Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Published: January 3, 2012
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 400
Series: Lunar Chronicles #1
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Cinder is considered a technological mistake by most of society and a burden by her stepmother. Being cyborg does have its benefits, though: Cinder's brain interface has given her an uncanny ability to fix things (robots, hovers, her own malfunctioning parts), making her the best mechanic in New Beijing. This reputation brings Prince Kai himself to her weekly market booth, needing her to repair a broken android before the annual ball. He jokingly calls it a "matter of national security," but Cinder suspects it's more serious than he's letting on.

Although eager to impress the prince, Cinder's intentions are derailed when her younger stepsister, and only human friend, is infected wither the fatal plague that's been devastating Earth for a decade. Blaming Cinder for her daughter's illness, Cinder's stepmother volunteers her body for plague research, an "honor" that no one has survived.

But it doesn't take long for the scientists to discover something unusual about their new guinea pig. Something others would kill for.

My Review: I have a feeling that there's going to be many more fairy tale retellings in my future…

Cinder is a modern retelling of Cinderella. I grew up on Disney and I still remember watching this when I was little. Actually I think I'm going to go watch it in a little bit just because I loved Cinder so much.

Going into this book I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I just expected it to be good because I’d heard so many good things about it. I’m so glad I read it! The characters, the story, and the writing were all amazing. The book only lost points when I predicted the end on page 44. In fact I found the book very predictable. It made the ending less of a surprise for me but overall the book was really good.

Cinder was a great character. She wasn’t weak and boring like some other characters I’ve read about. She was interesting and funny and cyborg. I’m pretty sure this is the first book I’ve read about a cyborg and I have to say that Cinder was simply a great character. She was also a mechanic. How many people have read a book (other than this one) about a cyborg mechanic? Anyone? Well I haven’t.

The other characters in the book were perfect too. The evil Lunar queen, stepmother, and stepsister made the book that much more enjoyable. Just so you know I tend to like the villains in the book and I definitely liked the villains in the book. They were just such great villains that I just had to like them but I also hated them at the same time because well they were the villains. I also loved Iko and Peony (she was Cinder’s other stepsister). They were Cinder’s only friends and what happened to Peony broke my heart.

So the story was great but very predictable. I’d be able to predict something way before it happened. It sort of ruined the story for me because I wasn’t as surprised as I would have been if I hadn’t been able to guess what would happen. I absolutely loved Prince Kai and Cinder’s relationship with him. It was cute and Kai was just plain awesome. That last part of the book was intense but I don’t want to ruin it so I’m not going to say anymore.

So if you’re not sure if you should read this then just ask yourself the following questions:
Did/do you like Cinderella?
Do you want to read about a cyborg mechanic?
If you answered yes to those questions then I suggest you go pick up this book and read it!