Fairest, Lunar Chronicles, Levana's Story

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her "Glamour" to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story--a story that has never been told....until now.

Bbreview rating: 5.5 stars

WOW this was a powerful read!!!! So like most Lunar fans, I did not like Levana because we didn't know anything about her except that she was evil and after Kai and Cinder both. However Meyer has given us a chance to see why exactly Levana is this way. I am happy to say that I was in love with this book and I understood it so much better after reading it.

When it starts off it is about Levana as a young girl who uses glamour to hide her true form because she was badly burned in a fire (which you will have to read to know what caused it). Channery--Levana's older sister is taking over the kingdom because their parents where killed by a shell--Lunar who did not have powers-- but Channery is so evil compared to her daughter Cinder, She bullies Levana, pulls her down, and makes her do all the Queens work so Channery can go to different places and sleep with men who she believes will benefit her in the future.

Levana was in love once like most people, she loved a guard who saw her as nothing more than his Princess. When his wife Solstice dies after giving birth to their daughter Winter, Levana makes her feelings known by turning into Solstice to make Evret love her like he did his wife. But he does not love her the way that she wants and after she forces him to marry her, he stays with her knowing that he does not want her. Channery is made about the marriage but quickly forgets it when she becomes pregnant herself with the future queen. Which is cool that they don't see the daughter as a bastard because Channery has no idea who the father is or was.

When Channery dies and Levana takes over as Queen Regent until Selene is 13, she feels as though the people love her more and wants her to be the Queen, so she in the beginning thinks of ways to kill Selene by making it into an accident. Once she has the plane formed she controls Selene's nanny to set the nursery on fire while the two are sleeping. Selene is pronounced dead on the spot and Levana becomes the Queen.

While Levana has her scientist working on the sickness (Letumosis) and the army she wants, she finds out that Evret never loved her no matter what she makes him feel which hurts her even more because she loves him and would do anything for him. Levana finds out that she cannot have kids no matter what she tries doing

She becomes jealous of the small child Winter who is now a Princess, but she knows that if she wants Earth for her own she needs to make a marriage between the Princes Kai and someone of royal blood, but she knows they will not take Winter because she is not a true born daughter. So for one final night, Levana stays with Evret and forces him to believe that he loves her to make the night more special. However Evret is killed when they are attacked by a man who wants to marry Levana and be King, Levana however knew it was going to happen because she set it all up. In the end, Levana is still Queen and now free to marry whoever she wants while also keeping Winter with her as well.

In all is Levana really mean? she was badly burned as a child and seen as a monster which put her off from wanting Mirrors throughout the kingdom, Then when she finally showed Evret what she really looked like he was scared of her and told her he could not love her because of the way she looks, then you have her seeing Selene becoming the same hateful annoying person as her mother was, who would be spoiled and probably not care about the common wealth and the kingdom needed a strong leader so she killed Selene because she knew that was the only way to become Queen.

In all I love Levana's story and I felt so sorry for her and everything she had went through. I do believe that if her sister had not had a baby she would have became Queen and would have been able to have the people love her without them seeing what she was really. But with Evret I believe she should have let him go to save her a heart break in the end because the man did not truly ever love her.

Now I really recommend reading this book before reading Winter to see what Levana is because you never know this might play a big part in the final book.