Book Review: “Cress” by Marissa Meyer
Håfa adai! Welcome to my review of Cress, Book 3 of The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer.
This book review consists of two parts: a spoiler-free plot summary and my thoughts on the story. In the second part, I give my personal rating and break down the setting and worldbuilding, storytelling, cast of characters, and themes. There may be some lightweight spoilers—such as how characters interact with each other and the world around them—but I will not give away any major plot twists or endings. I want to share my opinions of the book and maybe encourage you to purchase a copy of your own.
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Spoiler-Free Plot Summary
Linh Cinder, Iko’s personality chip, Carswell Thorne, Scarlet Benoit, and Ze’ev “Wolf” Kesley have managed to evade the Lunar Queen Levana’s secret special forces and flee Earth. Now in space, they are somehow able to evade notice by Lunar and Earthen forces.
Cress has been locked in a satellite for years by Queen Levana’s Thaumaturge Sybil Mira after her incredible skills as a hacker became apparent at a young age. With nothing but her netscreen and her own imagination to keep her company, Cress clings to a fantasy of her rescue when she notices the spaceship piloted by Cinder and her crew. But when Thaumaturge Mira sees what Cress has been up to, she deals out punishment in the form of a trap.
Once Scarlet and Thorne are aboard Cress’ satellite, Scarlet is captured and Thaumaturge Mira sends the satellite plummeting towards Earth with Cress and Thorne still inside. Separated across the vast expanse of northern Africa, Cinder must find aide for Wolf but loses faith that Scarlet, Thorne, and Cress have survived. Cress, who had been dreaming of rescue, must now be Thorne’s eyes as they seek refuge in the unforgiving Sahara Desert.
Meanwhile, Dr. Dmitri Erland has continued his research on the Letumosis pandemic that has plagued Earthans for years. In a turn that he never could have anticipated, his years of effort culminate in devastating discoveries of the virus’ origins and its future.
Important Trigger Warning for Cress
There are scenes in Cress that depict human trafficking, kidnapping, and suicide. These scenes are brief but are essential to the plot. If these are themes that cause you distress or discomfort in any way, then please make sure to take necessary steps to prepare and protect yourself before and after reading this book.
My Thoughts on Cress: 4 stars
Linh Cinder’s journey to accept a past she cannot remember and a future she never wanted, save the life of Emperor Kai, and keep those closest to her safe continues in Cress, the third installment in The Lunar Chronicles. I was beginning to lose some interest in this series after reading Scarlet due to its rushed character dynamics and intense reliance on certain Young Adult fiction tropes. But in Cress, Marissa Meyer’s writing reaches deeper than superficial connections between hormonal teenagers to produce more detailed storytelling. Cress explores the painful process that forces someone to grow from viewing themselves as a damsel in distress to someone who can be relied on to help others.
Every book in The Lunar Chronicles is a partial retelling of a well-known fairy tale. Cress draws influence from the Brothers’ Grimm 19th-century tale of Rapunzel, following many of the story beats from the beloved German story. Just like Rapunzel, Crescent is forcibly kept in extreme isolation with her only human contact for years being with her abuser/captor. Crescent—who goes by the nickname Cress—is then flung into a desert after her abuser finds out she has made contact with an outsider. In being flung from Cress’ area of imprisonment, the outsider is blinded. From there, Cress deviates from the Brothers’ Grimm version of the tale to create a narrative of its own.
I do appreciate the way the cast of characters interact and communicate with each other in Cress. In Scarlet, the inter-character communication went from believable throughout most of the book to forced by the end. But the dialogue that occurs between multiple sets of characters feels more believable and natural in Cress. The rushed romances are still present in Cress—although not as intense as in Scarlet—but that remains a trope of the Young Adult genre that I am not a fan of. But the versions of the characters we see by the end of Cress are much different than their versions at the beginning of Cress and even in Scarlet and Cinder. The extent of character growth by this point in the series, especially with Cinder (the series’ main protagonist), is apparent and is a major payoff for the characters’ journeys by this point.
The themes explored throughout Cress introduce an intense dynamic to the series. The first thing that becomes apparent is the coping mechanism Cress has developed in response to years of extreme isolation, where she completely dissociates from herself to embody several alternate senses of self (but entirely separate identities). This coping mechanism is not left behind when Cress leaves the satellite but is something she relies on throughout much of the book, giving a believable presentation of Cress’ trauma. In what I interpret to be a part of Cress’ coping mechanism is her tendency to view herself as a literal damsel in distress. She recognizes that she is in dire need of escape from her abuser. But because she has been made to believe by her abuser that escape is impossible, Cress fantasizes about someone coming to her rescue. After being flung onto Earth, Cress is forced to take the lead in finding safety, which gradually changes her self image.
But there are still issues I have with the worldbuilding in this series. The geographic aspect of the The Lunar Chronicles that I cannot get behind is the way entire continents are treated like countries. In Scarlet, for example, Cinder tells Thorne and Iko that they are going to Europe to find Michelle Benoit. They eventually find Michelle’s farmhouse in Rieux, France, and track down Michelle’s granddaughter Scarlet. France is a large country situated within the very large continent that is Europe. How did Cinder know exactly where in Europe to go? This is repeated in Cress when the characters go to Africa to find Dr. Dmitri Erland. Africa is the second largest continent on Earth. How did they know where in Africa to go? Perhaps it was mentioned how they acquired this specific knowledge and I missed it. But I still do not care for how entire continents are used interchangeably with countries without further qualifiers.
In relation to ignoring the massive size of geographic areas on Earth, Cress continues the trend of not addressing how the political geography within The Lunar Chronicles took shape. I could understand how this was not mentioned in Scarlet given the more narrow focus of the narrative in the second book. But adding Cress—someone who has never set foot on Earth before the events of this book—to the cast of characters would have given the opportunity to explain why seemingly all of Asia is the Eastern Commonwealth, all of Africa is the African Union, all of Europe is the European Federation, and either just North America or all of the Americas is the American Republic. And how did Australia and England manage to maintain their sovereignty? There is also no mention of the real histories of colonialism, imperialism, and systemic racism perpetrated by many of the countries comprising the new political bodies in The Lunar Chronicles. But there is still one more book to go, which means it may be addressed later.
Another worldbuilding issue I had with The Lunar Chronicles is how medical testing on cyborgs is reminiscent of real-life practices in medicine in the United States where members of Black and Indigenous communities were used as guinea pigs in the medical experimentation. This is neither mentioned nor addressed in Scarlet, but it is mentioned in Cress. When I say “mentioned,” I can only recall one conversation in one scene where it is acknowledged and very quickly addressed. And it seems as if the only reason the “mentioning” character addresses it is because of how it directly effected that character’s love interest. How did this character not know this program existed, given their position? Would it have been acknowledged or addressed if it was not connected to said love interest? This practice of medical experimentation without consent is a major social issue! There is one book left in this series, so I hope the social issues at the foundation of this medical experimentation program will be addressed in Winter.
My overall rating for Marissa Meyer’s Cress is 4 out of 5 stars. Cress comes across as more well thought out than Scarlet, resulting in much deeper character connection and more nuanced storytelling. I really did not anticipate the plot twists revealed in Cress, which were jaw dropping surprises. There are still aspects of the worldbuilding in The Lunar Chronicles that I would like to see addressed in the remaining book of the series. Being that Winter, the next book in the series, is the longest, I have hope that those aspects will be acknowledged and addressed. There are smaller books that add more detail to the overall worldbuilding—Fairest and Stars Above—but they are not classified as “required reading” for the series and I do not plan to read or review those books as of this writing; but I may change my mind in the future.
Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading my review of Cress by Marissa Meyer.
Rating Cheat Sheet
4.75 - 5.00 stars: Everyone should read this book! (If you’re into that sort of thing.)
4.00 - 4.50 stars: I appreciated many aspects of this book. I recommend it!
3.00 - 3.75 stars: I liked some aspects of this book. I won’t revisit it, but someone else might really like it.
2.00 - 2.75 stars: There were some things I appreciated about this book, but I do not recommend it.
0.25 - 1.75 stars: I do not recommend this book. I did not enjoy or appreciate the experience of it.
Post Date: 17 March 2025
Published: 4 February 2014 by Feiwel & Friends
Republished: 4 February 2020 by Square Fish
