Title: Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
# Of Pages: 390
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publication Date: January 3, 2012
Level: Young Adult
Rating: 3 Hearts
Synopsis
(From Amazon.com)
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.
My Verdict
I love fairy tales and I was excited about a fairy tale re-telling. I’ve only read one other retelling and I wasn’t to impressed, but I had heard so much about this one I thought for sure I would love it. Cinder was nothing like I expected and unfortunately I found it to be quite a let down.
This book was more sci- fi than dystopian, in my opinion. Cyborgs, robots, net screens, hover crafts, ID chips implanted in everyones wrists. It wasn’t like a plausible future world, it was a completely out there world.
The author stayed true to the most basic aspects of the fairytale, evil stepmother, two step sisters, they all treat her like dirt and make her do all the work, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end.
About ninety pages into this I still wasn’t into it and I never really got into it until the last 50 pages or so. The only thing that kept me reading was Prince Kai. He was definitely my favorite character. As soon as he meets Cinder for the first time he is drawn to her. I loved the interactions between the two of them. Unlike all the other girls, Cinder doesn’t drool all over him but rather treats him like any other person. She is completely blunt with him and the banter between the two of them always made me smile.
This is book one of the Lunar Chronicles, which I knew, but I was under the impression that each book was a re-telling of a different tale and each could stand on its own. I fully expected Cinder’s story to wrap up by the end, so when I read the last page and nothing had been resolved I was so mad. But I guess that was my own fault.
It's so weird--I was hearing so many good things about this book but recently I have been hearing more middle of the road reviews. Maybe there will be more sparks in the future installments? Are you planning to continue with the series?
ReplyDeleteShanan
http://thebookaddictnet.blogspot.com/
Hi Shanan, because of the unresolved ending I do plan on reading the next book to see what happens. Depending on whether or not I enjoy that one better will decide if I continue any farther into the series after that.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed you kept reading. That's above and beyond the call of dute. I read three of your posts. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI love fairytales too and I'm a big fan of Marissa Meyer so it was disappointing when I wasn't into this book like everyone else was! I kept on waiting for it to get better or more exciting but it never really did for me. I hope it gets better with the next books though because these series definitely have potential!
ReplyDeleteOoh, I have to disagree, I gave this one 5/5 stars. Still, I can see your point, and it definitely wasn't for everyone.
ReplyDelete