Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Monday, January 16, 2012
Cinder by Marissa Meyer (1/3/12, Feiwel & Friends)
Book challenge: 2012 Debut Author Challenge
FTC: purchased e-book
Rating: 4 purrs
Summary from Goodreads:
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.
Review:
What a cool idea for a fairy tale retelling! I've been anxious to get my hands on Cinder ever since I first heard about it months ago. I'm excited to be using it as my first 2012 Debut Author Challenge review. I'm pleased to say, that Cinder (mostly) lived up to all of the hype.
I liked Cinder as a character. I felt sorry for her because of all the horrible thing she has to endure at the hand of her step mother. I was able to relate to Cinder as a character and I truly felt that I was experiencing everything that she was. I might not have cybernetic limbs but I felt like a cyborg for a while. I would get angry when Cinder got angry and would feel like crying when Cinder couldn't. My favorite secondary character by leaps and bounds was Iko. I never imagined that I could fall in love with a robot but OMG I did. She was just so cute and funny. I need an Iko of my own. I liked the princess as well even if he was a tad boring. Cinder's step-mother pissed me off so many times. It's amazing that I didn't throw my Kindle across the room. What a witch with a B!
The Lunar people were just plain creepy. It's really scary to think of evil people like the queen looking down on earth from the moon. The queen was so spooky. I kept expecting her to shout "off with their heads!" I thought that is cool that the Lunars had magical abilities but I think that there should have been a more scientific explanation for their powers. Maybe there will be in the next book.
I thought that the plot was nicely paced. There is a lot of action and the story never really lags. I liked the setting as well but I would have like to know more about New Beijing. I never felt like the setting was as real as the characters were. Cinder could have taken place in NYC for all I noticed. Maybe if we had more info about the history of New Beijing, or more descriptive details, I would feel differently.
There were a few other things that led to my a 4 purr review. I saw all of the plot twists coming a mile away. You can pretty much figure out what and who Cinder is by page 50. This really took a lot of steam out of the ending. The ending itself was also another problem. I was subjected to yet another dystopian ya cliffhanger ending. I would have like to see some thing wrapped up by the end of Cinder. *sigh*
Overall, I enjoyed Cinder quite a bit despite some of the issues I had with it. The characters were engaging enough and the plot exciting enough (even with the practicability factor) to warrant a 4 purr rating. Unlike a lot of the ya dystopian books I've read lately I WILL be reading the Cinder sequel. I'm actually interested in seeing what is going to happen next.
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January 16, 2012 9:19 PM
I agree with you on the predictability and the ending. Those were the only issues I really had with this one. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series! :)