Fairest: Levana's Story by Marissa Meyer

Reviewed by Susan Z.
Grade 11

Having been burned as a kid by your supposedly loving older sister really does something to you.

The book Fairest: Levana’s Story written by author Marissa Meyer is a prequel to The Lunar Chronicles. The entire series is, what I would describe as, classical fairy tale characters but placed in a sci-fi futuristic setting. Levana, our main antagonist, is the power-hungry, manipulative, and extremely cruel ruler of Luna. It doesn’t take much to guess who she’s based off of. Based of the main series, readers know her as a tyrant who's the stepmother of Princess Winter, trying to murder Cinder, and conquer Earth. Fairest: Leavana’s Story gives readers an insight as to how Levana became the Evil Queen.

The book begins with the accident and ends events that occur right before Cinder (the first book in the main series). In Fairest, readers get a glimpse of Levana’s history and events that made her the person she is. It has bits of her childhood, filled with neglectful parents and an abusive sister, her love life--falling for someone who was already in love with another, and her rise to power. Despite her traumatizing childhood where her sister, Channary, basically threw her into a fireplace, Levana always had love for Luna. When their parents died and Channary became queen, Levana had ideas on how to make Luna better. When Channary died however, and Levana became queen...the power got to her. Though initially she had good intentions on making Luna better for its people, being the queen eventually got to her head. Levana craved power; she wanted to be loved by her citizens forever. The only thing that could stop her was Channary’s little daughter. Because the daughter was so young, Levana, the only other member of the royal family, temporarily took the throne. But Levana wanted forever; she wanted to secure that position of power. So she did the only reasonable thing and had her niece disposed of--or so she thought. Now with her out of the way, Levana had full control of Luna. But eventually the love of an entire planet wouldn’t be enough for her, and Levana would turn to Earth.

Even after learning Levana’s backstory, I didn’t feel remorse for her. I understand she had a very abusive childhood and practically never felt any love, but in the end she was still a bad person who continued doing bad things. Fairest is a really good book and did a really good job describing Levana. It explains Levana’s backstory and I understand how she became the person she is. I am happy that this is what we got instead of a redemption arc for Levana. Another thing I thoroughly enjoy about this book is that it doesn’t defend Levana. It’s not a book trying to explain her actions by any means. Even in Fairest, Levana does some pretty bad things--like how she got rid of her niece, so it’s definitely not a book trying to defend who she is or trying to put the blame on someone else.

I recommend Fairest for people who have read The Lunar Chronicles. I’m not saying if you haven’t read the series that you shouldn’t read Fairest, there’s just a lot that I wouldn’t understand if I hadn’t already read the other books. And if you haven’t read The Lunar Chronicles, I definitely would recommend those too for really everybody.