Book Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder

Marissa Meyer

Publication Date: January 3rd 2012

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Pages: 400

Genre: Scifi, Fairytale, Young Adult

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, the 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 read a lot of fairytale adaptations (it's one of my favourite things to read in YA, obviously from the amount of them I review), but out of all I've read so far, Cinders is hands down the most original and unique, standing out from the rest by a mile. It is a scifi rendition of the tale, not a Dystopian Scifi, but pure, beautiful Scifi. It is the future and when someone faces a very gruesome injury they can have their lives saved by fixing themselves up with robotic parts, and Cinder is one such person who has "benefited" from one of these surgeries from when she was young.

Of course, "normal humans" are fairly prejudiced against people with robotic parts, and since Cinder has a lot of robotic parts (including a leg and arm) she is a bit of a social pariah, and is especially so with her Step-Mother and older Step-Sister.

The world building in this novel is awe inspiring, I had not trouble understanding the world and getting sucked into it, and though many of the main milestones of the fairytale are reached, the tale was so well done that I actually forgot that it was based off Cinderella from time to time, because it was such a great story aside from that.

The characters are very well done as well. I loved how the younger of the two step-sisters was actually quite fond of Cinder, thus giving Cinder quite the drive later in the book. I feel like there is also a depth to many of the characters which is easy to forget about in scifi or fantasy novels as the world building takes up so much thought.

There seems to be four more books in the series (according to the page in the front) and I have no doubt that this world can handle more books to explore it more. I also wonder if the author will borrow from other fairytales for it, but if she doesn’t, I'd still be excited to read them.

First off, I LOVE that she lost her foot instead of her shoe, best adaptation of that scene ever. Ever since the beginning where Meyer foreshadowed Cinder losing her foot while the Prince was present, I'd been hoping that's how that scene would play out.

I also really liked that Cinder is the lost Lunar Princess, as soon as I learned that the princess had "died" in a fire and they had only found some of her flesh DNA I couldn't help but wonder if Cinder was secretly her, and then when the Doctor revealed that she was of the Lunar race there was no doubt in my mind. It'll be really interesting when Kai realizes exactly which Lunar Cinder is, considering how betrayed he feels now, yet Cinder is the one he's been looking for all this time.

I also have to mention that I love the added layer of the plague as it gives reason for Cinder to be the places she is and gives her a drive to help throughout the book, because of her sister. I have to admit I did cry when she died, I really thought she was going to make it. I also teared up with the Step-Mother took apart Iko. I adored that android, it just wasn't fair! Yet the fact that Cinder started carrying her sister's ID chip and Iko's personality chip gave me heart. They are still with her and it's beautiful.

If you like Science Fiction and you like Fairytales you need to pick up and read this book right this second. In my opinion, Cinder is a beautiful marriage of the two. If you also want a very unique adaptation of Cinderella to read this is it. The time I waited to read this book was well worth it.

EDIT: On a re-read of this, I felt more blown away than the first time, so I upped the score up by .5 for a full 5 Bookmarks. Usually I like a book less when I re-read it, so that's saying something. Upon my re-read I was once again floored by this world. I liked the romance more this time around. I even cried again. This is hands down the most creative and one of the best fairytale adaptations that has come out of the fairytale boom.

5 Bookmarks