Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1)

by Marissa Meyer

[ibeforem]

Cinder is a retelling of Cinderella set in a future dystopian backdrop. What particularly make it stand out is that the Cinder of this story is not a young girl, but a cyborg in a world that doesn’t see cyborgs as equal to humans. I really enjoyed the story, and it sucked me in from the start.

The nice thing about this retelling is it hits all the beats of the original without being a point-by-point copy. The inspiration is obvious — there’s a charming prince, and an evil stepmother, and even a pumpkin (of sorts) — but there’s enough divergence to make it interesting. For one, Cinder isn’t in it for love, and she has much more influence on her story than the Cinderella of old.

The setting was a little unexpected. Not so much the dystopian part, or the problem of the plague, but it being set in a future China. Even though you learn early on where they are, there’s not a lot in the story where it matters. There are some Chinese names, but ultimately they could be in any nondescript city. I wish there had been a little more emphasis on the culture so it did matter.

Overall, this was a quick and enjoyable read. The ending leaves some questions unanswered, so I definitely plan to continue the series.