Long before Levana became the most powerful queen in history, she was just another princess ...

Bullied and disfigured by her hateful older sister, 15-year-old Levana hides behind the most alluring glamours she can imagine.  She's hoping to attract the gaze of Evret Hayle, a kind captain in the queen's army with whom she is madly in love.  So what if he's married?  Sol is a lowly dressmaker of little consequence—surely, Levana would make a better match for handsome Evret.  Even if she's awkward, shy, and ugly.

As Evret refuses her advances and her flippant, disinterested older sister assumes the throne, Levana feels increasingly hopeless.  She knows she'd be a better queen than flighty Channery and a better wife than Sol.  If only she could get what she really wants, Levana would have her happily ever after.  The question is, to what lengths will she have to go to take what's "rightly" hers?  Fueled by jealousy and frustration, Levana is prepared to do just about anything ...

You all know I'm a big fan of Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles series.  I love it for so many reasons.  Fairest, a short novel that fits between Cress and Winter, is my least favorite installment, yes, but it still has all the excitement and intrigue of its companion books.  It stars a vulnerable Levana, a young woman who yearns for happiness, even if she's looking for it in all the wrong places.  This makes her empathetic, although it's difficult to fully root for her knowing what kind of monster she becomes.  Reading her backstory did make me feel a little bit of compassion for the evil Levana, though.  It also gives insight into the cold, calculating behavior that defines her character in the rest of the series.  So, while I didn't enjoy Fairest as much as the other books in the series, I still found it to be a quick, compelling read that helps flesh out the Lunar world into an even more intriguing place.  Lunartics will not want to miss it!

(Readalikes:  Other books in the series, including Cinder; Scarlet; Cress; Winter; and Stars Above)

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Now that Queen Charlaina di Heyse—Charlie, as she prefers to be called—sits on Ludania's throne, it's time to implement all the changes she's been dreaming about since she was a girl.  She abolishes her country's demeaning caste system, encourages all citizens to speak one language, outlaws public hangings, and looks to neighboring countries for ideas on how to modernize her struggling land.  Charlie can't imagine anyone not embracing such improvements, but there's a growing faction that wants things back the way they were.  And the rebels will stop at nothing—not even assassination—to get what they want.

As trouble in Ludania goes from bad to worse, Charlie's desperate to keep her head in the game.  The problem?  Although she fought infiltration from the essence of cruel Queen Sabara, she didn't quite triumph over her old nemesis.  Not 100%.  Sabara's still inside her, whispering to Charlie, urging her to let Sabara—a cunning and experienced ruler—take over.  It would be so easy to give in, to allow Sabara to make all the decisions, but Charlie refuses to let that happen.  She cannot let Sabara's particular brand of evil out to play.  To keep her contained, Charlie must grapple with the insidious voice inside of her.  And she can tell no one—not even Max—what lives inside her.

With her country on the brink of war, Charlie travels to a summit of queens.  As inexperienced as she is, she will need all her wits about her to handle them.  Especially knowing a traitor dwells in her midst.  Charlie's advisers can't help her.  But there is one who can—if only Charlie will succumb to the enticing whispers of Queen Sabara's ancient essence, if only she'll hand over her Queendom to the one who ruled it with an iron fist.  For the good of Ludania, will Charlie finally give in?

When I first read The Pledge, the initial book in Kimberly Derting's YA dystopian trilogy, I was impressed by the original touches the author brought to a genre that seems to grow staler by the minute.  The second read-through didn't blow me away quite as much, but I still found myself enjoying the story.  Re-reading its predecessor did make the next novel in the series, The Essence, much more exciting for me.  And yet, the tale loses a lot of its freshness in the second installment.  Character development continues to be a problem, especially among the men, most of whom are completely interchangeable.  Despite all that, I had a hard time putting The Essence down.  The book's got plenty of action, plenty of romance, plenty of adventure—plenty to hold a reader's interest.  The Essence isn't my favorite dystopian book ever, nor is this one of my favorite post-apocalyptic series of all time, but both are intriguing enough to satisfy.  So, yeah.

(Readalikes:  The Pledge and The Offering by Kimberly Derting)

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