Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder

Author: Marissa Meyer

Series: The Lunar Chronicles, #1

Goodreads

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

When you tell your friends that you're reading a Cinderella-fairy-tale retelling, complete with cyborgs in a futuristic China, with a touch of magical elements, they tend just kind of blankly stare at you like "whaaaaaat?". But that's the great thing about Cinder, is that it tells you the story of Cinderella in a completely new light and you can't help but let it draw you in. Marissa Meyer makes it new again.

When I first started reading Cinder, I wasn't entirely sure what I was getting myself into. I can remember when I first heard about this book and seeing all of the hype surrounding it and instantly adding it to my TBR list. I hate that it took me so long to finally read it because the story of Linh Cinder is truly wonderful. And I'm just getting started with it.

Cinder is a cyborg mechanic, the BEST mechanic in all of the Eastern Commonwealth (also known as a future China). When we first meet Cinder she is working at the market, waiting on her android Iko to return with her new mechanical foot, instantly pulling us into this new world that mixes new and intriguing technology with the art and wonder of ancient China.

A little bit of background on Cinder.. she can't remember anything before the age of 11, when she was in a terrible automobile accident that killed her parents. But as far as she knows she's been cyborg her entire life. Cyborgs aren't exactly welcome in society yet, even though this incredible futuristic technology surrounds you everywhere you go, which makes Cinder somewhat of a social pariah. She was adopted by a man who soon after ended up dying, leaving her with an evil stepmother who can't stand the sight of her, and two stepsisters, one of whom befriends her.

All Cinder wants is to get away from her life, and take Iko and her stepsister Peony with her, but the universe has different plans. There's a plague running rampant on earth and everyone is desperately searching for the cure, all while on the brink of war with the Lunar queen who is ready to strike if she doesn't get her way. What is a Lunar? you ask.. The best way I can describe them is this: they are people who live on the moon who can magically bend the elements to make you see, feel and do whatever they want you to. Some people, like the Lunar Queen Levana, is incredibly powerful. So powerful in fact that she has never had an uprising against her vicious rule. The people on earth are completely terrified of her, as they should be.

I don't want to go into too many details and give away the storyline, but man oh man! By the ending I was desperate for more and went straight to the Kindle store and bought Scarlet because I have to know what happens next. I simply couldn't leave myself wondering what was going to happen to Cinder or Prince Kai.

Now, I will say that for the first bit of Cinder, while I was drawn to the story, I wasn't immediately captivated. It seemed slow to me in the beginning, however I still very much enjoyed it. By the end, I was completely sucked in and desperate for more. I can absolutely say that I see what all the fuss was about. Cinder is a unique and fascinating retelling of one of my favorite fairytales. I am so excited to continue on with the Lunar Chronicles and discover what is in store for our heroine.

I rate this book:

The Lunar Chronicles Series

Author

About Marissa Meyer

Marissa Meyer lives in Tacoma, Washington, with her fiancé and their two cats. In addition to her slight obsession with books and writing, she's big on road-tripping, wine-tasting, and hunting for antiques. She's represented by Jill Grinberg. CINDER, her debut novel, is a futuristic re-envisioning of Cinderella in which Cinder is a cyborg mechanic. 

Author Links: Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook

Quotes

"What a shame you cannot blush, Miss Linh."

"Maybe her programming was overwhelmed by Prince Kai's uncanny hotness."

"That's. . . fantastic. Now when I'm on the chopping block, I can at least take a few bystanders down with me."