Cinder by Marissa Meyer

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.

Reviewed by readingwithwrin on

5 of 5 stars

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“Even in the Future the Story Begins with Once Upon a Time.”



Cinder is a mechanic who is in the care of her horrible adopted mother and siblings after her adopted father died suddenly from the virus that is becoming a huge problem in the commonwealth.

She is forced to work, in order for the rest of them to live high and she gets hardly anything in return. Very similar to the original fairytale I believe. Of course, this one is different though because Cinder is a cyborg and the world that they all live in now has gone through four world wars. Royal monarchs are still around are in charge of whole commonwealths now.

Cinder does end up meeting with the prince in a very different way than the story we all know though. This prince needs help in repairing something very dear to him. This prince though thankfully isn't full of himself and is actually mostly respectful of Cinder's wishes.



“He was the fantasy of every girl in the country. He was so far out of realm, her world, that she should have stopped thinking about him the second the door had closed. Should stop thinking about him immediately. Should never think about him again, except maybe as a client--and her prince.

And yet, the memory of his fingers against her skin refused to fade.”

Tragedy's end up happening to both Cinder and the prince's families that bring them closure together and far apart all at the same time.

Overall I loved this book. Which was surprising to me as I normally don't like fairytales or fairytale retellings in general. This one worked for me though. Not only do we have Cinder who is part human and part cyborg but we also have her robot friend that is hilarious and get Cinder to stop being so cynical and to dream for a change. Cinder's level of sarcasm when it came to dealing with her cyborg-ness was pretty funny.

Obviously like others have already stated this book deals with the world building and giving us the information to know what's been happening. In the next book, I'm hoping more is explained about the Lunar Queen and how that ended up happening, as well as the cyborgs being a thing.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 7 July, 2017: Finished reading
  • 7 July, 2017: Reviewed