Book Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

***2012 Debut Author***
Reading Level: Young Adult
Publication Date: January 2012
Publisher: Macmillan / Feiwel and Friends
Pages: 387
Series: 1st in a 4 book series
Acquisition: NetGalley

Summary:

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. (from Goodreads)

My thoughts:
Take the story of Cinderella, add in some androids and cyborgs, a plague and oh, evil moon people trying to take over the world. Doesn't sound like it would work? Wrong! Cinder is all of these things and more and it's fantastic!

Somewhat dystopian, somewhat hard science fiction, Cinder tells the story of Cinder, a cyborg (part human part machine) living in New Beijing. Her life is not entirely her own as she is under the control and ownership of her stepmother who in true Cinderella fashion, pretty much hates her.

I really loved this retelling. It's unlike anything I've read in a long time and reminds me of the science fiction stories my father use to feed me as a kid. Cinder's world is amazing. The cyborgs and androids (fully robotic machines) were enough to keep me engaged but this story has so much more to it. There is tension and well done, not over the top romance. There's a scary as hell plague and a mysterious legacy that may hold the key to everything. And a lot more I'm not going to talk about because you should really just read it for yourself :)

Final verdict:
I pretty much loved this story from beginning to end. The first of 4 books that I'm pretty sure I will be devouring as soon as they hit the shelves! Marissa Meyer's debut is a fantastic science fiction / fairy tale retelling / dystopian explosion of awesomeness! I highly recommend this book to fans of these YA genres.

Overall Rating:

5 / 5 Stars

Books in the Lunar Chronicles:
#.5 Glitches - online prequel you can read HERE
#1 Cinder
#2 Scarlet (2013)
#3 Cress (2014)
#4 Winter (2015)

Linkage Love:
Author's blog
Goodreads
IndieBound