“Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1)” by Marissa Meyer
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Science Fiction, Fairy Tale Re-telling
Source: Gift
Summary from Goodreads:
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.
I liked that it wasn’t a re-telling in the strictest sense. It was more like a story with Cinderella elements added. I know I was a bit worried about a cyborg re-telling of Cinderella. If she had just simply retold the story but just made Cinderella a cyborg, the story would have been a bit…boring. Well, to me at least. I thought Meyer did a good job of keeping the story interesting and fresh by telling her own story and then slipping in a few of the fairy tale elements (evil stepmother, the ball).
The science fiction was pretty well done. To me it slipped a bit into magic/fantasy because the science wasn’t explained as well as it could have been (for my taste). I’m willing to overlook it since Cinder is the focus of the story and not the scientists. Cinder may be smart and strong but she still is a teenager who doesn’t know what’s going on. Not to mention that Meyer chose to focus on the politics of this world rather than the science. If you know me, you know I was ecstatic about that. It was really interesting seeing all the dynamics of this world. We have tension here on Earth between Humans and Cyborgs. Then on top of that there’s tension between Humans and the Lunars? LOVE it. I would have loved to learn more about all of it but I’m sure Meyer will get to in one of the other books.
I was really shocked about the ending. Well, not shocked exactly. I predicted what would happen pretty early on but I was still hooked and read like a mad woman to finish the book. That’s always impressive to me.
The bottom line? Very, very enjoyable. I kick myself a bit for not reading this sooner but I’m glad I waited because now I don’t have as long of a wait to read Scarlet.
The Cheap Reader 
I loved Cinder! I actually had no plans on reading it because Science Fiction is so not my thing. BUt I gave it a try, and I LOVED it. I do agree that Cinder does slip a bit into the fantasy side, but that helped me enjoy it so much more, because I didn’t want to know the science stuff.
And oh my gosh, Scarlet is really really good. 🙂
Hahahaha I posted my review of Cinder today too! Can I just tell you how excited I am that Scarlet is LRRH?! Yay Project Fairy Tale material!
I’m glad you enjoyed Cinder. I also can’t wait to read Scarlet, but given the way I go through my TBR pile, I probably won’t get around to it until the second half of the year.
Yay, I am so excited to read this one.
I also thought it was a lot more interesting because it didn’t follow the original story line exactly. I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂