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| American/Canadian Cover |
Author: Marissa Meyers
# of Pages: 387 (hardback)
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: 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.
Review: It had been the breath of fresh air that I was waiting for so long.
At first, I had been reluctant to read it. I mean, seriously, people have redone the Cinderella story so many times that I'm kind of exhausted by it now. But I was thought, "What do I have to lose by reading it?" So I read it. When I began reading the first few pages, I read with caution. My first impression of the book was that it was going to be one of those crappy attempts at writing. But I was wrong. The words seemed to mesh well together, weaving a beautiful story of a cyborg Cinderella. This book showed me how long it's been since I've actually read a good book.
What I really liked was the fact that the plot line didn't revolve around the ball. Meyer was creative and made a new problem for this story, a problem for many societies in the past and present; disease. Letumosis. Blue fever. A disease without a cure. And, of course, the not-so-evil stepsister had to catch it. Peony's death totally caught me off guard.
"'It looks more like a rotting pumpkin'" (47).
I absolutely LOVE the foreshadowing here. This "pumpkin" is obviously going to be Cinder's ride to the ball! Which leads me to another component of this book that I liked; Cinder is her own fairy godmother. Girls don't need magic to do the impossible, we can do it ourselves! This message is by far one of my favorites.
"'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 operation?'No, the sex change'" (100).
The humor = fantastic! After I read it, there was literally an awkward silence in my mind before I started laughing my butt off. VERY funny...or to me at least.
But then the air turned stale.
It started the moment the first chapter with Kai's POV came along. The lack of diplomacy in his personality disgusted me. He's a PRINCE, for goodness sake!
"Kai clasped his hands together. 'Right. Now, is that the one where the dominatrix queen throws a tantrum and threatens war every time she doesn't get her way? That relationship?'"(248).
This, I found, was one key example of his...lacking personality. It's not like Kai is rebellious against being Emperor; he understands that's his role in life. But he sure doesn't act that way. What has he been doing the past, I don't know, sixteen years? How old is he, anyway? I can't remember. But being a prince is his OCCUPATION. Sure, you can enjoy your youth while you still can, little prince, but you still have to look ahead to the future. Who knows, your parents might DIE and then you'll have to take over at a young age! Oh, wait, that's what happened! If he keeps it up, he might just start a war with a country!
And THAT is what caused this book to lose its fifth star for me.
Overall, however, it's very creative. I would defiantly recommend reading it!
