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Monday, February 10, 2014

Review: Cinder

Posted by Charlene // Tags: , ,
Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1)
by Marissa Meyer
YA Science Fiction/Fairy Tale
Amazon  /  Goodreads


Plot Summary:

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:

This book is just gorgeous.  Love the writing, the world and the twist on the fairy tale!  The story moves so quickly too - it's easy to get immersed in the story.

The main character, Cinder, is an unconventional take on Cinderella - she's snarky and resentful and rightfully so because her adopted family is so dismissive of her.  Having Cinder part android adds more credibility to the outcast situation Cinder finds herself in - even though she is the main financial support for her family.  Adri and Pearl were just so hateful, I couldn't stand them so they were perfectly written. It was refreshing that Cinder did have a kind adopted sister - Peony - who is adorably sweet and again works so well in the story because she gives Cinder a tie to her adopted family.

The story switches third person POV between Cinder and Prince Kai which was another great approach to the narrative so the reader can understand the Prince better and how the romance develops.  I thought it was a bit odd that Kai was so taken by Cinder so quickly but I can see her appeal to him because she is apparently such an individual amid a lot of Prince Kai fangirls.  But the romance isn't the most important part of the book!  This story is much more multi-dimensional than that!

The Commonwealth Cinder lives in is threatened by a mysterious and devastating plague and also the danger of war from the powerful Lunar colony.  I couldn't get enough of all the twists and turns in the story as Cinder and Kai each deal with these threats, and the mystery of how this plague came to the Commonwealth and what Prince Kai could possibly do to discourage the Lunar Queen's plan.  The plot is relentless and keeps building on the world and the culture as it progresses.  The richness of the plot, characters and world absolutely captivated me!  The denouement was very exciting as well - with some interesting alterations to the normal Cinderella at the Ball scene.  I very much adored this highly imaginative fairy tale revision, and eagerly look forward to picking up the sequel!

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16 comments:

  1. I'll definitely be reading this series once it's complete!

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    1. It would be nice to read this series back to back! But I guess it's not so bad for me since I only have to wait for one more book in the series. :) I look forward to reading your thoughts on it when you do read it!

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  2. Reading your review just makes me realize I need to move this book further up my TBR pile. I have heard sooo many good things about it. I remember when it came out I knew then I would be interested in reading it.

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    1. I was in the same situation as you I think - knowing people loved it, but not getting to it. Fortunately Paola from A Novel Idea gave me a copy, so I finally went ahead and read it! :D

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  3. Oh yay! I'm always excited when someone else reads and loves this book. I liked it so much! It was just so original. I can't wait to get my hands on Cress :)

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    1. Same for me... though I need to read Scarlet first! :D I'm glad you liked it too though! I have to go look for your review!

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  4. Been meaning to read this for ages.
    Will have to push it up my list :)

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    1. Definitely! I made the mistake of reading this too late! :)

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  5. WHEE! I'm so excited you loved this! How Marissa weaves the fairy tales into her larger narrative is just fantastic and her world-building only gets better in my opinion. It's so crazy because there's just so much going on, and yet it's not confusing. I can't wait for you to read Scarlet and Cress! Great review Charlene!!:)

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    1. Oh I'm just starting Scarlet today! I am glad the world-building expands in these books because I am very curious to know more about it! And I hope to read Cress soon!

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  6. So glad you loved it and that you're getting into the series! Cress is on its way to my house and I can't wait to start reading it!

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    1. Oh lucky! I have to wait to read Cress after I finish Scarlet, but I will get to it as soon as I can! I'm already really loving Scarlet!

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  7. Wow, I'm so glad an amazing person bought you this book for Christmas... hint hint hint hint hint

    And I'm really, REALLY glad you loved it as much as I did!!

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    1. LOL I'm really grateful to that awesome and amazing person for the push to read it!! :D I should have listened to her a long time ago!!

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  8. Ahh I LOVE this series SO much..and Scarlet is fantastic..so is Cress, about half way through..it is really hard to maintain the quality of writing throughout a long series but Marissa Meyer totally has managed to make every book feel like the first one..she is SO inventive and I think she is smart in how she adapts the fairy tales.

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    1. I completely agree, the planning for the whole series seems to be really intricate! I was so impressed when I read that Cress is a character we met in the first book! I normally don't like long YA series but I wish Marissa Meyer would write more of The Lunar Chronicles!

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