Thursday 7 February 2013

Book Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer ****


Published: January, 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
My Rating: 4 Stars


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



The premise for the story is just so inventive! Cinderella as a cyborg. The idea just blew me away and was so refreshing as at first I just though “oh it's another retelling of a fairytale.” There’s been quite a few of them recently. I also love how the fairytale and this story only seemed to lightly intertwine at parts rather than being constantly reminded of the stories origins as at times I completely forgot about Cinderella.
Cinder was just wow. I really digged that Meyer has made her in to a mechanic, she was intelligent without being a know it all, brave, resourceful and grounded and despite her evil stepmother and stepsister, she was loving towards Peony, her other stepsister and Iko her android. Iko is another amazing character, she has to be the most adorable and girliest android ever imagined and gifted quite a bit of humour to the tale. If I could ever have an android best friend, I’d pick her.
I enjoyed the setting of this book, set in the futuristic “New” Beijing of the Eastern Commonwealth though I wish the descriptions reflected more of the oriental setting therefore I felt it didn't meet its true potential. 
The love interest was an Asian Prince which was interesting as frankly Asian characters in books aren't very frequent. I really liked his character as despite being a prince he was really down to earth which made him really like-able and the romance between them wasn't all of a sudden nor was it juvenile.
Overall I did really love this book however I felt at times it was a bit predictable and could of been even greater if some of the elements of the book were expanded on. Nevertheless it was a invigorating read and I am impatient to read the next book as I'm sure this is going to be a brilliant series!
If you havn't, or even if you have read Cinder you should try the Prequel for free HERE.

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