Bookaholics book club: Cinder

12 Jan 2012

Cinder - Review

The Lunar chronicles book one.

Avaiable now.

What's it about?

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.
In this thrilling debut young adult novel, the first of a quartet, Marissa Meyer introduces readers to an unforgettable heroine and a masterfully crafted new world that’s enthralling.

My review
5/5
This book really is as different and awesome as it sounds! There are many, many... many retellings of Cinderella in both literature and television and this is one of the best ones I've seen, well read. Whilst it has the outline of the original tale it also has completely new and unique twists, to remake the classic for the technological generation.
I was hooked into the story straight away and struggled to put the book down until I was finished, Cinder is instantly likeable, she knows she's a second-class citizen with no rights because she's a cyborg and whilst this bothers her, she accepts it and gets on with her life. She's treated horribly by her stepmother and stepsister which really made me feel bad for her, but she does have a friend in her younger stepsister Peony and Iko, the familys android, so she's not completely alone. All the way through I was hoping, not just for her happy ever after, but for her to be treated like a human because she is one, she has a prosthetic foot and hand but she still has emotions and deserves rights and I was outraged by the way she was treated, like I would be were she a real friend.
Although in it much less Peony is another really likeable character that had my emotions all over the place and then there was prince charming himself Kai, who is humble enough to admit he's not sure he's ready to be King, he's not sure if he can solve the problems of the commonwealth but he'll do anything he has to for his people, all of which were traits that made him even more endearing.
The book is split into four parts and at the start of each part is a little snippet from the original tale which I thought was a lovely little extra touch to the book, honestly I have no bad things to say about this book, I just loved everything about it, the characters, the story, the writing, the twists and turns that had me gasping audibly. Seriously I'm not even sure I can even use the right words to explain how much I loved it lol but I did!

My thoughts on the cover
I have total cover love for this! I love how it has the traditionall glass slipper, but it's red, and of course the metal work in the leg is real cool. And the old style of the font looks like something from a fairy tale, so it really blends in old and new, it's just awesome!

Favourite quotes

"You won't." She itched to reach out to him, but held back, wringing her hands. "You're going to be one of those emperors that everyone loves and admires."

'She smiled up at him, but it was short-lived. A single blissful moment of pretend.'