Book Analysis: The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

“Even in the future, the story begins with once upon a time” (Marissa Meyer). This is The Lunar Chronicles, a futuristic retelling of classic fairytales written by Marissa Meyer where humans, androids, cyborgs, and Lunars (genetically mutated humans that live on the moon, also known as Luna) exist. This four book best-selling series follows Cinder, a teenage cyborg on her journey of dealing with discrimination, a wicked stepmother, and the discovery of her Lunar ancestry. In the first book it is revealed that Cinder is the lost Lunar princess, Selene, and that she must reclaim her throne from the antagonist, her cruel aunt, Queen Levana. With the threat of the Lunars and their manipulative glamour – an ability to control the bioelectricity of humans to make them do whatever the manipulator desires, along with creating illusions of beauty, perfection, and trickery – hanging close, Cinder must move fast. As the series continues Cinder meets a diverse crew who joins her on her quest of defeating Levana; and it is not easy or simple for the protagonists. The Queen and her loyal followers are cruel and relentless. The cruelty they show in their actions affect the protagonists of the story immensely, becoming the main conflict and theme the heroes must face; however, the backstory of the villain reveals that everyone can be victims of cruelty.

All the main protagonists are affected by the cruelty of Queen Levana, giving them their motivation to defeat her and free the oppressed citizens of Luna. Many of the characters deal with being imprisoned and tortured. One of the characters, Scarlet, joins Cinder because she is searching for her grandma who was kidnapped and imprisoned by the Lunars. Her grandma unfortunately dies from the torture she endured giving Scarlet the desire to avenge her and help Cinder. Another character that dealt with imprisonment is Cress, the queen’s programmer and hacker who was trapped on a satellite. Cress was forced to spy on the Earthen leaders and hack into security systems. She didn’t have freedom and was cruelly treated by one of Levana’s advisors. Like Scarlet, this caused Cress to reconsider the side she was working for and switch to help Cinder defeat her captors. Perhaps the person who suffers most from the cruelty of Levana and others is Cinder. Levana tried to kill Cinder, Princess Selene, by burning down her nursery when she was a baby. Cinder was saved and brought to Earth where she underwent her cyborg surgeries to save her life. In the second book the readers discover the extent of Levana’s cruelty.

“She was wrapped in bandages from her neck to the stump of her left thigh. Her right arm and shoulder were uncovered, showing the skin that was gouged bloody red in spots, bright pink and glossy in others. She had no hair and the burn marks continued up her neck and across her cheek. The left side of her face was swollen and disfigured, only the slit of her eye could be seen, and a line of stiches ran along her earlobe before cutting across her lips… ‘Who would do this to a child?’” (Scarlet 324). Levana’s cruelty sent Cinder to Earth, allowing her to be raised in a humble home where she had to work to survive instead of as a princess. All the cruelty shown to the protagonists add to driving the plot forward and deepening the conflict.

Cruelty is the driving factor in the series – the main conflict seen and the problem the protagonists must solve. Cinder and the rest of the protagonists were all victims of cruelty and because of that they made decisions and actions to solve the conflict. Not only was Levana’s cruelty a driving force but other side characters represented cruelty. Cinder’s stepmother saw Cinder only as a lowly cyborg, not as a human, and she made sure Cinder knew it. At one point the stepmother took Cinder’s cyborg foot forcing her to hobble around without it. “‘And you will leave your foot with me… And you will have to do without it until you can find a cheaper replacement.’ She glowered at Cinder’s feet. Her lip curled with disgust. ‘You are not human, Cinder. It’s about time you realized that.’” (Cinder 280). Cinder dealt with the cruelty of her stepmother and the discrimination of being a cyborg. This made her desire equality and acceptance helping to mold her into the leader she would later need to be. The people of Luna also suffered cruelty from Levana and her court. The unfairness and inequality compared to the upper and lower classes made the Lunar desire something better. They would try to escape Luna and immigrate to Earth in hopes of a better life. The punishments enforced on the people also added to the cruelty of the crown. One immigrant told Cinder about her son who rebelled against Levana. “‘He chose to kill himself, rather than become one of her puppets… Three days after my son died, two men came to our house. They took my husband out into the street and forced him to beg the queen’s forgiveness for raising such a disloyal child. And then they killed him anyway, as punishment. And as a warning to any other conscripts who were thinking of disobeying the crown.’” (Cress 222). The theme of cruelty deepened the plot and helped to develop the conflict. It showed the protagonists what they had to change and who they had to defeat to succeed on their quest.

Over the course of the series Queen Levana was portrayed as evil and cruel, but she has a history of cruelty like everyone in the series. Levana is the evil villain of the story, and nothing changes that. However, she can still be a victim. In the final book, during the final showdown between Cinder and Levana, the readers find out her backstory. They discover that the reason Levana glamours herself as perfect and beautiful is because she is disfigured from burn scars. These scars were given to Levana by her own sister Channary, who glamoured her into burning herself in a fireplace when they were kids. Levana explains to Cinder, “‘After that, they started to call me the ugly princess of Artemisia, the sad little deformed creature. While Channary was the beautiful one. Always the beautiful one. But I practiced my glamour, and I told myself that someday they would forget about the fire and the scars. Someday I would be queen and I would make sure the people loved me. I would be the most beautiful queen Luna had ever known.’” (Winter 744). Cinder and the readers discover Levana’s motivation to control and glamour the citizens of Luna. Her cruelty to the people of Luna and Earth is due to the cruelty of her past. Queen Levana was a victim first and then became the perpetrator, forcing her pain and suffering onto others.

Cruelty in The Lunar Chronicles is one of the main themes and conflicts in the series. The protagonists were victims of cruelty, some for most of their lives. They suffered at the hands of Levana and her followers. However, the cruelty gave the protagonists the motivation to fight back and defeat Levana. It was the driving force of the characters and their standards. The perpetrator of cruelty can also be the victim. Levana suffered as a child and in doing so later turned her to cruelty to others. The theme of cruelty led to character development and a deep conflict. Without it The Lunar Chronicles wouldn’t exist.