Stars Above

Stars Above (The Lunar Chronicles #4.5) 
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 401
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-fi, Fairy Tale Retelling
Published: February 2, 2016
Rating: 3/5 stars
Goodreads link

Description

The universe of the Lunar Chronicles holds stories—and secrets—that are wondrous, vicious, and romantic. How did Cinder first arrive in New Beijing? How did the brooding soldier Wolf transform from young man to killer? When did Princess Winter and the palace guard Jacin realize their destinies?

With nine stories—five of which have never before been published— Stars Above is essential for fans of the bestselling and beloved Lunar Chronicles.

The Little Android: A retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” set in the world of The Lunar Chronicles.
Glitches: In this prequel to Cinder, we see the results of the plague play out, and the emotional toll it takes on Cinder. Something that may, or may not, be a glitch….
The Queen’s Army: In this prequel to Scarlet, we’re introduced to the army Queen Levana is building, and one soldier in particular who will do anything to keep from becoming the monster they want him to be.
Carswell’s Guide to Being Lucky: Thirteen-year-old Carswell Thorne has big plans involving a Rampion spaceship and a no-return trip out of Los Angeles.
The Keeper: A prequel to the Lunar Chronicles, showing a young Scarlet and how Princess Selene came into the care of Michelle Benoit.
After Sunshine Passes By: In this prequel to Cress, we see how a nine-year-old Cress ended up alone on a satellite, spying on Earth for Luna.
The Princess and the Guard: In this prequel to Winter, we see a game called The Princess
The Mechanic: In this prequel to Cinder, we see Kai and Cinder’s first meeting from Kai’s perspective.Something Old, Something New: In this epilogue to Winter, friends gather for the wedding of the century...

My thoughts

I started reading this after finishing Scarlet. So I tried reading this in the reading order Trina from Between chapters advised in her review on goodreads. I thought this reading order was really nice, I recommend that you check out her review. Link here.

The Mechanic- 3 stars

I don’t know why but I’m not the biggest fan of scenes from the book but now from a different characters point of view. So I thought this was just okay, I still liked it but that is more because I love Cinder so much.

The Little Android – 5 stars

This is a beautiful retelling of the little mermaid. I highly recommend reading this novella for entertainment purposes. This will not add anything to the storyline of the series. We don’t see these characters ever again in the series. You see Cinder, but she isn’t a big part of this story. I really loved this story!

Queen’s Army – 3 stars

This is Wolf’s background story. So if you are interested about Wolf’s passed I would recommend it. To me this was a okay story. It gave you more insight to what Levana is like, and how her armies are created.    

The Keeper – 2 stars

This is the story of Scarlet’s grandmother. How she took care of Princess Selene. It fills in the blanks that you miss in Cinder and Scarlet but I think you can do without this story too.

Glitches – 4 stars

This is the story of Cinder meeting her adopted family. This was Cinder trying to be a part of the family and how the family became what it was in the first book. I really liked this one. Seeing that it didn’t matter what she tried she would never be a part of the family, very sad. And Iko is in it too.

After Sunshine Passes By – 3 stars

This is the story how Cress got trapped in the satellite. I read it before I read Cress because you already know she is in the satellite when you read Cinder. It also doesn’t spoil anything from Cress, so why not. With this story I already had an impression of Cress before I read her book, which was nice.

Carswell’s Guide to Being Lucky – 2 stars

This story takes places in Thorn’s childhood. Cress and Thorn talk about this moment in Cress. I think this was unnecessary. In Cress Thorn already explains what happened and why he did what he did. There was no new information in this story.

The Princess and the Guard – 4 stars

In Cress, Winter seems like a crazy person and my first impression wasn’t that great of Winter. But this story made me see what kind of a person Winter is really like. Fairest does show you a look in her life as well but that is all from Levana’s point of view, and she is a bit biased. I felled the seam for Jacin. He didn’t seem like a nice character in Cress but this story shows his story as well. I really liked it, highly recommend reading this before Winter.

Something Old, Something New – 5 stars

This story takes places 2 years after the end of Winter and it is about a wedding. I really needed something extra after Winter to end this series and this was great. This extra story gave a satisfying ending to this series.