Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1)

by Marissa Meyer

Sixteen-year-old Cinder is considered a technological mistake by most of society and a burden by her stepmother. Being cyborg does have its benefits, though: Cinder's brain interface has given her an uncanny ability to fix things (robots, hovers, her own malfunctioning parts), making her the best mechanic in New Beijing. This reputation brings Prince Kai himself to her weekly market booth, needing her to repair a broken android before the annual ball. He jokingly calls it “a matter of national security,” but Cinder suspects it's more serious than he's letting on.

Although eager to impress the prince, Cinder's intentions are derailed when her younger stepsister, and only human friend, is infected with the fatal plague that's been devastating Earth for a decade. Blaming Cinder for her daughter's illness, Cinder's stepmother volunteers her body for plague research, an “honor” that no one has survived.

But it doesn't take long for the scientists to discover something unusual about their new guinea pig. Something others would kill for.

• ISBN10: 0312641893
• ISBN13: 9780312641894
• Publish Date: 3 January 2012
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Feiwel & Friends
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[Mad Soul Child]

Наконец то достойная вещь! Уже изнемогаю как хочу прочесть Красную Шапочку. Я ну вообще не люблю киберпанки и стимпанки или около того, и если бы не обложка и бешшшная популярность серии точно бы брать не стала. Но спасибо Господи за возможность, аминь, не пожалела.

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

I’ve had Cinder on my shelf for a couple years now, and I was so pleased when it popped out of the TBR Jar, because I’ve heard such good things about it. I’m not a huge fan of Cinderella, but curiosity always gets the better of me when it comes to hyped books, and anyway, I really like that cover.

Somehow, I didn’t put together that if I loved the referential nuances and beautiful writing in Heartless, I would feel the same about Cinder.

Marissa Meyer is truly a retelling queen. She has a way of taking the perfect balance of the original story elements and her own creative ideas and blending them in such a way that her stories are both familiar and engrossing. I know there’s so much more to her library than I’ve read so far, but I’m really looking forward to more.

Linh-Cinder is a mechanic in New Beijing. She’s a cyborg and was adopted by the Linh family when she was young… only to lose her adoptive father shortly thereafter to letumosis. Like in the original Cinderella story, she’s left with an insufferable stepmother and two stepsisters. In Cinder, only one stepsister is insufferable… Peony is immediately loveable and sweet and perfect. It takes skills to fall in love with a character who has so little screen time, but with Peony, you can’t help but adore her. Which makes the rest of the story so urgent.

The urgency of letumosis moves the story along, as well as the pressure of Queen Levana of the Lunars pressing her own agenda. I have some mixed feelings about the romantic relationship (or, lack thereof?) between Cinder and Prince Kai, but I also get the feeling that development there has only begun, so I’m waiting to see what will or won’t happen in Scarlet now that we know who Cinder is and what she must do.

While the world here is just shy a dystopian future, it doesn’t quite have the same tired structure. As far as worldbuilding, I kept thinking of San Fransokyo from Big Hero Six, and I really loved that this wasn’t another book set in New York or London or Rome. Not that I don’t love those cities, but the new setting was refreshing. Marissa Meyer excels in providing information without info dumping. Her writing style pulls me in without ever boring me, so I flew through this book and am looking forward to Scarlet!

[vagasker]

Just as good the second time! I can't wait to devour the series in one go these coming months! (I never read the last book so I have high hopes)

[Steph L]

I would rate higher than 5 stars if I could. Thos won't go in.my Book Riot reading Journal because I started it in 2019. I say this a lot, but I'm not a fast reader. The readers that finish one or more books a week isn't me. I was so captivated by this story, I didn't want it to end until I knew I could start Scarlet right away.

Plot-5/5

Everyone knows Cinderella, so why would I rate the plot 5 stars right? Well, this was a new take and I loved it. The last ten pages are especially clever and creative.

Writing 5/5

I love Marissa Meyer's writing so much. The prose was well written and vivid. The writing was perfect for the story.

Characters 5/5

What most captived me was the characters. Cinder was awsome and a badass. I love her and I can't wait to continue her story. Levana is a textbook villain and she is a perfectly done villain.

[Emma (SCR)]

This review was originally posted on Star Crossed Reviews I love a retelling and I have heard lots about this series. Thankfully this did not disappoint.

This book is set in the future, in New Beijing. A fourth world war has happened and we are now in peace times, well at least between the countries on Earth. Yes not everyone lives on earth. There are people living on the Moon. They are called Lunars. The Queen of Lunar is not content with Lunar and wants to take over earth too.

Cinder is a mechanic. She's also a cyborg. In this world, cyborgs are treated like second class citizens. Cinder lives with her step-mum and stepsisters. I really like Cinder. She is intelligent, spunky and determined. She's a great main character.

I also really liked Kai. While he was a Prince he was very down to earth and knows his own mind. I was very impressed with him and the way he handled himself.

I also loved the androids in this book. Nancy and Ico are such unique characters! I loved both of them but we did get to see more of Ico so I may be biased when I say she was my favourite.

There are so many things I loved about this book but it's hard to talk about this book without giving away spoilers but it was SO good! I raced through this book and couldn't wait to start the next one! I can't recommend it highly enough.

[Leah]

Wow, what a fantastic read. I bought the Lunar Chronicles books on a whim, one Black Friday a few years ago, but they've been on my shelf ever since, but all I can ask myself is WHY? Because Cinder was incredible.

A re-telling of Cinderella but she's a mechanic cyborg?! Hell yes. I loved Cinder so much, and I hated her guardian so much, ugh. I loved her little flirtation with Prince Kai and I am so excited to see where the novels go in the next few books - so much so that I plan to dive into Scarlet immediately, I love a good little red riding hood re-telling.

This was a magnificent read and I'm kicking myself for not having read it sooner.

[Laurie]

I decided to re-read the entire series, and I still love it as much as the first time!

[lauriesbookshelf]

I decided to re-read the entire series, and I still love it as much as the first time!

[alindstadtcorbeax]

Star Rating: 3.5 stars
I really enjoyed/liked the book, but didn’t LOVE it.
I did, however, absolutely adore/ love certain aspects of it.
Reasons/ Review PROBABLY to come, lol.

I say PROBABLY bc of this vvv

Mother of Good God.

I just wrote a super ‘wow look at me I’m so adulting rn with this adult, mature, adult, detailed review’ review, but it got deleted bc GR glitched.

THEN I wrote a detailed-ish mini review... which of course suffered the same fate due to GR glitching again.
I give up for now, man. Sorry guys.

I have strep throat and I’m so angry I would like to scream as loud as I can into my pillow BUT I CANT BC I HAVE NO VOICE.

😭😭😭
I even wrote a cheesy joke involving various drawing tools and being sketchy AF.
HOW WILL YOU GUYS LIVE ON WITHOUT IT?!


Okay RTC when I don’t feel like I’ve gone completely bat shit. I feel like Lois from family Guy when she loses her shit haha.



😃🦇🤷🏼‍♀️

On to Scarlet!

[Stephanie]

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a Chapter



Cinder by Marissa Meyer is another long overdue book that I was prompted to read for COYER. (This one was purchased over 6 years ago!) I get nervous about books that receive a lot of hype. What if I'm the one who doesn't like it? I've never been good at being an island unto my own. I don't know why I was nervous. I loved it!

I was definitely hesitant about reading a cyborg-Cinderella retelling. For me to enjoy it, in my own opinion, would be a tall order. Meyer handled it effortlessly. She immediately won me over with her sense of humor. She also kept her story simple enough to follow but complicated enough to still be fascinating.

I was a little disappointed to have one of the major plot points figure out just a few chapters in but I also feel like I wasn't alone. It was kind of obvious (or I've read enough of these types of books to know it's coming). This wasn't a true fairy tale in the sense that not everything had a happy ending.

I was thrilled to learn that Scarlet was already in my Kindle library! I'll be continuing with the series for sure!