Cinder

Author: Marissa Meyer
Goodreads Rating: 4.04
Pages: 390
Format: Purchased Harcover

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.

Wowsa. People have been telling me for awhile that I had to read Cinder, and I’m only sorry that it has taken me this long. I got this book while on vacation in Canada because I saw it on sale at a book store. Only me, right? Anyway, it was super cheap so I was able to enjoy it, but that was back in August, and it is now January. When the book first came out I thought that the whole premise sounded really awesome and I just couldn’t wait to get at it. Getting an ARC of Scarlet helped me move the book to the top of my to reads list.

Cinderella wasn’t my favorite princess, she wasn’t even my second favorite, but I love the whole idea of this twist on her story was great. I mean a Cyborg? Who thinks of something as cool as that? Its like taking a typical princess and making her a badass. Which is exactly what this did. Rather than be the “poor me, no one loves me” of the original story, Cinder is a mechanic, she does the chores and such, but she isn’t weak. There is no fairy godmother who turns a pumpkin into a coach, instead, she’s the one that changes her own fate. I did love the imagery of her turning a lemon back into a working car, well played.

I liked Cinder, and the fact that she didn’t have two wicked Step sisters, but rather only one because her other sister genuinely cared for her. I liked Peony and how she cared for Cinder even though she was part machine. I also liked that Cinder was this badass who did things like mechanics and fought back against her step mother even if it was only in the slightest of ways. I thought it was cute when the prince came to visit her in her booth. I wish that she had been honest with him then and there about her cyborg status.

I think the reason that this book isn’t getting 5 full stars from me is because Cinder chose to keep things from Kai. That irritates me so much because they could have been in a situation where he knew full well what was going on and rather than be blindsided in the middle of a ball, he could have been like “Yeah, and?” I also am not giving it 5 stars because It was a little predictable. I had a few things pegged from the minute information was added, and while that isn’t a bad thing, I wish it had been a little more of a surprise.

I liked that the plot almost followed Cinderella’s plot line, but there were different things like the added bonus of a plague which is always fun. As a history major, I did an independent study on the Black Plague and it was really a fascinating read. Anyway, I liked how we were given the right amount of information for us to get through this book while keeping us dying for more information from the next three books. The setting was unique which helped to spice things up. Usually book about the far off future/dystopia tend to be somewhere in the US or in a non-descript place. Divergent is in Chicago, Under the Never Sky is non-descript, Delirium is all over the North East, while Shatter Me is also non-descript. Only a handful, but you get the picture. Cinder takes place in New Beijing which was an awesome feature.

I’m looking forward to diving into Scarlet and finding out what type of trouble Cinder is going to get into next, but also to see how Meyer incorporates all different types of fairytales into the story and how she puts her own futuristic twist on them.

The Courts Decision: