3.5 I thought this book was better than the last installment. However, the writing still feels a bit juvenile to me. Cress and Thorne were by far the most interesting of the pairings. Cress lost me a bit though when she started judging the doctor, the guard, and Wolf for their deeds. It was hypocritical considering that she was complicit in Levana's information gathering. She was responsible for Levana's power and it came off as too judgmental for her. It felt like she forgot her past once she joined Cinder and yet can't forget others. She just wasn't the same to me after that and I adored her before. She came off as very selfish to me who is only really concerned with herself and Thorne. Thorne, on the other hand was perfect. Flawed he may be, but he does have some goodness in him. He doesn't really think highly of himself but he does deserve far greater credit than he is giving himself. I think the saddest scene was the doctor leaving the group. He didn't have time to explain things to Cress and his paternal love was heartbreaking. He loved Cress when she was a baby but she was taken away and presumed killed. Now that they reunited, they are pried apart yet again. I think the most boring couple has to be Cinder and Kai. Their interactions just seems so bland. The writing seems awkward and kind of young. Her big reveal of identity came off as a letdown and I just wanted her to get on with it. I still don't know who Kai is outside of this fiasco. He seems to be just trying to keep his head above water and he isn't really doing anything against the flow. I like the fairytale adaptation of Rapunzel in this book. However the writing still seems a bit youthful to me, which is fitting for a fairytale but I thought it would have a better punch since the main characters are criminals after all. Again, it feels a bit short of compelling to me. The story picks up with Cinder training herself. She is practicing with Wolf. They contacted Cress and devised a rescue plan. However, the mistress dropped by unannounced and created a trap. Thorne was trapped with Cress into a falling satellite, Wolf was wounded, Scarlet was captured, and they picked up a Lunar guard. Cress and Thorne traversed a desert and ended up being saved and captured by the caravan people. Cress was sold to the doctor and she put up a fight to escape. Thorne came to rescue her and the misunderstanding was cleared. They all reunited except for Scarlet, which made Wolf a bit crazed. His carrying around a can of tomato and smelling her pillows was sad and sweet. They came up with a plan to overthrow Levana, the first step being to stop Kai's wedding. They kidnapped him. Meanwhile the doctor and Thorne tried to cure his blindness. It is then that the doctor discovered he had the plague. He had to leave the group and said goodbye to his daughter. They left and Cinder explained to Kai that she was the lost princess. I thought the book was unnecessarily long. Some scenes just go on forever and the story suffered from this pacing. The book deserved its stars from its adaptation of fairytales. However, the writing isn't tight enough to pull everything together. Some characters are so bland and boring to read even though they are the main characters. Some scenes go on forever and could be written shorter. While I sometimes find it difficult to get back into a series when it's so long between books, I have NEVER found that to be so with these books by Marissa Meyer. I often forget who the characters were and it takes me a few chapters to remember them all and their connections to each other but with this series, I feel like I just finished reading the last book. The characters are wonderful and I'm always dying to read the next one!!! Loved it!!! Have already preordered the next one!!
