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 Amber (The Literary Phoenix) on

5 of 5 stars

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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!

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 23 May, 2020: Finished reading
  • 23 May, 2020: Reviewed