"Cinder" by Marissa Meyer

Title: Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Rating: 5 Stars
Source: Won In Giveaway

Synopsis:

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.

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My Thoughts

Cinder was an amazing retelling of Cinderella that will really blow you away!

Cinder is set in future China where Cinder a cyborg mechanic is used to all of the stares and disgusted looks of others, especially from her stepmother. One day she unexpectedly gets a visit from the prince who is looking for someone to repair his robot. Aside from the strange request and the fact that he was obviously hiding something Cinder really got along well with him and they soon became fast friends. Unfortunately things only got worse for Cinder after her sister fell sick with the new deadly disease that has been going around and her stepmother decided to send Cinder off to be used as a test subject for the royal doctors. The problem is no one ever comes back alive.

Cinder is a strong character that I really admired. I actually wish I was as strong as her. She loves her stepsister Peony who is her only human friend and her robot friend IKO. She didn’t have an easy life what with most of her family hating her and being a pariah because of the fact that she is a cyborg, but she was still hopeful about her future and was a true friend to those she was close too.

Kai was a very charming prince and what I loved most about his character was that he wasn’t one dimensional like his character is sometimes portrayed in other retellings. He has a sense of humor and even though he has problems he doesn’t let them completely take over his life. Kai was also very noble and kindhearted which really showed through when he was protecting the lives of his people. I really liked seeing the relationship between him and Cinder develop throughout the story.

IKO was most definitely one of my favorite characters in this book she is so silly and happy go lucky. It’s hard to feel sad whenever she is around. She was also a great friend to Cinder.

The sci-fi elements in this story were really interesting and I liked to see how they played a role in this futuristic world of Cinder’s. Even with all of the technological advancements of this world they still had celebrated old traditions like the festival which I felt made the story seem even more real and showed how even as time goes on human society still holds onto and remembers it’s routes.  My favorite quote from 

“Cinder” has to be “Even in the Future the Story Begins with Once Upon a Time.”

I highly recommend this book to readers of all ages it is simply amazing and I cannot wait until the next book comes out!