Backlist Briefs – Mini Reviews for WINTER and OUR DARK DUET
Winter by Marissa Meyer Also by this author: Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, #2), Heartless
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #4
Published by Feiwel & Friends on November 10th 2015
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy
Pages: 827
Source: Library
Amazon
Goodreads
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mark 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? Fans will not want to miss this thrilling conclusion to Marissa Meyer's national bestselling Lunar Chronicles series.
Review:
Winter is the fourth and final book in Melissa Meyer’s The Lunar Chronicles. In Winter we not only continue the original story that Meyer has created in the midst of her fairytale retellings of Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel, but we also get a Snow White retelling added to the mix. As always, I’m most impressed with the way Meyer manages to seamlessly weave so many retellings into this series without losing any of the originality of the overall storyline.
As the lovely, quirky, and perhaps somewhat mentally unstable Snow White character, Winter is a welcome addition to this wonderful cast of characters that I’ve come to love so much. I was definitely more attached to the characters I’ve known longer, but I grew to love Winter too and wish I had had more time with her. What I especially liked about the introduction of Winter was that her presence really served to cast Levana even more firmly into the role of the evil (ummm, psychotic?) stepmother. Have I mentioned how much I loathe Levana?
Speaking of Levana, one of the coolest parts of this final book is that we finally make it to Levana’s home on the planet Luna. Meyer gives the reader a vivid look into the lives of the Lunar people and the ways they are forced to live because of Levana. I don’t want to give away anything else about the plot, so I’ll just say that I loved getting to see these amazing characters in action one more time working together to fight against the tyranny of Levana and free the Lunar people from her once and for all. (Even Iko is a total badass and it’s just so much awesomeness!) Because it’s so focused on the resistance and taking Levana down, Winter is truly action-packed from start to finish. That’s pretty much my favorite kind of read ever, so I loved every page of it. I’m so sad to have finally reached the end of this series, but I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect ending. 5 STARS
Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab Also by this author: A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, #1), A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic, #2)
Series: Monsters of Verity,
Published by Greenwillow Books on June 13th 2017
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy
Pages: 510
Also in this series: This Savage Song
Source: Purchased
Amazon
Goodreads
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
THE WORLD IS BREAKING. AND SO ARE THEY.
KATE HARKER isn't afraid of monsters. She hunts them. And she's good at it.
AUGUST FLYNN once yearned to be human. He has a part to play. And he will play it, no matter the cost.
THE WAR HAS BEGUN.
THE MONSTERS ARE WINNING.
Kate will have to return to Verity. August will have to let her back in. And a new monster is waiting—one that feeds on chaos and brings out its victims' inner demons.
Which will be harder to conquer: the monsters they face, or the monsters within?
Review:
Victoria Schwab really blew me away with Our Dark Duet, the final book in her Monsters of Verity duology. Not only was it filled with dark and creepy monsters and the action-packed goodness that I enjoyed so much in This Savage Song, the first book in the duology, but it also literally reduced me to tears by the end.
There’s so much to love about this book, but Kate Harker’s growth as a character is probably at the top of my list. She is now a spike wielding, monster-killing badass and I adored her even more in this book than I did in the first one. My love for poor tortured August is still strong in this book too, and I rooted for both he and Kate as they valiantly battled their demons, both literally and figuratively.
Schwab’s worldbuilding and pacing are spot on in Our Dark Duet too. I love this world she has created – it’s dark and creepy with monsters literally lurking around every corner, which just makes for such an intense and suspenseful reading experience. The pacing was incredible too as it mirrors what is going on with Kate and August. It starts off at a steady and even pace as Kate and August are each battling a lot of internal demons, but then once they come together to battle a monster that appears to be even worse than the Corsai and Malachi we met in This Savage Song, the pace increases to almost a frenetic pace. The second half of the book flies by and is filled with blood, explosions, destruction, and death. I devoured the nearly 500 page book in 24 hours.
Don’t even get me started on the ending, which just shattered my heart into a million pieces. Schwab has done it again — Our Dark Duet is truly a heartbreaking piece of writing perfection. 5 STARS
About Marissa Meyer
“One of my first spoken words was “story” (right along with “bath” and “cookie”), my favorite toy as an infant was a soft, squishable book, and I’ve wanted to be a writer since I first realized such a job existed.
When I was fourteen my best friend introduced me to anime and fanfiction—over the years I would complete over forty Sailor Moon fanfics under the penname Alicia Blade. Those so inclined can still find my first stories at fanfiction.net. Writing fanfic turned out to be awesome fun and brought me in contact with an amazing group of fanfiction readers and writers. As Alicia Blade, I also had a novelette, “The Phantom of Linkshire Manor,” published in the gothic romance anthology Bound in Skin (CatsCurious Press, 2007).
When I was sixteen I worked at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Tacoma, Washington, affectionately termed “The Spag.” (Random factoid: This is also the restaurant where my parents met some 25 years before.) I attended Pacific Lutheran University where I sorted mail that came to the dorm, carted tables and chairs around campus, and took writing classes, eventually earning a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and Children’s Literature. Knowing I wanted a career in books, I would also go on to receive a Master’s degree in Publishing from Pace University (which you can learn more about here). After graduation, I worked as an editor in Seattle for a while before becoming a freelance typesetter and proofreader.
Then, day of days, someone thought it would be a good idea to give me a book deal, so I became a full-time writer. CINDER was my first completed novel, though I have an adorable collection of unfinished ones lying around, too.
I married my husband in 2011, two months before the release of Cinder, and we adopted our two beautiful twin daughters, Sloane and Delaney, in 2015. Reading lots and lots of bedtime stories is most definitely a new favorite pastime.”
Marissa Meyer in her own words, from www.marissameyer.com
About Victoria Schwab
Victoria “V.E.” Schwab is the NYT, USA, and Indie bestselling author of more than a dozen books, including Vicious, the Shades of Magic series, and This Savage Song. Her work has received critical acclaim, been featured by EW and The New York Times, been translated into more than a dozen languages, and been optioned for TV and Film. The Independent calls her the “natural successor to Diana Wynne Jones” and touts her “enviable, almost Gaimanesque ability to switch between styles, genres, and tones.”
She is represented by Holly Root at Root Literary and Jon Cassir at CAA.
All appearance and publicity inquiries should be directed to either her agent, or one of her publicists:
Harper: Gina.Rizzo@harpercollins.com
Tor: Alexis.Saarela@tor.com
I still need to read the Monsters of Verity duology; I like that it’s only two books though, because it means I can get through them quicker. haha I ALSO need to read Winter but I’ve read all the others and I own Winter, so it will be coming soon!! I’m so glad you loved both of these.
-Lauren
I loved Winter and thought and it was the perfect ending to the series! I haven’t read the Monsters of Verity duology yet, but planning on getting to it this year!
Winter was so good! I’m bummed that the series is over but it really was a perfect ending.
I read Cinder a long time ago and remember enjoying it but I sort of lost touch with the series. I think what through me off was that the next book was for a completely other character and I just felt like Cinder had more of a story to tell. So, I’m glad that the previous characters are still a big part of the books. I will have to revisit this series.
I remember being worried about that when I started the second book as well, but Meyer really does a great job of keeping Cinder’s story moving throughout all 4 books
Yay Winter! I loved that one too, even though Winter was a newer character, I fell in love with her super quick!
And I need to read Our Dark Duet!
Yes, she was pretty lovable. I enjoyed her quirkiness 🙂
I love both of these books! Lovely reviews! “Winter” is my favorite out of the four Lunar Chronicles books and I also loved seeing Luna for the first time and thought it was described perfectly. For a book with over 800 pages, I also thought it went by very fast.
And oh my gosh, I just finished Our Dark Duet last week and I’m still so emotional after that ending :'( . Both August and Kate grew so much as characters. I completely agree that the pacing was perfect. Schwab really outdid herself with this duology, I need there to be more books in this world.
Right? I’m so bummed it’s only a duology. Schwab has definitely become one of my all time favorite authors with this series and with ADSOM. Now I need to read Vicious…
Oh Winter was so good and just a great ending!! Glad you enjoyed it too!
It was wonderful! Now I just need to go back and read the novellas.
Two excellent reviews of books I know I should get around to in due course. Many thanks for firing up my enthusiasm for them:)
Thanks!
I skimmed through the Winter review because I’m about to start it this week and I’ve no idea what to expect (but I’ll definitely be going back to your review), but I loved your Our Dark Duet review! I didn’t love it quite as much as I did This Savage Song, but I really agree with all of your points! The pacing really was great and I loved seeing the characters continue to develop. Great reviews. 🙂
Oh yay, I hope you enjoy Winter as much as I did!
I’ve read up till book 3/of The Lunar Chronicles, and it sounds like I need to catch up and soon. Our Dark Diet is one I do have, but read/listened to yet. Maybe soon. ☺
Our Dark Duet is sooo good. I read the whole thing in less than two days.
Wow, they both sound like great series especially Our Dark Duet with that ending. Glad you enjoyed these!
Thanks!
wasn;t Winter just wonderful?? I love how Winter’s character was made! and yes I loved finally getting to know Luna what an amazing world! I started the novella about Levana but it was a DNF because OI was on a reading slump. I will try again soon! I did not read Our Dark duet because I’m abut to start the audio book and don;t want any spoilers :: I will come back to comment as soon as I’m done. LOVE This Savage SOng so Im very excited
I haven’t tried the Levana novella yet but it’s on my shelf. I might go ahead and read it this month since it’s one of the shorter backlist books I have and I’m short on backlist reading time because of ARCs.
Ohhh, two 5-star reads? Nice! I rarely if ever see Schwab get a bad review come to think of it!
Right? She is becoming one of my favorite writers. Her characters are amazing, both the ones I love and the ones I love to hate, lol.
Ah, I’m so happy you loved Winter! And I really need to get to This Savage Song and Our Dark Duet soon, so glad to hear you loved it so much!