It's the Lunar Chronicles short story collection! Most of these are "showing" us parts of the backstories of various characters, which were merely "told" to us in the series proper. So without further ado, this book contains:
"The Keeper," part of Cinder's backstory and most of Scarlet's. From Scarlet's grandmother's perspective. |Basically, Cinder but before she was a cyborg, while she was still a badly injured kid in a bacta tank in Scarlet's grandmother's tool shed's basement|.
"Glitches," more of Cinder's backstory. The trouble with Cinderella stories is that the early parts are invariably unpleasant, and as an early part of a Cinderella story, this one is really no exception. We do get to see the Evil Stepmother when she was more of a Somewhat Unpleasant Stepmother, though.
"The Queen's Army," also known as literally all of Ze'ev "Wolf" Kesley's backstory. It neither confirms nor denies my joke theory that the genetically engineered wolf soldiers howl at the floor when they're stationed on the moon.
"Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky," which, as you may have guessed, is part of Carswell Thorne's backstory. And, um. The thing about Thorne is that he had a very nice character arc throughout Cress and to a lesser extent Winter, and I really do rather like him by the end of the series. Unfortunately, this is pre-character-arc Thorne, which means he gets on my nerves a bit.
"After Sunshine Passes By," Cress's depressing backstory. It's depressing. Not much to say about it.
"The Princess and the Guard," the joint backstory of Winter and her love interest Jacin. And I have a confession to make, which is that Jacin annoys me. I don't know why, he just does. That said, Kid Jacin is rather less annoying than he is in the main series. Also, this is set on the moon, specifically among the moon aristocracy, which means there are some disturbing bits.
"The Little Android," nobody's backstory. I had to look up how it connected to the series, and it turns out it doesn't. It's just a slightly messy Little Mermaid retelling set in the same universe. Probably my least favorite of the stories in here, to be honest.
"The Mechanic," which is the first scene of Cinder but from Prince Kai's perspective. I happen to really quite like Kai, and this one isn't very long (which prevented me from declaring it a boring rehash of Cinder), so I liked the story as well. It was also slightly amusing to see this scene from the perspective of someone who isn't panicking because the prince has randomly shown up at her market stall with a broken robot.
And finally, "Something Old, Something New," the series epilogue. All the protagonists are reuniting, because Scarlet and Wolf are getting married. Apparently Cinder has abdicated from her position as queen of the moon, making way for a less tyranny-encouraging system of government. The story also features Cinder and Kai being completely adorable together, which were my favorite parts.
There's also a sneak peak in here of a then-upcoming novel, Heartless, which I didn't bother to read. I have no desire for a Queen of Hearts origin story, thank you very much.
Were this a videogame, I'd rate it: A soft T15+ for some (mostly veiled) sexual references.
4 stars.
(Endnote: Having also read The Stars Below, I have completed the set and unlocked the legendary Star Cannon.)
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