Stars Above by Marissa Meyer
Genre: Fairy Tale Retelling
Published: Feiwel and Friends
Pages: 369
Format: e-book
Rating: All individually rated
Let’s go through, one by one, my thoughts on all the stories collected in the Lunar Chronicles anthology, Stars Above. Spoilers: Marissa Meyer saves the best until last!
THE KEEPER – ★★★
This is a story of Michelle Benoit, when she’s given Cinder as a charge. We also get little hints of preteen Scarlet and it is the sweetest thing. I loved knowing more about her character, and what made her so important to Scarlet and the series as a whole. A worthy edition to the storyline!
GLITCHES – ★★★★
Cinder’s origin story, it does a really great job of showing Peony’s passion for her new sister, and Adri’s disgust. This is also satisfying. It deals with the root of Adri’s dislike and starts to show how Cinder is in such a subservient place at the beginning of her book. Glorious.
THE QUEEN’S ARMY – ★★
Wolf has a name??? This was also great. I’d read Glitches and this one prior to the anthology coming out, so I knew what to expect. Getting backstory to the Lunar army, and what caused such a rift between Wolf and his brother was important to understanding their actions in Scarlet. It fleshed out my knowledge of the army, and the lengths Levana was willing to go to ensure her ultimate power. It was really short, though, so probably could have been added as a backstory chapter in Scarlet itself.
CARSWELL’S GUIDE TO BEING LUCKY – ★
This was one of the weaker stories. Essentially, what we have here, is a tale of high school Carswell Thorne, being all flirty with girls who aren’t Cress. Of course, he didn’t know her at this point but it disturbed me to think of him with anyone else but my precious darling. We get a bit more information about his motives for wanting the Rampion ship and being a captain, but it’s a story I could have lived without.
WHEN SUNSHINE PASSES BY – ★
Again, I thought this one was weak. It’s the tale of Cress being taken to her satellite by Sybil. Nothing we didn’t already know, so it felt like a bit of a filler story. It’s a shame that the stories of my two favourite characters were the weakest, but Cress was my favourite of the main four books, so, I have that to be thankful for. Cress and Carswell are just the best when they’re together, and these two stories prove that.
THE LITTLE ANDROID – ★★★
This was the story that was most disassociated from the main gang, so if you’re interested in reading a The Little Mermaid retelling, in a sci-fi setting this is for you. Cinder makes a little cameo, but all together, it was a nice retelling of the Hans Christian Anderson version that worked extremely well. No voice box in the android to reason with the lack of voice? Excellent.
THE PRINCESS AND THE GUARD – ★★★★★
Now, apart from the final story, this was the one I was MOST interested in. It gave backstory for Winter, why she doesn’t use her magic power and how she got those three scars on her face (that do nothing to mar her beauty!) This is probably the story that’s most worthy of reading because I think it was one of the most excellent explanation of things we already found out throughout the series. Getting to see more of Jacin and Winter’s relationship is always a plus, and we knew from Fairest that they were close basically from birth. Such a lovely couple. What a great short story.
THE MECHANIC – ★★
Knowing what Kai was thinking when he first met Cinder was a dream of mine, and I’m glad it’s realised in this tale. It’s extremely short, but so is there first meeting, so…It was just lovely to see the little seeds of their relationship develop, and that Kai was interesting in her from the very beginning.
SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW – ★★★★★
And here’s what I was waiting for. A WEDDING. OH MY GOODNESS. I was expecting it to be Winter and Jacin, immediately assuming it was a royal wedding, but I want all my babies to get married one day, so I wasn’t disappointed with any kind of union. And it was BEYOND cute. All the gang, in one place, my dreams literally came true. Marissa Meyer explained this short story as like fan fiction with her own characters, and I definitely got that vibe. Everyone deserves a happy ending, even if it’s two years after the end of Winter, and finally Cinder and her Prince are together forever after!
Heart Full of Books 