Author: Marissa Meyer
Series: Lunar Chronicles #1
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publication Date: January 3, 2012
Format Read: audio-book, kindle, hardcover
Genre: YA Science Fiction, YA Fairy Tale
Purchase: Amazon
Cinder is a futuristic retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale set is New Beijing. It's a future with humans, androids, and cyborgs. A future in which a deadly plague ravages the population. While a ruthless lunar queen watches, waiting to make her move to take over Earth.
Our heroine is Cinder. She is a gifted cyborg mechanic and a second class citizen. Cinder has no memory of her life from before the operation that turned her into a cyborg at age 11. She lives with her step-mother and step-sister(s). Even though, Cinder is the source of income for the family she is treated very poorly and is blamed for her step-sister's illness. Through a request to repair Prince Kai's android, she is pulled into the intergalactic struggle where she might just be the only person who can protect Earth.
The first thing you might notice is ALL of the different formats I used to read this book. I started out with the audio-book and only made it through the first chapter. I was not a fan. I found myself zoning out when the performer read to me and I knew I was missing vital information. I also knew that based on the books description and the little over four star average reviews on Goodreads that this book was right up my alley. So, I figured I would try again. I was able to locate on Amazon the first five chapters of the book for free. So, I picked that up and tried chapter one again. And it was true. I was intrigued once I was able to read the story. Unfortunately, my library does not have an ebook of Cinder, so I put myself on the hold list for the hardcover. After my hold came in, I quickly progressed through the book, finishing it in one day.
That's how much I ended up liking the the book, I read it in one day. There was still one mild issue with the story that bothered me. Cinder's mother and sisters are referred to as "step-mother" and "step-sisters," when in reality they are her adoptive mother and sisters as her father adopted her after her birth parents were killed in a hover accident. I'm guessing the author did that to try to more closely resemble Cinderella, but I don't think it was necessary. I feel she could have just stated they were her adoptive family and called it good. I think the readers would have been more than happy to go along with it.
Now on to the interesting world that Marissa Meyer created. As far as fairy tale retellings go, I found this one to be interesting. Most of the retellings I've read seem to take place in modern or present time. A few have taken place in the future, like A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan, but Cinder not only takes place in the future, but a dirty, gritty world after a few wars. I like that there are humans, androids, cyborgs, lunars, etc...I do find it a little hard to believe that in the future we would treat cyborgs as second class citizens. It seems like most of them had an accident and had a body part replaced, like a leg or an organ, etc...I would believe that we would actually herald that a success in medicine an advancement, from what we can currently do for our soldiers and other accident victims today. But alas, I went with it while reading the story.
I like description of the vendors in the market. It almost reminded me of Aladdin of all things. The lunar people are scary and mysterious. The plague is obviously scary as they still haven't located a cure. Those who catch it are sure to die a painful death and it's so easily spread.
Overall, a very appealing set up to a series. I already have the next book in my possession and plan on reading it very soon.
If you like fairy tale retellings, you might also want to check out, A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan or Beastly by Alex Flinn (book is way better than the movie that turned the beast into some goth guy). If you like stories with a little more science fiction, you might like one of these two stories that take place in space, Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan or Across the Universe by Beth Revis. You might even like Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien.
My Rating:
Now on to the interesting world that Marissa Meyer created. As far as fairy tale retellings go, I found this one to be interesting. Most of the retellings I've read seem to take place in modern or present time. A few have taken place in the future, like A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan, but Cinder not only takes place in the future, but a dirty, gritty world after a few wars. I like that there are humans, androids, cyborgs, lunars, etc...I do find it a little hard to believe that in the future we would treat cyborgs as second class citizens. It seems like most of them had an accident and had a body part replaced, like a leg or an organ, etc...I would believe that we would actually herald that a success in medicine an advancement, from what we can currently do for our soldiers and other accident victims today. But alas, I went with it while reading the story.
I like description of the vendors in the market. It almost reminded me of Aladdin of all things. The lunar people are scary and mysterious. The plague is obviously scary as they still haven't located a cure. Those who catch it are sure to die a painful death and it's so easily spread.
Overall, a very appealing set up to a series. I already have the next book in my possession and plan on reading it very soon.
If you like fairy tale retellings, you might also want to check out, A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan or Beastly by Alex Flinn (book is way better than the movie that turned the beast into some goth guy). If you like stories with a little more science fiction, you might like one of these two stories that take place in space, Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan or Across the Universe by Beth Revis. You might even like Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien.
My Rating:
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