Short Story Review: The Queen's Army (Lunar Chronicles #1.5) - Marissa Meyer

(Goodreads) (Read here)

It is time. The boy must leave his family to serve in the Queen’s army. To be chosen is an honor. To decline is impossible. The boy is modified. He is trained for several years, and learns to fight to the death. He proves to the Queen -- and to himself -- that he is capable of evil. He is just the kind of soldier the Queen wants: the alpha of his pack.

My Review of The Queen's Army:

Although short and fast paced, The Queen’s Army was an intense read depicting the gruelling genetic modifications that our protagonist, Z and his companions are subjected to at the hands of the Lunars. Recruited into the Queen’s growing army, Z finds himself on an operating table, confused and disorientated as he begins to learn the reality of being a soldier and what it takes to become the alpha of the pack, at any cost.

This short story completely emphasised the brutality and sadistic, evil nature of the Lunars and especially the bloodthirsty and cruel Queen, Levana. In Cinder we are introduced to a malicious, cold, calculating villain determined to form an alliance with the Eastern Commonwealth at any cost. Her depiction as the epitome of evil is not as stark and obvious in this tale but the treatment and modification of the young boys is evident of her cruel nature. The tale culminates in a vicious and deadly fight orchestrated by the callous Queen and her true nature is evident in her actions to create the ultimate callous and merciless killer.

The narrative depicts the Lunars recruiting and building an army that they can control with their minds and engineer to destroy. The soldiers are depicted as genetically modified to have half the DNA of wolves, creating bestial and animalistic soldiers genetically superior able to kill, destroy and annihilate anything in their paths.

We meet Z, a smart young Lunar boy who finds himself recruited into the growing army of the Queen, whilst facing a painful and emotional transformation into a modified wolf-like soldier. Training to be a ruthless soldier and killer, controlled by the cunning Lunars, Z finds himself fighting for dominance in a pack to eventually fulfil the cruel wishes of the Queen. Z finds himself facing some tough decisions about his true nature and what he must become.

I found this short story a worthwhile read and it has only made me more excited for the release of Scarlet in a few months time; a re-telling and adaptation of the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale, the short story has made me wonder what role the army of wolf hybrids will play in the forthcoming book.