Book Review - Winter

Title: Winter
Author: Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles (Book 4)
Publisher: Puffin; 01 edition
Release Date: 10 Nov. 2015
ISBN-13: 978-0141340241

Synopsis
Princess Winter is admired for her grace, kindness and beauty, despite the scars on her face. She's said to be even more breath-taking than her stepmother, Queen Levana...
When Winter develops feelings for the handsome palace guard, Jacin, she fears the evil Queen will crush their romance before it has a chance to begin.
But there are stirrings against the Queen across the land. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even find the power to launch a revolution and win a war that's been raging for far too long.
Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter claim their happily ever afters by defeating Levana once and for all?

My Review
I could not wait to get stuck into this book, After devouring book 3 I had to know how it all came to an end. This book is twice the size of the other books, at a whopping 820 pages it's quite big. I can sometimes be a bit daunted by such big books, but for this one I was pleased to see that it wouldn't just be a rushed ending, and even whilst reading it, the book didn't feel that long. I read it in 3 sittings, I managed to get 200 pages in the first day but then had to put it down to go out. The next day I read 400 pages in one big chunk and couldn't get enough, but again had to put it away, but I was so desperate to get back into it that I picked it up as soon as I could the next day and finished the last couple hundred pages. 
****This may contain spoilers for the previous books in the series ****
Cinder, Thorne, Cress, Scarlet and Wolf are still trying to bring down Queen Levana and stop Emperor Kai from having to marry her. The plots and plans are getting more dangerous, but something has to work. Kai is on the Rampion with the crew after being 'kidnapped' by Cinder. Jacin has betrayed them, but is re-united with his Winter and Scarlet is still being held captive on Lunar, treated like a pet by Winter, locked in a menagerie.

The best thing about these books, is that every time you think you can predict what is going to happen next, Meyer throws a curve ball at you and something else happens, but it's never a disappointment, its always exciting and nail-biting and make you want to read more and more. 
Cinder has really developed as a character and continues to develop further, she is a lot more likeable now and has really grown into her role. Kai is as charming as ever, a character you can't help but like, he always tries to do his best and clearly isn't perfect, and is actually rather insecure, but it just makes you like him all the more. 
there's some crazy stuff happening with Wolf, and you just want to bang Cress and Thorne's heads together and tell them to 'kiss already!!!'  

This book was the perfect conclusion to the series, the characters all have a satisfying ending, with hopes of a future. The book is concluded properly, but I feel like it's been left in a way that more could follow one day. 
I haven't found a series that has gripped me this much in quite a while. When I finished reading this book I actually found myself missing the characters and wishing I could hang out with them that little bit longer. I felt like I was saying goodbye to real friends, and I want to check up on them and see how they are doing. Meyer is clearly an amazing storyteller to be able to create characters that seem so real and relatable.

I can't recommend this series enough, I fell in love with it and know it will be one that I revisit. I've even asked for the short story collection for my birthday - so I can't wait to get that, look out for my review in a couple of weeks.

My Rating