Fantastic fantasy finale fun. Say that ten times real fast.

 Winter
by Marissa Meyer

Terrific finale!  You can clearly tell how she matured as a writer during the course of the tetrology.  She said so in the interview at the end of the audiobook--I love those interviews!  Next time I read a book that really impresses me, I'll see if there's an audiobook version with an author interview and check it out just for the extras.

So...fairy tales inspiration for modern-day tales. It's all been done before, so what do you do?  You do it better!  Or at least, uniquely better.  Let me explain.

Each book in her 4-book series is very loosely based on a well-known fairy tale-- Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, and Snow White.  Only in Cinder (Cinderella) did I really notice the heritage, but now I'd like the reread the two books in the middle just to see what I ignored.  But no matter--that's not the point.  The point is this:

She writes a really good and really original tale of good versus evil.

Good comes in many guises--the cyborg mechanic stepsister with a dead father, an evil stepmother and two selfish stepsisters; the android with a faulty personality chip; the 'shell' locked away alone on a satellite; the beautiful princess who refuses to use her glamour to control people; the big bad wolf who falls in love with a redheaded maiden....

Evil comes in only a few and foremost of these is the bad queen--Levanna.  Even when you come to understand her and even pity her, you know she needs to die.  But how?

Marissa Meyer stacks all the odds against her determined avengers, and the tension holds until the the end. (Except, of course, for wrapping up the loose ends.) If there'd been a fifth book, I'd have it on the reseved list right now.

One interesting point--her characters aren't warriors. They feel too much and think too hard and are often paralyzed by all-too-human self doubt.  Not to be sexist, but I don't think a man could have written this book--and that's all to its credit.  We like to think our heroes experience a sudden switch that turns on their heroism and after that it never switches off...and that's just not true.  A true hero has to find his strength over and over in battle after battle--and that's what makes for fine fiction and true life drama.  Persistence.  Bravery.  And more persistence.