Review: ‘Cinder’ by Marissa Meyer

First post ahoy!

And what better way to start than with the most classic of all book blog posts – a book review!

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.

This summer, when I first picked up Cinder – or rather, the kindle on which I was about to read it – I was a bit apprehensive about starting a new sci-fi/fantasy series. This was because, in the past year, I had come to the dangerous and incorrect conclusion that sci-fi or fantasy were ‘just not my thing’ (aside from Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, of course). But I’d come across this while scrolling through Goodreads, seen the glowing reviews and, being an absolute sucker for a good fairy-tale, had reluctantly allowed myself to re-enter this genre one more time. And boy, am I glad I did – because here I am, jumping on the Lunar Chronicles bandwagon about 4 years late!

I devoured this book. Seriously, I read this in, like, a day.

First off, I loved Cinder, our leading lady. I never knew I needed a cyborg Cinderella in my life until now. She was a really sympathetic and likeable character, not to mention a total badass – she’s a teenage cyborg and genius mechanic. I repeat: Teenage. Cyborg. Genius. Mechanic. Tell me that isn’t just the coolest. But this girl just couldn’t catch a break. Murphy’s law, anyone?

Not only that, but I actually really liked the romantic subplot, as I thought the interactions she had with Prince Kai *swoon* were incredibly sweet. I also liked that it was a SUBplot, balanced with a healthy dose of mind control, alien politics and robots.

One of my only qualms was that the setting of New Beijing wasn’t really explored or described as much as I would have liked it to be, as I had been interested to see how a futuristic China would look and function – however, I did find the setting refreshing, as this genre is usually very US-centric. Another small issue was that the ‘plot twist’ was a little predictable. I did actually really like it as development in the story, but the ‘big reveal’ could be seen coming from a mile off.

Although the writing itself wasn’t particularly flowery or sophisticated, the plot and pace had me hooked and I really connected with Cinder. Overall, it was an easy and gripping read and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next instalment!

– Min