Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1)
by Marissa Meyer
Published: January 3, 2012




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.

You know when a high rating and a good review of a book you saw off the internet catches your attention and you immediately grab a copy because you “can’t wait to read it”, too? Only when it has arrived you were sidetracked by other books that it kept moving down your TBR list until some challenge reminded you and you thought, “Wow, has it been there that long already?” Yup. That’s the story of Cinder’s journey in my ever growing pile.

This is the first book I’ve read about cyborgs and androids so I didn’t know what to expect. I mean, I saw Star Wars (my sister made me) and loved it but I’m not exactly sure what it’d be like reading something like it. Let me assure you. Right from the time I sat to read Cinder, I hadn’t moved an inch until I got to the last page.

It’s a wonder to think how a famous fairy tale, a fairy godmother, a pumpkin, a missing shoe, a ball, a prince and a happy ending would fit into this very modern retelling of Cinderella where Linh Cinder, a very well known mechanic, is a cyborg living under the roof of a hateful stepmother with her two stepsisters and an android named Iko.

I was surprised at first to know that this story was set in New Beijing which is very unusual though it kind of makes sense. Still, it made me very intrigued about this new world and the existence of other places apart from it, along with its high technological advances, that it made me even more surprised to learn of its intergalactic political relationship with Lunars – a society that had evolved from Earthen moon colonies and have the ability to alter a person’s thought by manipulating their brain waves – headed by the ruthless Queen Levana (who reminds me a lot of Queen Amidala even though I know she doesn’t look anything like her, well, without all that make-up maybe; or as good, very far from it) and the reason why she was set on negotiating with the Commonwealth and not with other countries.

That, along with many other reasons kept me nailed in my seat until I ran out of pages to read. Cinder’s origin didn’t actually come as a surprise for me; but even so, more surprise and anticipation is with every turn that I couldn’t be bothered to stop. I liked how everything turned out, how the plot was executed and also the differences from the story it was originally based from that you’d think anything in this book was never thought of before.

I am, of course, looking forward to the next book. Though it didn’t end with a cliffhanger, knowing that it ended was reason enough to make me beg for the sequel. I am still in the process of figuring out what glamour influenced me not to have picked this up sooner. I just have to take comfort on the fact that Scarlet will be released a few weeks from now. To sum it up, Cinder was a very great read to start off my year!

Words!
“I don't know. I don't actually remember anything from before the surgery."
His eyebrows rose, his blue eyes sucking in all the light of the room. "The cybernetic opetation?"
"No, the sex change."
The doctor's smile faltered.
"I'm joking.” 

“...but I’m trying to be inconspicuous.”
Cinder considered telling him it wasn't working but thought better of it. The lack of a throng of screaming girls surrounding her booth was probably evidence that it was working better than she suspected. Instead of looking like a royal heartthrob, he just looked crazy.”

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*video by Fierce Reads