Book Review- Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Title: Cinder

 Author: Marissa Meyer

Series:  Lunar Chronicles #1

Published:  3^rd January 2012 in America. In England, 5 January by Puffin/

Length: 400 pages

Warnings: slight innuendo, 13+

Source: Netgalley

Other info: The others in this series will be called Scarlet, Cress and Winter. Cinder is Marissa’s debut novel.

Summary : 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.

Review: The premises to this was amazing. I love retold fairy tales. I love sci-fi. A mix????  Must read. The whole idea of having our beloved rags-to-riches girl being a cyborg of all things was just a really great idea. And it was carried off perfectly. As well as that, there’s an evil Lunar  queen trying manipulate those on earth, a plague that may or may not get out of control,  and the inevitable love story that comes with this kind of thing, and so it  definitely should be my thing.

And it was. From the first page, something is happening. And the action doesn’t stop. Aside from when she meets Prince Kai and is a little flustery, going against the tougher image of Cinderella that I was expecteing for this. Then it picks up, the next time isn’t as bad, and her sister is taken ill with the plague, and her evil stepmother signs her over as a test subject for finding an antidote. Yeah, a lot of things happen. And the writing style suited it perfectly. I could easily see it all happening, and that kept me wanting to read on and on and on.

Against all the odds, I loved the Stepsisters. One of them, anyway. Because of how she ends up acting and the way Cinder treated her, I ended up feeling for her and I don’t think she really deserved what she got. Prince Kai was an interesting guy with a lot shoved onto his shoulders at a young age.  Queen Levana was your untypical villain, that will definitely be interesting to watch her and her plans develop over the series.

The romance is done surprisingly well, with Cinder trying to be practical about it all (but obviously, kind of failing). It was really sweet watching their relationship develop.

The addition of the plague letumosis was an unexpected, but really intriguing aspect to this world. I loved the idea that any of our characters could fall ill at any time, another thing that kept me reading.

The revelation about Cinder at the end...that was totally unexpected. And then the book ended..... HOW COULD IT DO THAT? Really, that was quite horrible to leave it there. I can’t wait for book 2, Scarlet, which will be out next year. Really, how can they expect us to wait that long?

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to a great retelling with an original twist on it that made it something I completely loved.

Links: | Goodreads | Author website |