★★★★☆ It's BIG

Winter

Marissa Meyer

Let's start with a little statistical analysis. (Not enthusiastic? Don't worry. This will be quick.)

Cinder: 345 pages
Scarlet: 332 pages
Cress: 398 pages
Winter: 603 pages

Notice something? Winter is the biggest of the four books, weighing in at 200 pages more than Cress. I used the word "biggest" rather than "longest" because biggest is how it feels -- it's a big story -- lots of people, lots of action.

Like all the novels of the Lunar Chronicles, Winter is based on a Grimm fairy tale, in this case Snow White, or Schneewittchen in the original. To prepare for Winter I read Schneewittchen. I was surprised to find how long and complex it is. The Grimm version of the fairy tale is not much different from the Disney version. (The dwarves don't have names in Grimm, and Snow White is not awakened from her enchanted sleep by a kiss, but those were almost the only conspicuous differences.)

The greater complexity of the Snow White story is not really the reason that Winter is bigger, though. It's that in Winter, Marissa Meyer brings her story to a large-scale finale. Of course, we've been accumulating characters since Cinder. Each book introduces a heroine and her love interest: Cinder and Kaito, Scarlet and Wolf, Cress and Thorne (the most charming of the three pairs), and finally Winter and Jacin. Winter and Jacin, indeed, were introduced in Cress. All of these folks have friends, many of whom are important to the story, for instance Iko, Cinder's android pal. That's not even mentioning the Bad Guys, led by Evil Queen Levana and her evil lecherous head sorcerer Aimery.

In Winter Cinder incites and leads an against-the-odds rebellion against Levana. That occurs beyond the scope of any of the original fairy tales. I think I can say without spoiling that the Lunar rebellion is the biggest set piece of the book and occupies most of the later chapters. Also, you would do well remember (or learn, if you didn't know) that the Grimm fairy tales are not gentle and kind. They are famously gruesome and violent, especially in their treatment of the bad guys at the end. Schneewittchen is no exception. Here is the final sentence in English:

For they had ready red-hot iron shoes, in which she [the Evil Queen] had to dance until she fell down dead.

I am not going to tell you that Winter is gruesome and violent. I am not telling you that it is NOT gruesome and violent. Just be ready for anything!

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