Levana is the Queen of the Lunars in this series that started with Cinder.  She is intent on taking over Earth from her home on the Moon.  She is taking advantage of an illness on Earth that Lunars are immune to and for which Lunar scientists have developed a cure. Now it is time to see her side of the story.

Levana was the younger sister and never meant to be Queen.  Her older sister was vain and shallow and not interested in governing like Levana was.  She knows that she would be a better Queen than her sister.

Levana has had a crush on a palace guard since she was eight.  What does it matter if he is married and his wife is pregnant?  When you can control minds, nothing stands in your way.

This is a book about obsession and what you will do to get your way when you have unlimited power. 

This is shorter and less involved than other books in the series.  I read it in a morning.  It was interesting to see things from the perspective of the series villain and see why she acts the way she does.  All the events in this book take place before the rest of the series but it should be read in publication order so you understand the implications of some of the things revealed in relation to the other books.

All the books in the series are based on fairy tales.  Levana is the Wicked Stepmother and the next book, Winter, is about Snow White to end the series.