{Review} Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder
by Marissa Meyer
Series: Lunar Chronicles #1
Pages: 387 (paperback edition)
Release Date: January 8, 2013 (paperback edition)
by Square Fish (an imprint of Macmillan)

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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.

Having never read an alien book before this one, I was kind of apprehensive about reading this book because aliens don’t really appeal to me.  There was a lot of hype surrounding this book so I decided to give it a go afterall and ended up really enjoying it.  The writing was very good and engaging, an I loved how Meyer got right into the story.  The setting was very unique and the world building was amazing.  The idea for the society was very good and the explanation for the society was very well done.  I loved the humor at the beginning of the book and the staging and story line was very interesting.  The ending was just wow wow wow crazy!  Oh and just so you guys know, I TOTALLY GUESSED  the big twist at like 100 pages in.  [SPOILER: I knew there was a reason for Meyer to mention the long-lost-princess-of-an-alien-planet-that-was-supposed-to-be-dead-but-could-still-be-alive.  I just knew it.  It was really obvious staging, if I’m honest.  But I still enjoyed finding out if I was right.  Some of the twists I didn’t see coming though.  One was Cinder being Lunar.  Once I found that out I just knew she was the princess.  And then there was Doctor Erland being Lunar which completely blindsided me, and the staging for that was awesome.  It was when Cinder first came to the lab and she was going to hit him with a wrench but something stopped her, and I totally didn’t think about it again until the twist happened and then I was like “Ooohhhhhhh” so perks to Meyer for that one.  But, back to Cinder being Princess Selene, I was literally screaming at my book for it to just say what I already knew, that Cinder was the princess, and when it was finally confirmed I was like yelling and jumping around and yeah I was crazy.  I also guessed about the car crash actually being the fire haha. ] I’m just so freaking smart ;P

I kind of had a love/hate relationship with the characters in this book.  Cinder I really loved.  Her spunk and attitude and drive and strength made her a really great main character.  Kai...eh.  He was kind of an okay character, and it was really adorable to watch him fall for Cinder when he didn’t even realize it was happening.  But to be honest there was nothing amazing about him as the love interest.

Who on earth would have guessed that you could combine Cinderella, cyborgs, and aliens and make a cool book?  Well obviously Marissa Meyer did, and it was a pretty good book, and definitely one of the best ideas I’ve seen for a story in a while.  Can’t wait to read the sequel!!

4 pink flowers


What did you guys think of this book?  Leave your thoughts in a comment and we'll have a discussion! :)