Praise for the Lunar Chronicles:
#1 New York Times-Bestselling Series
USA Today Bestseller
Publishers Weekly Bestseller
"A mash up of fairy tales and science fiction . . . a cross between Cinderella, Terminator, and Star Wars." —Entertainment Weekly
"Prince Charming among the cyborgs." —The Wall Street Journal
"Terrific." —Los Angeles Times
"Marissa Meyer rocks the fractured fairytale genre." —The Seattle Times
"Epic awesome." —Bustle
"A binge-reading treat." —MTV
"Takes the classic to a whole new level." —NPR
Praise for Heartless:
#1 New York Times-Bestseller
Publishers Weekly Bestseller
"The author’s best fantasy yet. ... If you only read one fractured fairy tale this year, make it Heartless. A must-have title. —School Library Journal, starred review
“What Gregory Maguire did for the Wicked Witch, Meyer does for Lewis Carroll’s Queen of Hearts, tracing her arc from a teen with dreams of owning a bakery into a murderous madwoman.” —People Magazine
Praise for the Gilded Duology:
New York Times-Bestselling Series
Indie Bestseller
"When it comes to reimagined fairy tales, the reigning queen of the genre is Marissa Meyer... This dark, enchanting book is Meyer at the height of her powers — crafting a new tale with an old-school feel where nobody is guaranteed a happily-everafter. It is fresh and utterly engrossing while also familiar — just what Meyer does best." —The New York Times
"The queen of fairy-tale retellings is back, this time with “Rumpelstiltskin” as her inspiration, and the result is a gorgeously intricate tale that will have readers locked in from the start. " —Booklist
The prequel to The Lunar Chronicles begins with 16-year-old Levana, the younger Lunar Princess, who is trying to find her place during her cruel older sister’s reign. Rebecca Soler begins in a tentative, youthful tone that emphasizes Levana’s emotional vulnerability. Ashamed of her disfigurement, Levana makes herself glamorous, though her appearance cannot win the love of the man she desires. Soler’s tone slowly hardens as Levana takes on the life she feels she deserves. As Levana’s manipulative talents grow, Soler moderates her narration, allowing Meyer’s story to unfold slowly. Fans of Meyer’s other books will find themselves truly absorbed as Levana grows into the evil Lunar Queen who later attempts to conquer Earth. J.M. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
2015-01-24
Meyer takes a short break between books in the Lunar Chronicles to explore the back story of evil Queen Levana.As the title suggests, here Meyer riffs on "Snow White," positioning Levana as the wicked queen. As the novel opens, Princess Levana and her older sister prepare for the funeral of their assassinated parents. Levana chafes at the knowledge that her sister will take the throne—Levana is intelligent and politically engaged, while her lovely sister seems interested only in sexual conquest. The 15-year-old princess also yearns for kind, handsome guard Evret Hayle, who is unaccountably in love with his beautiful, pregnant wife. Physical beauty is something the scarred princess can achieve only by casting a Lunar glamour; fortunately, she is very skilled in the art. She is so adept, in fact, that she uses it to lure Evret to her bed and to the altar when his wife dies in childbirth; the only blot on her happiness is baby Winter, her stepdaughter—and her sister, and the Moon's dwindling resources….With this book, Meyer sets herself a formidable challenge. Her overall story and the original fairy tale's structure both demand that Levana end the book thoroughly evil, creating a deterministic, negative character arc. Although she strives to make Levana initially sympathetic, she must also plant the seeds of her cruelty and megalomania; the result is that Levana goes from merely bratty to out-and-out repellent. The author also deprives herself of the opportunity to play to her strengths: quick, cinematic changes in scene and chemistry between her characters. With virtually no action and no sparks flying, the plot slogs along to an end readers know already, leaving them free to notice Meyer's malapropisms, grammatical errors and awkward metaphors. Fans should just wait for Winter, coming in fall 2015. (Science fiction/fairy tale. 13 & up)
