Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publication Date: Jan. 3, 2012
Pages: 387
Series: Lunar Chronicles, book one
Source: Audiobook for review from Macmillan Audio
About the Book: 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.
My Thoughts: As I mentioned yesterday I have always had a bit of an aversion to sci-fi books. When I first heard about Cinder I was interested in the fairy tale retelling aspect but the cyborg bit scared me a little. I just wasn’t sure that I could do it. Oh my stars* was I wrong! I was immediately caught up in the story. I wanted to know more about Cinder and the world she lived in. The experience was nothing like what I anticipated.
Everything about Cinder’s world captivated me. I found the technology fascinating… androids, cyborgs, communication devices, medical advances, hovers, basically everything! And the political situation! I loved learning about how the world was structured post World War Four AND considering life on the moon. When I say “political situation” it sounds kind of boring but trust me… it wasn’t!
There were parts of the story that I felt were pretty predictable. I figured some major things out early on and I was feeling pretty smug. Then I remembered… this is a retelling of Cinderella. Of course I figured some stuff out. I’ve only been reading/watching/hearing variations of the story since I can remember! What impressed me about this was that I forgot. The story was so unique and interesting that I got caught up in everything new. I didn’t feel like it was Cinderella recycled. This totally impressed me.
Cinder is a fabulous addition to fairy tale re-tellings. I loved this new twist on such a classic tale.
NOTE: The cover of this book freaks me out. It is painful. I mean, literally painful. I look at it and my ankle twitches. Also, it doesn’t really fit the book. It’s well done and everything but the shoe and the skin over the cyborg bit… not in the story!
*I cannot even tell you how much I loved the fact the the characters used, “Stars!” and “Oh my stars!” as exclamations. I say, “Oh my stars.” all the time and it was neat to see it somewhere else 🙂
Audiobook Notes: Rebecca Soler did a wonderful job with this audio. Her expressions and vocal variety really added to the story for me. The audiobook was eight discs but it seemed to just fly by! Listen to an excerpt here.
Giveaway:
Since Macmillan was so kind as to send me the audiobook I am passing it on to one lucky winner! Use the rafflecopter widget to enter. 13 years or older. US only. Ends 3/2/12
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