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 elvinagb on

4 of 5 stars

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This has been on my shelf for a while and after getting an ARC of Cress (Book 3 in this series) from Marissa Meyer I got my act together and started reading.
I liked the story line, and although she has borrowed from the traditional Cinderella fairy tale, this story has it's own world with political intrigue, plague and history.
I liked that the main character, Cinder, when being flirted to by Kai (with some very snappy dialogue), does not flirt back. She has lived a life that has not given her that skill and I'm glad the Meyer has written her that way. It made me giggle when the Queen of what is now the British Isles is named "Queen Camilla". Too funny.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 30 October, 2013: Finished reading
  • 30 October, 2013: Reviewed