Book Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Title: Cinder (Amazon)
Series: Lunar Chronicles, #1
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre: YA
Source: bought
Published: January 2012 by Feiwel & Friends

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 have to say that I love when people modernize fairy tales, but I love it even more when people ‘futurize’ fairy tales. Cinder has to be one of the best futuristic fairy tales that I’ve ever had the delight to read. It’s such an exciting, adventurous tale and it was one that I couldn’t put down until the very end, when I was desperately crying for more.

Cinder is a futuristic version of Cinderella, where the main character, Cinder, is a cyborg. Set in New Beijing, Cinder is a mechanic; the best mechanic in New Beijing, actually. When she’s asked to fix the crown prince’s robot, her entire world seems to turn upside-down and she finds out things about herself that she never knew.

I loved this version of Cinderella more than any other one that I’ve read before, and I have to say that it wasn’t just because of the concept. Futuristic cyborg Cinderella is cool and all, but the characters are what really makes Cinder a magical tale. Prince Kaito, is fabulous and is a prince that I really enjoyed, and Cinder is the best cyborg in the world, but what made the novel for me were the side characters; Iko and Peony.

Peony is Cinder’s step-sister, the younger of the two, and what was refreshing about her was that she was a close sister to Cinder. Usually in retellings of Cinderella, the stepsisters are evil and horrid towards the protagonist, but not in this case. Peony is so sweet and kind to Cinder, and that’s what makes her such an awesome character. Also, Cinder’s robot, Iko, is such an awesome, hilarious addition to the novel. I love her comments and the way that she wishes she could be a human because there’s really nothing better than an awesome robot with a personality.

The two main plot points in this novel, the Lunar Queen and the Plague, were things that I really loved and clung to. The Plauge, a mysterious disease that kills off humans at an alarming rate, is something that we really get to see in detail and experience as we traverse through Cinder’s world. It’s exciting and horrifying to see just how this disease progresses and how it affects relatives and friends of those who have the disease.

The Lunar Queen…where do I even start on her? She’s such an important part of the plot line, and her desire to marry Prince Kai is really rather disturbing, but at the same time, it’s intriguing and it makes you desperate to know what happens next, what’s going to happen as the story progresses?!

I know that when I finished reading Cinder, there were a million and a half questions running through my mind and I’m desperately awaiting the sequel, Scarlet, which is coming out in 2013. So far away! This is a book that I would recommend to anyone looking for a great, futuristic fairy tale, or to anyone looking for a great read!

Rhee’s Rating: