Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Genre: Science Fiction, Retelling, YA

Format: Hardbound

Buy: Book Depository / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

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:

I didn’t expect myself to actually pick up this book. For one, I never really liked the story of the Cinderella and to read a retelling wasn’t really going to change my mind about Cinderella. But when I did start reading Cinder. I was excessively surprised when I realized it may have the vague skeleton of ‘the Cinderella Plot’ but it was a story that took it’s own life and originality.

Cinder is half-human half-robot aka a cyborg. Cyborgs, in this world, have very little rights and were considered nothing better than slaves. So, Cinder was the mechanic slave of her foster mother. All she does is work at the repair shop her family owns, eats, sleep and frequently get into arguments with her foster mother and her evil foster sister. 

I know, that sounds very Cinderella. But then the prince of New Beijing appears at her repair shop looking for the best mechanic in the city. He asks Cinder to repair his robot, Nancy. And Cinder manages to make an impression on him. Things escalate and the plague breaks out in the town center close to Cinder’s booth, her nicer foster sister gets ill, her foster mother throws a fit and volunteers Cinder to the draft system. The draft system is where cyborgs are sent to become lab rats. They are then injected with the plague then injected again with the latest antidote to the plague to see if it works or not. Most cyborgs don’t come out alive.

I’m not sure what part of the book I actually liked the most, the hint of romance or the controversies and the dispute between Earth and the Moon. I’m not one for politics but in this book. I just want to get into it so I can find the way to get the crazy and disgusting queen of the moon off the backs of every one on Earth. She is way to manipulative and irritating to just let her be like that.

Anyways, I linked Cinder a lot more than later because of her kick-buttery and her strength to keep going even after the only family she knew shunned her and society discriminating her because of her mechanical foot and hand. Having a strong protagonist like her to is one of the best factors a wonderful book needs to have. She was easy to relate to in one small way or another.

Overall, I applaud the author for ending the book with the worst cliffhanger ever, and her tenacity to include a little bit of everything for different types of readers out there. If you’re a big fan of Cinderella, Science Fiction and Dystopia, you will absolutely love this.

4/5 Stars