Book Review: 'Cinder' by Marissa Meyer

Where To Buy: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Author Website

Goodreads 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.

U.S., Italian, and Spanish covers

My Review: This was seriously the most creative twist on a fairytale! Wow. I've never been the biggest fan of Cinderella, mainly because I simply cannot handle how her stepmother and stepsisters treat her. The essence of the fairytale is very much present in this book, but there is so much more to it than just that. The cyborg take on it was a fabulous tangent. 

I really enjoyed the story as a whole, more so than the individual characters themselves. Cinder, Prince Kai, Peony, etc. were a great bunch of characters, but I honestly found myself looking more into what was going to happen to the people of Earth once the Lunar Queen Levana got hold of the earthly throne.

I got so angry with Adri and Pearl because there was simply NO justification for their treatment of Cinder. Jealousy, resentment, and plain old bitterness. Cinder was a firecracker of a character and I really enjoyed her interactions with everyone she came across -- Prince Kai, Adri, Pearl, Queen Levana, Dr. Erland, anyone. She was a spunky girl. Didn't take crap from anyone. Of course that attitude got her into more trouble than not, but I was really entertained.

What happened to Peony, the nicer stepsister who Cinder actually really loved, was an emotional experience. Especially since Cinder was SO close to being able to help her. But I think it motivated Cinder to do more than just focus on saving Peony. There were bigger problems at hand, especially after the chip inside of Kai's android was discovered and accessed.

Moving onto the nasty, but brilliantly written, Queen Levana. This witch is seriously the worst of the worst. She put Kai and the Commonwealth between a rock and a hard place and smiled while she did it. I found myself yelling at her in my head. The way that she can manipulate people into doing/seeing what she wants is a scary, scary thing.

The ball scene was an all over emotional MESS for me. I was happy, sad, angry, scared, anxious... everything! I just couldn't believe that everything Cinder experienced was really happening. It honestly read like a bad nightmare that she just needed to wake up from. I felt so bad for her. Especially with what Adri and Pearl did. And the situation/ultimatum that Kai was presented with, I felt my heartstrings tug. Although, once he found out what Cinder was, his reaction to it and his decision on how to handle it made me a little mad. I just don't know how to feel about Kai by the end of the book, to be honest. I DO feel it'll get better, though.

So, what I actually did see coming (and it still made my mouth drop) was when Dr. Erland came to Cinder and told her who and what she truly was. 

I'm happy that everything is finally out in the open, but now it begs the question -- now what?

And that's where book two comes in!

Rating: 5/5 stars!