BEDIO: Series Highlights- The Lunar Chronicles

Today, I want to talk about a fun series I read a while ago (which a few of you may have heard about) called The Lunar Chronicles.

If you haven’t heard of the Lunar Chronicles, it’s a series sci-fi fairy tale retelling’s written by Marissa Meyer. The stories are that of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White. There is also the novella, Fairest, which follows the ascent of the evil queen for the throne of Luna. At this point in time, there are citizens that live on the moon as well as on Earth, and the first book, Cinder, introduces us to the two places uniting through the marriage of the Prince in New Beijing and the Queen of Luna.

When I was reading this series a few years ago, I was in a reading slump where I couldn’t find any books to hold my interest. I had heard nothing but good things about the Lunar Chronicles, and figured, “Why not?” This lead me to pick up the first book and start reading it. I was pulled into the story instantly, and enjoyed reading this interpretation of fairy tales. There was also quite a bit of interesting political and societal issues brought up in the series, that added a little more depth to the original plot of the fairy tales. I also loved the little twists that Meyer put on the fairy tales, such as Cinder being a cyborg and Cress (Rapunzel) is living in a satellite situated between Earth and the moon all by herself.

It was a fun series to read, especially after I was having such a difficult book finding a book to hold my interest. The Lunar Chronicles is also a great way to introduce readers who haven’t delved heavily into sci-fi, to the genre itself, without over- complicating the story. From what I’ve gathered over the years, and my own personal experience, one of the more intimidating things about sci-fi is the amount of world building you need to learn in order to understand, let alone enjoy, the story. There are writers who do a fantastic job incorporating these things into their stories, but other times where it becomes overwhelming and you just lose interest in the book. I haven’t read a whole bunch of sci-fi, but I personally enjoyed reading Brave New World and The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. For me, the Lunar Chronicles is a perfect balance between a fun whimsical fairy tale and the more intense world building necessary for a good sci-fi tale.

I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who is in a reading slump and needs a book that isn’t hard to pick up and instantly get into the story, as well as those who loves fairy tale retelling’s, or want to start reading more sci-fi.

If you love the Lunar Chronicles, and want to immerse yourself in the world, there is a graphic novel series called Wires and Nerve which follows the adventures of Iko, Cinder’s android sidekick from the start. There is also a collection of short stories called Stars Above that center around the characters and story line of the Lunar Chronicles.