I continued my reread of The Lunar Chronicles in June with the prequel novella, Fairest by Marissa Meyer. This will be a quick post, because I have only a few things to say about Fairest.
You could probably read Fairest on your own without reading the rest of the series, but I’m not sure how much meaning it would have for you. Nevertheless, I’ll make this review as spoiler-free for the rest of the series as I can, and if you’re curious, you can go check out my review of Cinder, the first book in the series, over here.
Fairest gives us the backstory of Queen Levana of Luna, the villain of the main Lunar Chronicles series. The novella starts with the death of Levana’s parents and her older sister Channery’s ascension to the throne. Channery mistreats Levana—actually mistreats is an understatement—and Channery is a terrible queen. Levana is sure she could rule the country better, but everyone sees her only as the queen’s sad, ugly little sister, and no one listens to her or takes her seriously. Complicating matters, Levana also thinks she’s in love with one of her guards, who inconveniently is married and about to have a daughter.
This book was well-written, and for the first bit, I was even sympathetic to Levana. (Excuse me while I cringe.) It certainly eluminates Levana’s character a lot.
Unfortunately, Fairest is also a really upsetting book to read. There is a massive, massive trigger warning for rape and abuse. Honestly I read this novella the first time I read the series, and I was glad I read it then, but I decided not to reread it again when I reread the series. A decision I forgot when I reread the series this time.
It’s not that this is a bad book, or that it isn’t worth reading. It is a well-done book. But because you’re reading about things like rape and abuse from the point of view of the perpetrator who feels totally justified in her actions, it is just a deeply unpleasant book to read.
I would recommend that you read Fairest once, when you’re reading the series for the first time. But you don’t need to read it more than once, certainly. Levana’s actions in Cress and Winter will make a lot more sense if you read it. It just isn’t a fun book to read, and I didn’t find any joy in rereading it while I was studying for the bar this summer.