Fairest by Marissa Meyer

Title: Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles 3.5 Novella)

Author: Marissa Meyer

Published: January 27, 2015 by Fiewel & Friends

Genre: Sci-fi, Young Adult, Fantasy

Stars: 3                Content Rating: 2

Synopsis:

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.

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This is Queen Levana’s story! I love when we get to know more about the villains and their backstory. What made them the way they are. I really enjoyed this Novella. I do wished I had read it in the right order. I didn’t realize it was 3.5 so I read it after Winter which is book 4.

When Levana is burned badly as a child by her older sister Channary she tries on so many different glamours to cover her scars that she doesn’t know what she truly looks like anymore. She has had a crush on a palace guard for most of her life. He is the only one that shows her any kindness. Her parents didn’t bother with her and now they are dead and Channary is a Queen that doesn’t take her role seriously. She is cruel and selfish. Do any of you have an older sibling that is this way? (ha ha ha. . unfortunately I am the older sibling.) You get a few gaps filled about Levana’s upbringing. Her version of love and jealousy. A little bit on Winter and Jacin when they were kids. You get more about Luna and the people in it.

How Levana becomes Queen is the whole purpose of this book so I don’t want to get into details too deep. What is interesting to me is how when you want something that much… How you can justify whatever the means is to get the ending you want. She wanted love so badly that she tried to force it. She wanted to be beautiful so she manipulated it. She took and took and took some more and then it was so second nature to her. If her parents gave her attention. If her sister loved her. If she had ANY friends. If she could have just been honest and took the happiness that would have come if she would have just been HERSELF. If, if, if..  then she could have been happy. BUT if she was happy then we wouldn’t have our villain! Mwahahahaha! Every story needs a villain and she is pretty good in that role! It definitely adds another layer to The Lunar Chronicles!

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