winning aren't so good, but it has to be fought. For freedom from oppressors. For the chance to one day live a better life, a life no longer on the run or filled with pain, suffering, and even death.

The overall journey of the series has been filled with twists and turns, trust and betrayal, revelations, rescues and failures, wins and losses. It's been thrilling and fast-paced, the stakes are the highest they could ever be now. Knowing there's only one book left, one book remaining to bring it all together, is exciting, but the wait for it will be painful.

(I received an e-galley of this title to review from Macmillan through Raincoast Books.)