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.
I love fairy tale retellings and Cinderella retellings are the most popular ones, so it was nice to see something original. I mean Cinderella as a cyborg mechanic? The concept is amazing and for the most part Meyer pulls it off. The start was very slow for me and I actually almost gave up, but a few chapters in the pacing picks up, I really enjoyed the storyline and how it developed, there were concepts from Cinderella, the prince, the ball, the stepmother and the stepsisters. No godmother though, Cinder doesn't need a fairy godmother, Cinder is her own women.
I loved the world that Meyer has created, with Cyborgs, Lunars and Androids, it's like the best sci-fi concepts in one book, I wish there'd been more of a back story because I didn't really understand the difference between Cyborgs and Humans apart from the fact that they had metal prosthetic limbs, in a way. I also wish I knew how the Lunars had developed, what made them so different. As well as that, the story is set in New Beijing but apart from the name suffixes, nothing really had that eastern vibe that I would have liked.
Cinder was such an awesome character, independent and strong but still unsure about where she belonged in the world which added the independance. Kai was handsome and sweet but made some big mistakes so I'm unsure about him because of the ending. The other characters were well written though some were developed more than others.
Overall, Cinder was a romantic and well written take on Cinderella. The story was so original that it didn't even feel like I was reading a retelling. The pacing wasn't as fantastic as I'd wished.
Overall Rating: B+
Released 3rd January 2012 through Feiwel and Friends, B
Book received as an eGally through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Other books from this author:
Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles #2)
No comments
Tell me your thoughts on the post, the book, the world. I like volcanoes, feel free to tell me about volcanoes.