Fairest

****

4 Stars/5

Levana has always been unloved and is thought of as the ugly one in the family, hiding behind her glamour. She has always been in love with guard Evret and, even though he is married, she is sure he feels the same way too. Levana’s sister Channary is queen but does not care about Luna or the running of her kingdom, Levana is determined to step up but as her hunger for power grows will she destroy everything she cares about.

Fairest is a really enjoyable prequel story to the Lunar Chronicles, about the villain, Queen Levana’s past. I like how we got to see more of Luna and how we got to learn more about the Luna/Earth back-plot.

Levana is not a good person and while I can’t sympathise with her, I can understand how she ended up like she did as her life lacked affection and having to hide her face in a world that judges on beauty. Levana reminded me a lot of the character The Phantom of the Opera as she is crazy and hides who she is behind a mask. I feel very sorry for Evret as all he was doing was being nice and he ended up being used in a horrible way. It was nice to see baby Cinder and to learn more about Winter and Jacin.

You don’t have to read this book to enjoy the rest of the series but it does add to it. I would recommend Fairest to fans of the Lunar Chronicles.