Fairest : The Lunar Chronicles Levana's Story
Ratings179
Average rating3.8
THAT ENDING THOUGH!!!! WOWZA.
This was QUITE a ride. Extremely disturbing, thrilling, and difficult to read but oh my gosh so well done. Very nice.
God, this book is SO messed up I can't even begin to describe it LMAO. It doesn't justify Levana's actions, not in the slightest, but it does explain the reasons why she became the way she is now... and boy, does she have a LOT of reasons. At the beginning, Levana is only a lonely 16-year-old living in the shadow of her beautiful sister, Channary. The sister who contributed to most of the reasons that ruined her life, that is.
As Levana grows older, we get to see her gradual descent into madness. It was hinted that she's always been... slightly disturbed to begin with, but what threw everything into hell was mainly her unrequited love for Evret Hayle and the delusions that followed. I feel REALLY bad for the man since he literally didn't do anything wrong, but at the same time I also feel sorry for Levana. I can't help but think that if only she was raised in a loving environment and received better treatment, she wouldn't end up tumbling down into this whole insanity.
What she did to Evret is undeniably gross though, as there is no such thing as mutual consent in their relationship. Though to be honest, the forced kisses and even the "rape" didn't really bother me. It's the way Levana made herself look like Solstice that did.
Overall, I really enjoyed this novella. There are some parts that dragged and some parts that went too fast, but it definitely left a strong impression on me.
Love is a conquest. Love is a war.
Here is what I think of love.
So, Levana is one crazy chick.
I really enjoyed reading this, because it gave a lot of insight into Levana herself. And seriously- that girl has some screws loose. Anyways, it was also kind of sad to know that there were some events that lead up to Levana's craziness.
So ever wonder what turned The Lunar Chronicles Queen into the evilest royal this side of the Brothers Grimm? Yeah, me either. But, Meyer answers the unasked question. From her horrible childhood to her mortifying adolescence to her even worse adulthood (aside from ruling the Moon), this book takes us through the Levana's development – descent? – while planting all the seeds we need to see how the events of Cinder etc. are set in motion.
At the end of the day, I didn't need this book. Sure, it humanized Levana a bit, but the Chronicles doesn't demand that (well, I might be wrong on that front – I might revise this after I read Winter). But, it was a quick read. It was interesting enough to see the wheres, whys, and hows behind the Moon's approach to Earth. It kept my interest, and more than once, I forgot I was reading a prequel. That's a plus in my book.
You know her as the Queen but before that, she was just Levana. Princess Levana, second daughter of the royal family.
Even as a teenager, Levana was bitter and cynical. Her parents didn't love each other or, in truth, her. She was stuck with a real bitch of an older sister. She doesn't remember ever seeing real love. Except, just once, she saw a man look at a woman with utter adoration. That look, is Levana's undoing in every way.
Make no mistake, even though this is far from a romance novel, it is all about love. How love hurts. How love is never what you expected it to be. How love, sometimes, isn't even what you wanted. How love can so easily get twisted into something else.
One thing I've never liked is the idea that love can make you evil. (Don't like the idea that love can save either. Love just is, it's neither good nor bad.) What love can do is make you stupid. And love makes Levana very, very stupid. It was, however, nice to see how twisted love can get.
I'll be honest, this isn't the story I was hoping for. I hoped this story would tell how Levana used to be a normal, loving girl that slowly became the queen that we all know and love (or love to hate). I probably expected too much out of this book - but after Scarlet and especially Cress - I thought this story would be more adventure and court manipulations and less love.
I think I actually liked Levana more before I read this than I do now. Before she was mysterious and slightly sinister. Now she's just a pathetic girl who's never had love. (Of any kind.) And she is obsessed with love - both the love of a man and the love of her moon.
While this book was minorly diverting and very readable, I'm just not sure how it adds anything to The Lunar Chronicles. It fleshes out some things, little backstory details that never really needs to be fleshed out. It does give you a glimpse at a young Winter and a young Jacin - which was admittedly nice. It does explain that Princess Selene's mother wasn't a good person. At all.
Perhaps if you are a real Levana fan, you might enjoy this. Maybe. (Then again, you might hate how she was just a broken girl.) Of course, if you're a fan of The Lunar Chronicles, you have already read this or almost undoubtedly will. Just don't expect anything world shaking.
(Originally posted on my blog: http://pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com/)
Que livro bom.
Só isso a dizer.
não, não só isso na verdade... enfim: Fantástico!
Marissa consegue fazer com que tenhamos dó e
Lenana mostrou-se a melhor sociopata da história dos vilões. Por não se enquadrar na sociedade e não conseguir o que realamente queria, sua obscessão por ser rainha, fez tudo, TUDO, o possível e impossível a seu alcance. O livro mostrou uma mente tão perturbada que ao término da leitura fiquei perturbada e pensando seriamente “até que ponto o ser humano pode ir para conseguir o que quer?”
O até quanto a determinação e o desejo de pertencer a algo e sentir-se melhor não começa a tornar-se loucura?
E, além de tudo, histórias como essas, que são descontinuas da série mas que agregam informações de personagens secundários enrriquecem a história e era quase emocionante ver cada persoagem antes, o que aconteceu antes de Cinder, Scarlet, Cress e agora Winter, e como sempre estiveram entrelaçados seus mundos e suas vidas. Isso, torna esse mundo mais real e mais dinâmico, deleite para qualquer leitor.
Channary is a no-cyborg and slut version of Cinder. Joking. Fiquei muito chocada e ao mesmo tempo uma idéia genial que a mãe de Cinder (a melhor heroina, política e tudo o desejo revolucionário que há dentro dela) ser completamente o não esperado que fosse. Não é uma mulher que a história sentiria falta, apenas seria lembrada justamente por ter morrido sem glória por mais da realiza que fosse.
Poderia ficar horas digitando e comentando sobre o livro, mas ler é a unica forma de compreender tudo o possível dos porques a série é tão boa...
LEIAM!!!
ahh I LOVE this series and I loved this backstory for Levana. it's so sad and unsettling. It kind of humanizes Levana, but also... alienizes her. Yes.
Also I'd kind of forgotten some of the details of the previous books so this was a good recap of a few key plot points. I'm still so impressed by how Meyer keeps the core of all these fairy tales while doing so much cool world building without getting dragged down into boring stuff. SO IMPRESSIVE! <3
