The Lunar Chronicles is my favorite young adult fantasy series! It’s a fun, unique retelling of some popular fairytales. It has suspenseful action, space travel, intense battles, royal intrigue, cyborgs, genetically manipulated creatures, and mind-manipulating moon people! And, it has not one, not two, not three…but four cute romances! What more could you want in a fantasy series?
Book 1 of the series introduces us to Cinder (Cinderella), a cyborg mechanic who lives with her stepmother and two stepsisters. Book 2, is centered around Scarlet (Little Red Riding Hood) who teams up with Wolf, a genetically altered street fighter. In Book 3, Cress (Rapunzel) is a genius computer programmer/hacker who lives alone in a space pod. In Book 4, we meet Winter (Snow White) who lives on the moon with the Lunar people. She’s kind, naive and just a little bit mentally unstable.
The best part of this series is how with each book, we meet new characters who we grow to love and cheer for just as much as those in the previous books. By the last book, all of our heroes band together in an epic fight against the evil Lunar Queen. For me, the mark of a great series is when the books keep getting better and better with each new addition – all leading up to an exciting finale. This definitely happens in this series and is one of the main reasons I recommend it so highly!!
Shannon’s Rating — PG-13
One of my daughters was obsessed with this series in High School, to the point of declaring it better than Harry Potter! I won’t lie. It wounded my soul a bit when she said that, but I was glad she had found a series she loved so much!
This is the story of a teenage girl named, Kelsey, who’s life gets turned upside down one summer. While visiting a circus, she meets a mysterious white tiger – who just happens to be a cursed Indian prince named, Ren. Kelsey learns that she alone can break this centuries old curse and free the prince. Together they travel back to India, where Kelsey meets Ren’s dashing brother, Kishan. (And so, begins, the classic love triangle we all love/hate!)
Over the course of this five-book series Kelsey, Ren and Kishan embark on dangerous quests set by the Indian goddess Durga. Each quest must be met in order to fulfill the prophesy and break the curse. Of course, there are evil villains along the way who attempt to thwart their brave attempts! Who will Kelsey end up with? Will the curse be broken? You’ll have to read the books to find out!
Shannon’s Rating — PG-13
It’s not often that I describe a young adult fantasy series as a beautiful work of art. But that’s what this one is. It’s something entirely unique and different from any other series I’ve read before.
Tea discovers that she is a bone witch (a witch with the power of raising the dead) while at the funeral of her beloved brother. She is immediately sent away to apprentice with Mykaela, the only other surviving bone witch in the land. Bone witches are both hated and revered for their brand of magic. They are the only witches with the power to kill the daeva – monsters that regenerate every few years and wreak havoc in the kingdom. During her apprenticeship, Tea must enter the world of the Asha. She receives geisha-like training, such as; dancing, singing, flower arranging as well as fighting.
There are a couple of things that make these books a bit more challenging to read than most young adult fantasy series.
First, the setting of the series. I loved it. I’ve always been intrigued by the Japanese Geisha and this series was heavily influenced in that area. But the world building with the different kingdoms, politics and Asha took some getting used to.
Second, the story structure. The chapters bounce back and forth between two different timelines. One chapter in the past, with Tea as an apprentice between the ages 12-15. Then a chapter in the present, with Tea living alone in exile on a beach at age 17. (A bard discovers her on the beach and begins narrating her story in present time.) These alternating timelines were confusing at the beginning but then became absolutely gripping. The storylines don’t come together until about 3/4 of the way through the last book in the series. So, if you’re going to read this series, you have to commit to reading all three of them. It’s set up like one, long story – broken up into three separate books.
While this isn’t the easiest series to read, it is absolutely worth it! If you’re tired of the every-day type of young adult fantasy, then read this series! It truly is uniquely beautiful!
Shannon’s Rating — PG-13
Imagine a future world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life – and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe – a role that neither wants. These teens must compete against each other and master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.
When I tell people the premise of this book, some tend to be hesitant to read it. I know it sounds brutal. Teenagers apprenticing and learning how to kill people. But how and why the scythe’s take a life is handled in a non-brutal and non-sensational manner.
I enjoy a fantasy series that can build an interesting new world for me to get lost in, and this series does just that. It was fascinating for me to contemplate how a society would handle overpopulation – if people no longer died naturally.
I will say, some of my friends and daughters only liked the first book in this series and didn’t love the last two. I, however, was so intrigued by this fictional society that I couldn’t wait to see how it all played out. And I was not disappointed. Towards the end of the series, I started getting nervous that I wasn’t going to like the resolution, but I actually really did! I loved how the role of the scythe changed by the end and I thought it made the whole series very fulfilling!
Shannon’s Rating — PG-13
Let me start by saying, I judge books by their covers. All the time! But I’m so glad I didn’t in this case, because I don’t think the covers match the story in these books AT ALL. So don’t let that stop you from reading this fun fantasy series!
Karou is a 17-year-old art student living in Prague. But there is more to her than meets the eye. She was raised by chimaera, creatures with both animal and human characteristics. The chimaera live in the land of Eretz, which one can only journey to through magical doors hidden around the globe. When these doors are destroyed by the seraphim, (angels), Karou is separated from the only family she has ever known.
Akiva is a stunningly beautiful man-angel with wings. At first, Akiva and Karou are enemies, but they soon discover an unexpected connection with each other. As Akiva helps Karou discover her true identity, they are thrust back into the 1,000-year-old war between the seraphim and the chimera. A fun cast of supplemental characters bring a light-hearted fun to a story that would have otherwise been too heavy. I absolutely love Karou’s best friend Zuzana. She was hilarious! I also loved the surprise plot twists along the way that kept me guessing. This series was a fun, action-filled story from start to finish!
Shannon’s Rating — PG-13 (Although I would say this series is definitely for older teens/adults…)
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