A hacker trapped in a satellite is rescued by a charming captain, as the crew races to stop a royal wedding and a war.
- Score
- 83.0
- Spice
- 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️Sweet
- POV
- multi
- Ending
- HEA / HFN
Tropes
Content warnings
Curated signals, not an exhaustive guarantee.
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What readers think
Widely praised as the strongest entry in the Lunar Chronicles to that point, Cress earns consistent love for the Cress/Thorne dynamic: reviewers describe their chemistry as 'sweet,' 'delightful,' and full of banter, with Thorne — often compared to Han Solo or Tangled's Flynn Rider — cited as the series' most loveable character. Cress herself is praised for combining genuine hacking competence with endearing social awkwardness that makes her easy to root for. The multi-POV juggling act — now tracking five or six characters across continents — is frequently called 'flawlessly executed.' The main criticisms are the insta-love setup (Cress is in love with Thorne before ever meeting him, which some readers find unhealthy or creepy), occasional pacing dips in the first quarter, and Scarlet receiving far less page time after the first third. Goodreads ratings sit around 4.4 stars on over 400,000 ratings.
Read it if
- · Readers already hooked on the Lunar Chronicles who want the Cress/Thorne payoff — widely considered the series' best romance
- · YA fans who enjoy fairytale retellings with a sci-fi twist and a strong ensemble cast balancing action and found-family warmth
- · Anyone who loves a competent, unconventional heroine paired with a charming rogue who has to earn his heroism
Skip it if
- · You haven't read Cinder and Scarlet — this is deep mid-series and assumes full knowledge of prior events
- · You're allergic to insta-love; Cress is explicitly in love with someone she's never met and the book leans into it
- · You want high-spice romance or a standalone story — heat stays at kissing level and the plot threads are far from resolved by the end
If you liked this
- · For fans of Scarlet by Marissa Meyer — the direct sequel escalates the stakes, expands the world, and delivers what many consider the series' best new pairing
- · For fans of An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir — epic ensemble casts, oppressive regimes, and multiple slow-burn romances running in parallel
- · For fans of Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo — heist-crew dynamics, morally textured rogues, and a hacker whose brilliance is underestimated by everyone
- · For fans of Tangled (Disney) — the Flynn Rider/Rapunzel energy of the Thorne/Cress pairing is deliberate and frequently noted by reviewers
In this series
Part of The Lunar Chronicles — read in order:
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