Books
Videos: Marissa Meyer Lets Us Into Levana's World
For fans of the Lunar Chronicles, 2015 is your year. And if you haven't yet read Marissa Meyer's twisted, futuristic fairy tale series, now is the best time to catch up in time for November, when the thrilling conclusion hits shelves. In January, Meyer released Fairest , a prequel that gives the series' villain Queen Levana her origin story. And in the fall, Meyer will publish Winter, the finale of the Lunar Chronicles, focused on the author's interpretation of Snow White.
The Lunar Chronicles already tells the interlocking story of three of our favorite fairy tale heroines — Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel; aka Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress — and adding in Levana and Winter only amplifies the books' already serious girl power. Levana is based on Snow White's Evil Queen — you know, as in "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest one of all? Already in the first three books, Levana is Darth Vader evil, but now in Fairest, we get the story of how she came to be this way. And a little hint to readers: Fairest also shows us the birth of Winter and a tidbit of her origin story too that you're not going to want to miss.
Meyer has created one of the most innovative stories and worlds in current young adult lit. And we readers are lucky enough to get not one but two more additions to the canon this year. Meyer did an exclusive video interview with Bustle where she delved into Fairest, gave us a sneak peek into Winter, and even hinted at another upcoming origin story we should all be jumping up and down about.
Bustle: At what point writing The Lunar Chronicles did you know you needed to tell Queen Levana’s story?
Queen Levana’s story, particularly her powers of “glamour” have a lot to say about standards of beauty — was that an important angle you wanted to delve more into?
What do you hope avid fans of the series take away from reading Levana’s origin story in Fairest?
The Lunar Chronicles with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress — and now with Levana and soon to be Winter — have always dealt with multi-dimensional female characters, who often must work together to solve problems. Is this female friendship and female partnership something you wanted to portray? And why?
What can fans expect next in Winter?
Do you have any more origin stories waiting in the wings?
Why is now — between Cress and Winter — the best time to pause the chronological series and take a moment to learn more about Levana?
So not only are we talking Fairest and Winter, this isn't the end of Meyer's plans to change how we think of classic stories. Our twisted stories aren't ending with the Lunar Chronicles, we open up a whole new Alice in Wonderland universe of exceptional characters for new arcs. Oh Marissa, we readers can't thank you enough.
Image: Marissa Meyer, YA Author/Facebook
