Cinder

Marissa Meyer

The Lunar Chronicles #1

Summary:

A forbidden romance.

A deadly plague.

Earth’s fate hinges on one girl...

Cinder, a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a cyborg. She’s reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s sudden illness.

But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen – and a dangerous temptation.

Cinder is caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal. Now she must uncover secrets about her mysterious past in order to protect Earth’s future.

Plot:

This is a great story. I really enjoyed the way the author combined the traditional fairy-tale elements with the futuristic setting. The story kept me interested throughout, even though I saw the plot twist coming for most of the book. The fact that I knew what was going to happen, but was still intrigued by the story definitely proves that it’s a pretty good plot. I would have liked a little more explanation of some elements of this book, for example how Cinder’s mind works etc. I did, however really like the mild references to racism, which made the whole setting a feel a little more realistic.

Characters:

I like the characters in this book. I didn’t fall in love with them, but I rooted for the heroes and was scared for them at times. Cinder is very relatable, even though she’s half-robot, and that is probably what made this book good. Even though very little about the setting or the plot is relative to our current situation you still felt like you could understand the characters.

Who should read this:

10+, mainly for violence and scenes of people dying etc. If you’re looking for a fairy tale retelling that’s completely different from anything you’ve read before I would definitely recommend this one. If, however science-fiction isn’t your thing you might not like this as much.

My rating:

I’m not a huge sci-fi fan, which is probably why I wasn’t that excited for this book, even though the idea behind it is fascinating. However, I really enjoyed it and it definitely met the expectations I had after all the hype. 4/5.

Quote:

“Does your kind even know what love is? Can you feel anything at all, or is it just... programmed?”