Plot
The novel begins with an introduction to Crescent "Cress" Moon Darnel, a sixteen-year-old girl living in a satellite in Space that has been her prison for most of her life. She is contacted by Linh Cinder, the protagonist of the first novel, and her crew on Thorne's spaceship, the Rampion, through the D-COMM chip that had made Nainsi, Kai's former tutor/personal android, malfunction in the first book (Cress is the same girl who had warned Cinder about Levana's ulterior motives of marrying Kai).
After communicating with Cinder's crew, she asks them to rescue her, which they say they will do. However, an unexpected visit from Head Thaumaturge Sybil Mira, who is Cress's guardian/captor, throws a wrench into the plans as she discovers Cress' intent to run and plans a trap for Cinder's crew. The trap results in the capture of Scarlet, the protagonist of the previous novel, and love interest of Wolf. Jacin Clay, a pilot who brought Sybil to Cress's satellite, decides to join Cinder's side, while the almost fatal wounding of Wolf renders him unconscious, and Sybil leaves Thorne and Cress to die after shutting down her satellite, making it hurtle toward Earth without a way to stop it. Meanwhile in Africa, Dr. Erland has made a discovery.
The crew has now been separated from one another and Cinder is sure that not only are Cress and Thorne certainly dead, but that Scarlet will soon share the same fate, as will Wolf if she doesn't get him medical attention. Cinder decides to land the Rampion in Africa where she was to meet Dr. Erland. She speaks with him, and he reveals that Lunars are able to contract a mutated version of the deadly virus that has been killing many Earthens for more than a decade.
During this time, Scarlet is being held at an aristocratic Lunar household, being forced to be a "pet" for a young boy to practice his gift on. She is brought back to the palace, tried, and forced to cut off her own pinky finger.
After Cress manages to deploy the parachutes of the free-falling satellite, they ensure a safe landing in the Sahara Desert. Unfortunately, Thorne has been blinded after hitting his head during the fall, and Cress must get him and herself out of the desert and somehow communicate with Cinder and the crew of the Rampion. Ever since she began tracking Thorne on assignment from Sybil Mira, Cress has been infatuated with him, and believes him to be her perfect hero. Thorne tries to convince her that he is not the hero she imagined, but promises her that if they are about to die, he will kiss her.
They nearly die of heat exhaustion, dehydration, and starvation, but are saved by a traveling group of people who sell wares, (who are eventually revealed to be Lunar traffickers). They go to a hotel with the group, where Thorne manages to win an escort-droid by winning a card game. Cress, distraught and believing Thorne is "cheating" on her with another woman, decides to leave with the traffickers who had originally saved them. They kidnap Cress and take her to Dr. Erland, her father who believed her to be dead, as she was taken away as a newborn to be killed. Cress becomes terrified and runs to hide, unknowingly hiding in the same room that Wolf is being kept in. She is discovered shortly after, and Thorne arrives to save her. A while later, the group is discovered and forced out of hiding. The villagers (consisting of multiple Lunars) assist them in glamouring the military, aiding in Cinder and her group's escape.
Once the entire group is reunited, Cinder plans an infiltration of the castle to stop the royal wedding between Earthen Emperor Kai and Lunar Queen Levana, even though she knows it will start a war. She goes back home to see her stepmother, Linh Adri, and her stepsister, Pearl, and glamours herself in order to steal their invitations. Cress and Wolf sneak into the palace, posing as a couple with the stolen invitations. Cinder and Iko (now in the body of the escort-droid Thorne won) sneak in through abandoned walkways. Thorne and Dr. Erland head to the labs to create stem cell eyedrops to repair Thorne's vision. While Cress and Wolf dismantle the security operations for the wedding site, Cinder and Iko kidnap Emperor Kai by tranquilizing him and cutting out his ID chips, with the help of Konn Torin. Dr. Erland manages to repair Thorne's vision, but diagnoses himself with the fatal disease letumosis. After stopping the wedding, Cinder plans to take the crew to Luna, declare herself as the missing Princess Selene, and get the Lunars to rally around her to dethrone Levana.
Dr. Erland quarantines himself after realizing he has been infected, telling Cress that he is her father and that he loves her and never wanted to abandon her before he dies. Shortly after, Queen Levana and Sybil Mira come to see Dr. Erland. Sybil receives an anonymous tip that the group is headed for the roof, preparing to leave. Before the party can leave, they are stopped by Sybil Mira and Lunar soldiers, and Jacin is nowhere to be found. During the battle, Thorne kisses Cress, fulfilling the promise he made to her and also hinting that he has started to develop feelings for her. Cinder and Sybil Mira battle it out, and Cinder succeeds in breaking Mira's mind and driving her insane, which leads to her jumping off the roof to her death. They fly the Rampion en route to Luna, and Queen Levana retaliates by openly declaring war on Earth.
It is also revealed that Princess Winter, the stepdaughter of Queen Levana, has Scarlet in her zoo-like menagerie. She is mentally unstable (afflicted with Lunar Sickness) due to the fact that she refuses to use her Lunar gifts, but tells Scarlet that she is on Scarlet's side. [3]
