You can also read this review on my blog 
 In short: Fairest by Marissa Meyer is a fascinating - and tragic - look into Levana's backstory. 
 The best villains are the complex ones. And thanks to this in-depth view into the backstory, thought processes, and insecurities of Queen Levana, the villain of The Lunar Chronicles, we get to see this villain as much more than just a two-dimensional evil Queen who wants to take over the Earth. Ideally, the author could relay this complexity about the villain directly into the storyline itself, but I'm okay that it took separate book to do it in this case. 
 It did make for a pretty fascinating read, after all. Fairest tells a pretty tragic story about Levana, everything from her disfigurement and self-esteem issues to an especially bitter tale of unrequited love. It's pretty disquieting to read about such awful turmoil and the heartbreak that Levana faces as part of her origin story and it almost makes you feel sympathetic to her plight. Almost. She's still an altogether terrible person. And a disempathetic-type sociopath. 
 Fairest is largely about Levana and her backstory, but we also get a look into the foundation of the virus, beasts, shells, etc., that make up the groundwork for the premise and conflict in the series, so that was pretty interesting, albeit perhaps a little lacking in nuance in the way it was communicated. Overall, though I don't think Fairest was mind-blowing in any significant way, I did really like getting some insight into Levana's mind and Luna's motive.