Parents' Guide to

Fairest: The Lunar Chronicles: Levana's Story

By Carrie R. Wheadon, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Absorbing prequel from the evil queen's perspective.

Fairest: The Lunar Chronicles: Levana's Story Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Community Reviews

age 14+

Based on 2 parent reviews

age 13+

Great story and writing, but WAY too short

Five Stars for story and writing, Four Stars for content Marissa Meyer has managed to write the origin story of the villain in The Lunar Chronicles in a way that the reader can sympathize with her on a certain level, but it is still obvious that she is not a good person. Levana's childhood was very difficult, but it is show to us as an explanation, not an excuse for her behaviour. I thought the story was very well written, and the characters were well developed for a short novella - even the ones that just appeared in Fairest . And I really loved how all the little connecting pieces to the rest of the series fell into place and have begun to make even more sense. I can't wait for Winter! I gave the content 4 starts because there was a lot of talk about Levana's older sister, Channary, sleeping with guards and soldiers, and also a huge part of the story revolved around Levana's odd lust for Evert, to the point where she forced him to marry her...and it was really awkward... IT SHOULD ALSO BE NOTED that there is a VERY LARGE excerpt of Winter in the back of Fairest. It's not so large that it cuts into the length of the actual book too much though. And the inside of the book has a gorgeous illustration of the Lunar palace

This title has:

Great messages
1 person found this helpful.
age 15+

Fairest

This was a great book! But, had some parts that where not so ok. Their was violence and I CRIED at the end of the book. I highly recommend it for teens.

This title has:

Educational value
Too much violence

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2):
Kids say (24):

Readers love to hate Queen Levana, especially by the end of the third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cress. We're rooting for her to get left at the altar almost as much as we're rooting for Cinder to kick her butt. FAIREST is a worthy prequel to a great series, and not only because it fills in a few holes after the first three books about what life on the moon is like, where Winter came from, and what happened to Princess Selene and her mother; it's because we get to see things from Levana's perspective, and it's positively haunting.

Fairest shows Levana slowly devolve from a lonely, neglected teen into an envious, spiteful, and murderous queen drunk on power. She's awful, but as readers see how she got to be that way there's no getting around having a glimmer of empathy for her. It's great added depth to the story and to the whole Lunar Chronicles series.

Book Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate