Book talk: Cinder can't believe her luck--the crowned prince at her stall seeking her mechanical expertise! It's the kind of encounter every girl in New Beijing, especially her step sisters, dreams of. And he chose to come on the day when she was missing a foot! Not that a prince would ever date a cyborg anyway. Still, the way he looked at her with those gorgeous eyes has helped her to understand her sisters' obsession a bit better. Both her and the prince have bigger problems to occupy their minds, though. The town is ravaged by a mysterious plague that the King himself has contracted and cyborgs are drafted for testing that is almost always fatal in order to find a cure. In the midst of the outbreak the mysterious Lunar Queen is threatening war unless her demands are met. And Cinder is poised to lose everyone she has ever trusted--including herself.
Rocks my socks: I'm a sucker for fairy tales retold and this is a particularly good one. It has enough familiar elements to serve as friendly signposts that impressed me with their ingenuity. Yet it didn't follow the story too closely so that I felt like I always knew what was about to happen. I love the theme of cyborg rights and what it means to be human (I'm currently working my way through TNG and am apt to burst into tears during any episode where they're mean to Data.) Cinder herself was a strong heroine as she does what she has to in order to protect herself and those she loves and I appreciated that she is a skilled mechanic as well. Prince Kai is a worthy love interest for her and goes beyond the bland prince charmings completely lacking personality so common in fairy tales.
Rocks in my socks: The big twist at the end was obvious to me so early on that it was a bit anticlimactic. I'd have appreciated a few less clues about it. The lunar queen seems two dimensional so far and obsessed with her beauty in a way that is cliche in female fairy tale villains, but I'm hoping that the next book in the series might flesh her out a bit more.
Every book its reader: I'd recommend this to fans of fairy-tales retold and fans of science fiction 6th grade and up. Fans of strong female heroines like Katniss will appreciate this reworking of the Cinderella story.
Extras:
Marissa Meyers has a livejournal blog with lots of extras
An official book trailer with impressive visuals but an unfortunate voiceover
Another book trailer with a peppy soundtrack made with animoto
A round up of this and other Cinderella re-tellings can be found at Pinal County Reads
Source: public library
Cinder by Marissa Meyer: buy it or check it out today!
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