review; cinder

Cinder
by Marissa Meyer

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:

I had seen the cover of this novel on tumblr a few times over the last year, and while it seemed different, maybe something I would enjoy, I kept putting off actually looking it up until one of the blogs I follow posted a scene from the upcoming Cress and – that was it, I knew I had to read it.

And I am so glad I did. I love fantasy novels, I think all my past reviews can attest to that. I love fairytales, my love for Once Upon A TIme can attest to that. And then there’s science-fiction. I grew up on Star Wars and finally saw and fell in love with Firefly and – combine all three into a well-written package, mix well, add some drama and romance? I was hooked from the first page.

Not only is Cinder extremely well-written, it is also extremely intelligent. It keeps to the core of the fairytale in having Cinder in a hopeless situation and with barely any allies, but still a somewhat positive outlook on life. She is strong and capable and smart, and fully determined to find a way to take control of her own life. Her first meeting with the Prince is charming (heh, see what I did there?) and entertaining, and every character is fleshed out smartly that you feel for them, even the ones you are not sure you are supposed to like. (Evil stepmother, evil stepsister number 1, for example.)

I finished the novel in three days while I was out of town. The only reason it took so long was because I had to put the book down to sleep. I only had time to read at night, after long days of shopping, and having to wake up early in the morning meant having to actually sleep. If not for that, I am pretty sure I would have finished it in a night.

(I was livetweeting the book as I read because I had too many feelings that I could not supress and no access to my laptop to actually write down this review.)

The twists and turns taken in the book – from the plague threatening the country and it’s effects and causes, to the Lunars and whether they are a threat as a whole or if it is just the Queen who is a threat, to missing royalty and what it means for a cyborg girl to love – it is all handled gracefully.

I had accidentally spoiled myself for one of the twists, but reading the novel, I found that it did not matter because it is pretty obvious if one knows what to look for. I will not spoil it here, but I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next and when that twist would be revealed.

It was difficult to wait the few days before I got home to get my hands on the sequel. The rollercoaster of emotions this fairytale took me on would not settle, still have not settled. It was a wonderful mishmash of traditional fairytale with futuristic elements and Marissa Meyer wove a wonderful world into which I loved to immerse myself.