Cress by Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles book 3)

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't read the first two books in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Scarlet, Stop! I don't want to read a fantastic twist on some of the best loved fairy tales written.

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard.

For more than seven years, Cress has been trapped in a nightmare. She is imprisoned in a satellite that makes one orbit around Earth every sixteen hours. She loved to gaze at Earth and pretend she was on a mission to land on the planet. Cress avoided any views of Luna. As she passes by Luna today, Cress cannot tear her gaze away from her invisi-screens and the mass murders that gave occurred on Earth at the bidding of the Lunar Queen. Emperor Kaito of the Eastern Commonwealth has agreed to marry Queen Levana to stop the attacks. Cress is sick to her stomach that she has done Mistress Sybil's bidding; she cloaked the ships carrying the attackers from Earth's detection. Only after the damage has been done has she realized what Queen Levana planned to do.

Cinder, Thorne, Scarlet, Wolf and Iko have just over fifteen days to stop the royal wedding between Kai and Levana. Their rough plan is to cause a distraction that will allow them to get into the palace. Once there, Cinder will announce to the world that she is really the loss Lunar Princess, Selene. From there, she really isn't sure if a cyborg can be accepted as Queen. Wolf has been training her but it seems she has a long way to go if she plans on fighting.

Queen Levana has asked that Cress locate Cinder's ship. Cress tells Sybil that she is looking but hasn't found it yet but she is lying. She is an expert hacker since is forced to live a solitary life with only her computers for company. Cress located the ship fairly quickly but has cloaked it from both Earth and Luna. She has a crush on Thorne and is waiting for Cinder to contact her again. When a D-COMM request link comes from Mechanic, Cress eagerly accepts knowing it is from Cinder. She is completely unnerved when Thorne shows up on the screen. Their first meeting doesn't go as Cress planned. Speaking with Cinder, Cress fills in them in on how she has cloaked their ship from both Luna and Earth. Cinder and her friends are shocked to learn that Cress resides on a satellite. They make plans to retrieve Cress from her satellite even though it may be a Lunar trap.

Cress is cleaning up to prepare herself for Cinder’s arrival. Just as she has finished her bath, she receives an incoming message that Mistress Sybil is about to dock. Cress realizes that Cinder's ship is about an hour away. Sybil has brought Cress some work. Levana wants her to program a new bug for Emperor Kai's office. Before she can get her off of the satellite, Sybil notices where Cress has the D-COMM with Cinder established. She immediately knows that Cress has been secretly helping Cinder. Sybil devises a plan to capture her.

Throne pilots the pod ship to Cress' satellite. He docks and is immediately captured along with Cress. Cinder has no idea what is happening aboard the satellite. When the pod ship comes back to the Rampion, Cinder is able to detect two life forms but Scarlet and Wolf are worried that it may be a trap. Cinder decides that she is the only one capable of even standing up to a Lunar and greets the ship alone. Unfortunately, it is a trick. Sybil has glamoured herself and her guard. In the insuring battle, Wolf comes to help Cinder but is shot. Sybil tries to escape with her guard while Cinder attempts to drag Wolf and Scarlet to safety. Cinder tells Iko to open the hatch to hopefully suck Sybil out of the airlock. Before she can, she sees that the guard's glamour is fading and that he is really Scarlet. She looks at her Scarlett and realizes that she has the guard. Sybil escapes with Scarlett.

Wolf is seriously wounded and Cinder is torn between helping him and rescuing Throne and Scarlet. The guard tells her that Sybil has an army close by and she will come after her. He helps her get Wolf stabilized. He can pilot the ship for her. Cinder must find a place to hide. They need to get help for Wolf. He tells her that she can do nothing for Scarlet. She is as good as dead. Sybil also changed the trajectory of the satellite to burn up upon entering the Earth's atmosphere. Cinder asks him how she can trust him when he serves the Queen. The guard answers, "I serve my princess. No one else." Cinder is shocked that he knows who she is and realizes that he is telling the truth.

Who is Cress? Why was she banished to the satellite? Will she and Thorne make it to Earth? What happens to Scarlet? Who does Cinder find to help Wolf? Can his life be saved? Will the royal wedding take place? How did the guard know who Cinder was? Who help her in her mission to claim the Lunar throne?

The Lunar Chronicles will conclude in 2015 with the publication of Winter, a Snow White retelling. If the ending of Cress is any indication Winter is going to be a fantastic ending to the series.

Visit Marissa Meyer's website.