The third installment of the Lunar Chronicles is, quite literally, out of this world. Cress is a Lunar, stuck on a satellite orbiting Earth. Her mission from the Lunars who exiled her is to collect information on those on Earth who threaten Lunar and its inhabitants, including Cinder and her crew. Cress's own mission, however, is to find a way to get to Earth and save Cinder from Queen Levana.

Retelling the story of Rapunzel, Marissa Meyer goes from strength to strength in her latest addition to the Lunar Chronicles series. In my opinion, Cress is a far stronger book than Scarlet and definitely in a tie with Cinder for my favourite book of the series so far. I liked the way that Meyer continues to link the stories of the previous protagonists together in the book and especially the way that, despite making those links, she has each of the female leads take a different path throughout the book, so that each has a unique storyline.

In terms of retelling Rapunzel I thought that it managed to be a close retelling of the original fairytale in a really subtle way. Working in the details from the original, such as Rapunzel's prince going blind, was something I liked as I found the other books in the series didn't delve hugely into the background details of the original stories. As well as this, Cress's character was brilliant, and while not terribly relatable (I don't know about you, but I've never been forced to live my life as a lonely hacker in a satellite) her personality and total enthusiasm throughout the book was infectious for me as a reader.

The ending to the book was just as big as the other two, though when reading it I did feel it was slightly over the top. However, in this case it added to the appeal of it all.

Overall, I enjoyed Cress immensely. My one real criticism would be that because Cinder, Scarlet and Cress each take a different path throughout the book, less is seen of Scarlet. While I think there will be more of her in the next book, given Cress's ending, it was a bit of a downside for me. However, Cress is brilliant overall and highly recommended for teenagers interested in fairytale retellings.

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