The Lunar Chronicles is the fairy tale retelling series that understood, from the beginning, that the best way to retell a fairy tale is to take its logic seriously. Cinderella’s ball as a diplomatic function in a future New Beijing. Little Red Riding Hood’s wolf as a genetically modified soldier. Rapunzel’s tower as a satellite. Each retelling honours the original’s emotional architecture while building something structurally new, and Winter — the Snow White volume — is the series’ most ambitious and most rewarding instalment.

At over 800 pages, it is also the longest, and it earns every page.

Winter

Princess Winter is, alongside Kaz Brekker, one of my favourite YA characters of the year. She is the stepdaughter of the Lunar Queen Levana, refuses to use her Lunar gift because she knows it’s harmful, and as a result of that refusal is slowly losing her grip on reality — she sees things that aren’t there, has conversations with people who aren’t present, and maintains her dignity and her goodness through it all with a serenity that is both inspiring and heartbreaking.

She is also, in a series full of intelligent and capable women, the one who leads with compassion rather than competence, and Meyer treats that as a form of genuine power. Winter doesn’t fight like Cinder, doesn’t manipulate like Levana, doesn’t plan like Scarlet. She is kind, and that kindness turns out to matter enormously.

The Ensemble

By Winter, the Lunar Chronicles cast has grown to encompass eight main characters, and Meyer manages all of them. The pairs — Cinder and Kai, Wolf and Scarlet, Thorne and Cress, Winter and Jacin — each get meaningful development without any of them being flattened to serve the others. This is genuinely extraordinary management for a book this large.

Cress in particular continues to be a joy. Her arc from satellite-bound isolation to active participant in a lunar revolution is one of the series’ most complete.

The Revolution

The plot of Winter is a revolution — Cinder and her crew trying to overthrow Levana and give the Lunar people back the choice that was taken from them. Meyer writes it with the appropriate scale, the appropriate chaos, and enough genuine stakes that the losses feel real. Not everyone gets out unscathed. The victory is earned.

Why YA Readers Will Love This

For readers who have been with this series since Cinder: Winter is the conclusion you deserved. It resolves every thread, rewards every investment, and sends the characters off in ways that fit who they are rather than who would be convenient for the plot.

For readers considering starting the Lunar Chronicles now: begin with Cinder. The series is complete, which means you can binge all four without waiting, which is entirely the right way to experience it.

For readers who love fairy tales and science fiction and the particular pleasure of watching both operate simultaneously: this series is uniquely placed in YA. There is genuinely nothing else quite like it.

Meyer’s Heartless — a standalone prequel to Alice in Wonderland — is worth reading once you’ve finished this series. Her ability to inhabit classic tales from new angles only deepens with each book.

Published: November 2015 · Genre: YA science fiction/fantasy · Series: The Lunar Chronicles, Book 4

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Winter about and why does the review consider it the series’ best instalment? Winter is the Snow White volume of the Lunar Chronicles — over 800 pages, described as earning every one. The revolution Cinder and her crew attempt against Lunar Queen Levana is rendered ‘with the appropriate scale, the appropriate chaos, and enough genuine stakes that the losses feel real.’ The review calls it ’the series’ most ambitious and most rewarding instalment’ and the conclusion that ‘resolves every thread and rewards every investment.’

What makes Princess Winter such a distinctive character? Winter refuses to use her Lunar gift because she knows it’s harmful, and as a result ‘is slowly losing her grip on reality — she sees things that aren’t there, has conversations with people who aren’t present, and maintains her dignity and her goodness through it all with a serenity that is both inspiring and heartbreaking.’ In a series full of capable women, she ’leads with compassion rather than competence, and Meyer treats that as a form of genuine power.’

How does Winter manage its large ensemble cast? By Winter, the cast has grown to eight main characters, and the four pairs — Cinder and Kai, Wolf and Scarlet, Thorne and Cress, Winter and Jacin — each get meaningful development ‘without any of them being flattened to serve the others.’ The review calls this ‘genuinely extraordinary management for a book this large.’ Cress’s arc from ‘satellite-bound isolation to active participant in a lunar revolution is one of the series’ most complete.’

What is the Lunar Chronicles’ approach to fairy tale retelling? The review credits the series with understanding ’that the best way to retell a fairy tale is to take its logic seriously.’ Examples: ‘Cinderella’s ball as a diplomatic function in future New Beijing. Little Red Riding Hood’s wolf as a genetically modified soldier. Rapunzel’s tower as a satellite.’ Each retelling ‘honours the original’s emotional architecture while building something structurally new.’

What reading order and strategy does the review recommend for the Lunar Chronicles? The review is unambiguous: ‘begin with Cinder. The series is complete, which means you can binge all four without waiting, which is entirely the right way to experience it.’ The series is also described as ‘uniquely placed in YA — there is genuinely nothing else quite like it’ for readers who love both fairy tales and science fiction operating simultaneously.

Further Reading from Authoritative Sources

  • Winter — Wikipedia’s Winter article provides publication details and series context that helps readers understand the novel’s place as the Lunar Chronicles’ conclusion and its relationship to the fairy tale retellings that preceded it.
  • Marissa Meyer — Wikipedia’s Marissa Meyer article provides biographical and bibliographical context for the author, helping readers understand the Lunar Chronicles within her broader writing career and approach to fairy tale adaptation.