A review by franrodalg
Fairest by Marissa Meyer

challenging
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

Why??? Just... why??? I honestly can't see the point of this, other than as a blatant cash grab... 

I enjoyed The Lunar Chronicles much more than I could have ever imagined. I found it charming, entertaining and imaginative despite me not being the target audience at all. I even managed to bear the (multiple) romances, which is quite a feat for me. The villain, though, was not particularly exciting, but the series being classic fairytale retellings that's almost a given. It wasn't a perfect series by any means, but I had it in high regard. 

After reading Fairest, though, I'm seriously rethinking my appreciation of the of the original series. 
When someone gets one of those classic shallow, moustache-twirling villains and decides to write their origin story, one expects a reframing of the main narrative, a different angle that makes the villain if not more sympathetic, at least more complex, more human. 

Not here. 

Not only we follow a despicable individual, but an extremely unlikeable one on top. There are plenty of stories where the main character is an objectively evil person, but the author manages to make it enjoyable to follow them. Sand dan Glokta from the First Law series might be one of my favourite characters of all times, despite being a torturer. Alessandra from The Shadows Between Us is wicked and selfish, yet she managed to make me enjoy a romantasy book, something I would have never guessed. Even being inside Cersei’s head in ASOIAF is strangely addictive. But those characters were fun to follow, with a unique narrative voice and inner monologue. 

Levana is just horrible, without any redeeming quality whatsoever, and the writing doesn’t compensate. 

I was expecting to at least empathise with her, But no. I only learned that, on top of everything we already knew, she is [spoiler and trigger warning alert]a rapist. 

This feels like an exercise on how not to write a villain origin story. 

Marissa Meyer undoubtedly came to hate Levana’s character as she was writing the main series, creating a despicable backstory for her that intersected with the protagonists. That might have worked for those protagonists but, as it stands, does not work for the villain. You can’t write from the perspective of someone you despise, specially if you want readers to enjoy their experience. 

What a disappointment. 
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