On My Bookshelf: Cress by Marissa Meyer

The basic plot from Amazon: Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together they're plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker; unfortunately, she's just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

Why I liked it: Cress, Book 3 of the Lunar Chronicles, is a spin on the classic tale of Rapunzel. Cress, a Lunar "shell" with no gifts or powers, is a hijacker living in satellite and working for Queen Levena. Her lack of social interactions make her a bumbling, but lovable character.

Cress first appeared in Book 1 of the series when she tried to warn Prince Kai that Queen Levena was planning on killing him after their marriage. Cinder intercepted that message and passed it on to Kai. She is finally able to connect with Cinder again, but her rescue is ruined by the arrival of Sybil, Queen Levnea's right hand woman.

Cress and Throne are then sent crashing down to Earth in Cress's satellite, Scarlet is captured by Sybil and taken back to Luna, and Cinder and Wolf escape with Jacin, a Lunar guard who declares his loyalty to the princess (he means Winter, Queen Levena's beautiful step-daughter though, not Selene as Cinder initially thinks). All manage to make it to Africa and meet up with Dr. Erland, the Lunar doctor who revealed Cinder's true identity to her in Book 1 and also the father of Cress, whom he believed was long dead. They plan to stop the wedding of Kai and Levena, take Kai back to Luna, and start a rebellion. Romance develops between Cress and Throne, and Cinder and Kai are finally reunited.

Classroom application: In this third book of the series, it becomes clear how well-planned out the series is. Characters and events connect and coincidences don't feel forced. Students could discuss and then research how much they think the author planned out before she began writing the series versus how much just came together as she wrote. Students could investigate the writing process of authors of other series such as J. K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series or Rick Riordan and the Percy Jackson series.

Science and or history connections could also be made with the discovery that the disease letumosis was developed as a means of biological warfare.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Cress for yourself, you can find it on Amazon here.

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