I'm so happy.

Where do I start? Winter was the perfect ending to The Lunar Chronicles. I'm super sad it's over and I wouldn't be opposed to Meyer releasing more books in this universe. Please.

The title character was so great. She was the perfect amount of tragic and beautiful which made her POV compelling and fun. Her relationship with Jacin... be still my poor little heart. He was literally the world's best protector and you can Fight Me On That. (Wolf - I love him, a lot, but like... you know. I'm also scared of him.) You could literally Feel them yearning for each other and every nudge of their shoulders was like a kick in my gut. The scene by Ryu's pen....... y'all. Y'ALL :( but also <3 You know?

Cinder, my sweet brave cyborg. Even though I kept getting caught up in the stories and lives of the other character's I was still rooting for Cinder above all. She did her best and I needed to see her succeed. The short scene when she's in the lake and is just slowly accepting everything that's happening broke my heart.

Cress and her character arc was great. Someone mentions at one point "she didn't curl into Thorne like she usually did" (paraphrased) and I was like YES!!! SHE DIDNT!! YOU'RE RIGHT!! because she grew to love and trust these people and she wasn't scared to have opinions and be herself. It was truly character growth and it was incredible. When she yells at Thorne in that palace scene I was mentally cheering her on because yes, use that fire inside of you, girl. Don't... get me started on Thorne.

Just kidding.

THORNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [pom poms, confetti, etc.] The suave, funny, sweet, criminal pilot. Would this series have been as good without him? Jury's still out.

His relationship with Cinder is my favourite friendship. Their banter was written extremely well. There was never* one iota of romantic love between them and I LOVED that. (*ignoring the first scene between them!) Whenever they were separated and found out the other was alive/unharmed you could feel the relief rolling off of them. They had gone through too much together to not have that type of friendship, that type of bond, and I'm glad Meyer wrote it into the series. Sometimes I find that a lot of YA - and adult fiction - friendships between a girl and a guy always has that sexual tension aspect and this (Cindorne? Thornder? hmm) friendship didn't and I'm super thankful about that. They are Best Friends and I want a whole book of them just like. Piloting around the system being best friends with no danger whatsoever.

Thorne scoffed. “Careful is my middle name. Right after Suave and Daring.”
“Do you even know what you're saying half the time?” asked Cinder.

The only other friendship - for me, personally - that could rival Cindorne's was Cinder and Iko. SISTERS!!!! I loved Iko and I was nervous any time she was in any danger. This isn't to say the other friendships lacked; in fact, they were all written well. They each had their own aspects as well so it made sense and wasn't just a copy/paste of another friendship. When Scarlet sees Cinder in the Lumber section and they just shout at each other and hug. Pure. Wolf and Cinder....... especially that scene with Aimery and Maha.. Heartbreaking but #real and I loved it. Kai and Cress. Cress and Jacin. WINTER AND SCARLET. Etc.

Shout-out to Kai who became a lovable, smart character throughout the series. I was hoping he would and I'm glad he didn't fall into a boring-prince-who-isn't-helpful-at-all. His quick thinking and diplomatic nature saved a lot of lives.

ANYWAY this book was so!!!!! good!!!! I'm so happy with it. And I'm sad it's over. I borrowed these from the library but I'm seriously contemplating buying them once I have some extra money because I think I'll need to reread them eventually.