Review: Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles #3.5) by Marissa Meyer

Title: Fairest

Series: The Lunar Chronicles #3.5

Previous books in this series: Cinder (#1) | Scarlet (#2) | Cress (#3)

Previous novellas in this series: Glitches (#0.5) | The Little Android (#0.6) | The Queen's Army (#1.5)

Author: Marissa Meyer

Genre: YA, sci-fi, fairy tale retelling

Publication date: January 2015

Published by: Feiwel & Friends

Source: Purchased paperback

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Synopsis: In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told.

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now.

Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series.

My rating: ★★★★★

This novella was all about Levana, and I was very excited to read this because I always wondered why Levana was the way she was. This gives us some insight into that, and it’s not pretty 😬

Surprisingly, I didn’t hate Levana in this... not at the beginning, anyway. I felt bad for little Levana (who is 15 at the start of this) and what she went through. She wasn’t full on evil, but she definitely had some malice in her right from the beginning. And that might have been BECAUSE of what she went through with the murder of her parents and then being under her bitchy sister’s rule after their death.

Her older sister Channary, Cinder’s mom, was awful! The things she did to little Levana... I honestly can’t believe Levana would then go and do the same thing to Cinder! Zero compassion, this woman 😩

Then Levana fell in love with a guard. She legitimately loved him... in her own twisted way, which was very surprising. I didn’t even know it was possible for her to love, but there you go.

Unfortunately for her, the guard didn’t reciprocate those feelings. So she did what she does best and manipulated the poor guy.

But Levana was not so naive as to pretend that every moment hadn’t required mental pressure from her. Reshaping his thoughts to match her own, forcing her own desire upon him, reminding him again and again that he loved her. He loved her.

This is called rape, people! That is so not okay Levana! WTF! And on top of that, she emotionally manipulated the poor guy too! It was SO messed up! Eventually the poor guy almost became... numb, giving up his internal fight with her. It was so sad. And then they got married, but things didn’t get better. He did try to get through to her though, and he was really sweet. Which made it even worse when she murdered him! 😩

I’ll give her this much though, Levana actually seemed to care about the kingdom. She wanted to be a better queen than her sister had been. But she “killed” Cinder and disfigured Winter all because she wanted to be queen, which, just... no. Oh and the reason she murdered her own husband even though she claimed to love him is because she wanted Earth, and to do that she would have to marry someone there. She is insane!

This entire book was just really sad! The things Levana went through as well as the things she did—it was heartbreaking. I do understand her a little better, and even her motivations, but still! Wow. But I really loved this! It was interesting for sure. And we even got to see a little Cinder, Winter, and Jacin all playing together! It was SO cute!

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊