REVIEW: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Genre: Young Adult, YA Dystopian, YA Science-Fiction, YA Urban Fantasy

Pages: 387 (hardback)

Publication: January 2012

(Feiwel & Friends)

via NetGalley

Goodreads 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.

In this thrilling debut young adult novel, the first of a quartet, Marissa Meyer introduces readers to an unforgettable heroine and a masterfully crafted new world that’s enthralling.

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Review: For the past few months I have been envious of people as they received their copies of Cinder, book one of the Lunar Chronicles, by Marissa Meyer for review. So when the chance to request it from NetGalley came up, I just had to jump at it. I am a sucker for a fairytale retelling, and Cinder takes the story of Cinderella and mixes it with a futuristic sci-fi, dystopian-ish society, making it absolute must read for me.

Cinder is a cyborg who lives in New Beijing working as one of the areas most gifted mechanics. She lives under the guardianship of her step-mother, who loathes Cinder and blames her for the death of her husband. Cinder tries to keep her head down and just live her meager life. After a chance encounter with the Prince of New Beijing, Cinder’s life is turned upside down, the Prince is smitten, and Cinder’s sister is stricken with a plague that terrorizes the city. Cinder must do what she can to help her sister and discover secrets she never new existed.

I absolutely loved Cinder. Marissa took a well known story and created an amazingly fantastic new twist, making this it an all together new story. The world that the author created is extremely vivid and well conceived. Gone is the old fairytale kingdom; New Beijing is gritty, almost wild. Technology is advanced and plays a important part of the culture. I could picture New Beijing almost like it was a place I had been to before, which made the reading experience even more engaging. The characters in Cinder were very well written. I love when characters are so well written that I feel as if they are people in my life; living breathing people, so vivid that I can anticipate their thoughts or actions.

The greatest part of this novel are the twists and liberties that Marissa took with the original Cinderella story. All the important elements are still there; you have Cinderella, the wicked stepmother and stepsisters, the prince and castle, the ball, the wicked witch, and most importantly the glass slipper... All are there, just in a fresh new look with an enormous amount of added story that takes this well known tale to an amazing new place.

Cinder was one of my most anticipated books of 2012, and it greatly exceeded my expectations. From the first chapter I was hooked and could not put it down. Marissa Meyer has a bright future ahead of her and I certainly look forward to the 2013 release of the next book in the Lunar Chronicles, currently titled Scarlet.

Rating: 5 stars