Lunartic Lizy

Brace yourselves: I’ve found a new fandom.

It’s called the Lunar Chronicles. It’s set in a high-tech, quasi-dystopian future, a conflict between Earth and the Moon. The heroines are Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White. The villain is an evil queen who eats all other Evil Queens™ for breakfast. And I am going to cosplay all of them. ALL OF THEM.

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Seriously, the characters in this series are great. Queen Leavana is ambitous and evil and beautiful and yet I have genuine sympathy for her loss of beauty and love. I’m currently about halfway through Fairest. The supporting villain I enjoyed the most was Head Thaumaturge Sybil Mira. She’s the perfect sycophant to Lavana, and she’s also a boss in her own right. And did I mention that I really want a Thaumaturge coat?

The futuristic setting of Earth and Luna is spectacular and dazzling and, of course, lightyears ahead of our society. If I’m not such a huge fan of the science in science fiction, how did I take this setting?  Spaceships, satellites, flying cars? Cool enough. Androids? Awesome. Implanted ID trackers on every Earthen? Borderline disturbing. Suspended animation tanks, cyborgs, transformations into mutant monsters--that made me shudder. Just enough. And the fighting gets really bloody as the series goes on. Bloody without being overly descriptive.

I first picked up Cinder in January on the recommendation of a couple of friends. The further I got in Cinder, the harder it got to put it down. Linh Cinder is everything I am and aspire to be. I don’t know that I relate to her much as a cyborg (although I do have an occasionally photographic memory), but she does have this sense that she is broken and incomplete, that she’s not like everyone else. And she has to deal with it every day. She’s unsure of herself, but she wants to do the right thing. I love that she’s a mechanic. She’s independent, strong, courageous, talented, smart, and, she is kind to people who need kindness, but she takes zero crap from anyone who wants to give her a hard time. I never thought I could like a Cinderella as much as I like Cinder.

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If I can’t be Scarlet, then she’s the kind of person that at least I want to be friends with.  She’s the sterotypical fiery French girl and redhead but without being a sterotype. When she wants something, she gets it.

Cress is kind of a pushover at times, and she doesn’t do much for me. In fact she kind of reminds me of my gullible side--more than I am comfortable to admit. But she has her moments. Moments when she really comes through for the team.

I relate to Winter’s...lack of sanity. Scarlet and Winter are my BrOTP. They don’t really like each other--well, Scarlet doesn’t really like Winter--but they rely on each other to survive and kind of develop an interesting chemistry.

Also, Ryu :'(

The Lunar Chronicles also features several intertwined love stories. I’m not a huge fan of romance, but set against the background of a high-stakes space battle, these love stories were quite enjoyable.  Now, for Cress and Thorne, it took a while for me to be convinced that Thorne actually liked her, and I’m not sure Cress is more than just infatuated by the end. But there’s room for this ship to grow on me...if the Tangled crossover fanart doesn't do me in first.

See what I mean? (Pinterest)

Thorne is kind of a jerk, but he comes to feel responsible for Cress. Thorne has never been able to get anything easily in life, even though he’s the kind of guy who wants to have everything easy. But he is a good companion for Cinder. And I think he has a great bromance going with Kai.

Kai and Cinder are the purest ship in this series, one of the purest ships ever. My favorite scene is at the end of Cress when Cinder finally gets a chance to explain to Kai what’s going on and that she’s the lost Lunar princess. More than that, she finally gets to be open with him about her struggles and her being a cyborg. And he just accepts her.

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Kai is just...so perfect. I don’t blame Iko for idolizing him. But it’s not just because of his looks. He’s willing to do everything for his country. (the Eastern Commonwealth, which is a big conglomeration of China, India, and most of Asia--seriously the way the Earthen Union is cut up you would think it was Risk.)  Anyway, Kai: he’s almost too self-sacrificing, but then again he gets put under a LOT of duress. But he’s willing to stake the safety of the planet Earth on the legend of a lost Princess and his love for a cyborg girl--who happen to be the same person. I just can’t even with Kai.

The ending was kind of less than satisfying. But for crying out loud Cinder is still a teenager--yes, give her a few years to grow up and find herself.

By the end of the series, I’m convinced that Scarlet/Wolf are more Beauty and the Beast than Red Riding Hood/Creeper. It follows a classic trope pretty closely but in a way that’s as refreshing as...farm-fresh tomatoes? I don’t even like tomatoes that much. I’m really upset that Wolf ended up having the full mutant treatment, but if Scarlet’s okay with it then I can try to be okay with it. Honestly it’s not very fair and I think Wolf deserved better, but that’s just me. But Scarlet is 18: she can do what she wants. Wolf is a pretty typical struggling/suffering character. He’s insecure, he loses EVERYTHING, Scarlet is literally the one thing going for him.

well, maybe he doesn't look so bad in this illustration
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Jacin and Winter are sort of upstaged by the time we get to their part of the story. But what’s interesting about Jacin is that Winter is his motivation for everything. And he’s willing to play both sides--play along with Cinder’s conspiracy to overthrow Leavana and then sell out the Rampion crew--to protect her.

The supporting cast--golly, I love these people. Dmitri Erland is a “good guy” who acts an awful lot like a bad guy. He kills lots--I mean LOTS of cyborgs just to find Selene. And he traffics Lunar Shells just to find his long-lost daughter. Eat your heart out, Severus Snape.

Kai’s adviser Konn Torin is the dad of the series without actually being anyone’s dad. He’s able to see both sides of the issues he and Kai faced, and he lowkey encourages Kai to join Cinder’s rebellion. He’s just so steady and steadfast. Everyone else runs around like crazy, and Torin keeps everything together.

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Iko is awesome. She’s basically Cinder’s actual Mom figure. And Cinder loves her back a lot. And I love her journey from robot to ship’s computer to escort android that’s not afraid to kick butt. It's cool to see her getting a lot of love on Pinterest.

I love the burst of new enthusiasm and energy that comes from discovering a new story. I am going to enjoy being a part of this fandom, rereading the books, collecting fan art and headcanons, meeting other fans, and I hope, contributing to the story. If you are a Lunar Chronicles fan, come and find me and tell me what you love about it. Here’s to new frontiers of the imagination!

The Lizy Reviews: Atlantia by Allie Condie

“Sometimes you can’t speak, not because others won’t let you, but because you are afraid of what you’ll say.  You can’t trust your voice.  You can’t trust yourself.  You stay silent and contained for your own protection.”

via bibliomantics.com

Ever since reading the Matched trilogy a year and a half ago I have been anxious to read Atlantia, a stand-alone novel by the same author, Allie Condie. I am not a huge fan of dystopian books. However, I liked Matched because it was partly an ekphrasis on certain pieces of art and poetry and a powerful essay about free will. Atlantia is not an ekphrasis but uses the story elements to make its own profound statements about identity and sacrifice.

Twin Sisters Bay and Rio live in a dystopian world split between the Above and the underwater city of Atlantia. When Bay chooses to go above, Rio becomes desperate to find her own way to follow her and end their separation. Atlantia itself is a city of interesting divisions, between the common people and the priestly caste, between the magnificent temple and the shady deepmarket with its illegal races and gambling.  It is to the latter that Rio is drawn to see if she can earn enough money to buy her own air tank. Her allies include True, a deepmarket craftsman, and Maire, her mysterious aunt. In order to get what she wants, Rio must confront her abilities as a siren, an individual with a voice that can exert control over other people. 

While still dystopian with sci-fi elements, the sirens and their abilities are part of a unique magic system that Condie touches on in the novel and that make the work more intriguing. This dystopia also has a polytheistic religion with gods that take different shapes Above and Below.  Of course, the characters come to question this part of their society but they don’t blatantly set out to change this aspect or anything else.  There are similar aspects in this dystopia to the one in the Matched trilogy, but for the most part it is very different and Condie doesn't dwell on these aspects. Atlantia is also a little bit more action-packed than the Matched books.

A sketch I made of one of the book's most interesting motifs

Most of the characters are either flat or have subtle complexity, with the notable exception being Maire. Like the heroine, we are always second-guessing Maire’s motives, and in spite of our better judgment we are curious about her. The romantic relationship with True takes a backseat to the central storyline rather than being the focus, as was the case in the Matched books.  A bit of a spoiler here, Rio does reunite with Bay eventually, but by the time this happens Rio seems to have come into her own individual identity.  Bay also proves to be an interesting heroine in her own right. (Maybe if there was a sequel in the works it could be from Bay's perspective? Just a thought. I'm not sure how this story could go further.) 

Allie Condie doesn’t focus on the dismantling of governments in her work period.  In Atlantia, the story is not about the revolution but the individual trying to escape the system and find resolution within it, which makes it a refreshing read. Atlantia is a stunning work of art.