SPOILERS AHEAD: This is the bridge between the 3rd and 4th book in The Lunar Chronicles. However, I read the 4th book before reading this one, so this review will contain spoilers for the entire series.
TW: Dubious Pretty much no consent whatsoever with the “romantic interest” throughout, and burn scars/fire trauma.
I love a good villain origin story as much as the next person, but this just… fell flat. It had so much potential, but ended up being a time-skipping, slightly incoherent mess of vagueness, which is super disappointing to me.
Take a look into what made Levana so villainous in this bridge between Cress and Winter.
Listen, I get Marissa’s intentions while writing this. I see the vision she saw. However, whatever happened when she was translating them to paper clearly didn’t fulfill that vision. I was expecting a cool, calculating lady who knew what she wanted and what she needed to do to get what she wanted. What I wasn’t expecting was an infatuated teenager who knew nothing of boundaries and sexually (maybe? Maybe it’s just harassment) harassed a just widowed man into sleeping with her and marrying her. Oh yeah, and she killed her niece and felt no remorse whatsoever. What positives this book did bring me: a want to know more about Sybil Mira’s backstory. Her backstory seems cool.
Bottom line: Don’t pick this up in between Cress and Winter, it’ll only ruin your image of Levana for the final book.