This was originally posted on my personal book blog In Wonderland
Title: Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles, #1
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends- Hardcover; Square Fish- Paperback (an imprint of Macmillan)
Release Date: January 3, 2012
Source: Paperback, 387 pages
Average Rating: 4.06
Challenge: 2013 Page Challenge
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…Sixteen-year-old Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past and is reviled by her stepmother. 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. Because there is something unusual about Cinder, something that others would kill for.
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First Lines:
“The screw through Cinder’s ankle had rusted, the engraved cross marks worn to a mangled circle. Her knuckles ached from forcing the screwdriver into the joint as she struggled to loosen the screw one gritting twist after another.”
My Thoughts:
I loved this book! So much! I didn’t think I was going to like it as much as I did. I was a little weary to start this book, but I am so glad that my collaborative book bloggers pushed me to read because our buddy reads for the month of April is Scarlet, which is the second installment to this series.
So, what can I say about Cinder? Cinder is a cyborg. It takes place in the future, way in the future, approximately 126 years after WWIV, yes, that’s right, World War 4! Since we haven’t had a WWIII yet, and considering how long it has been since the last WW, you can only imagine how far into the future this is. So, that being said, androids/cyborgs should be common. There are hovercrafts and people living on the moon. Whoever said that this is a twist between the Cinderella fairy tale, The Terminator, and Star Wars, was exactly right. I couldn’t explain it any better even if I tried.
So, let’s get down to it. Cinder, I thought it was spectacular. Ingenious really. Painstakingly beautiful; it kept me holding on to the edge of my seat. I barely got any sleep because I just kept wanting to know what was going to happen next. I literally could not put the book down.
The characters. Let’s see, Cinder was a sarcastic, smart, kickass heroine. I loved her as a character. Iko, one of my favorite characters ever! She’s hilarious and I want her as my android and my friend! Peony, I wanted her as my sister. Kai… oh, what can I say about this dreamy heartthrob? Adri, hated her, with a passion; however, she fit the bill as evil stepmother perfectly. Same with Cinder’s other stepsister, Pearl. What a bitch (excuse my language). And last but not least, Queen Lavena. The Lunar Queen, biggest bitch in the galaxy. Killing off her own family just so that she could take the throne, bitch please. The fact that she has “auburn” hair, we all know that means a reddish brown color. We all know my love for redheaded women. Just so the literary world knows, us redheads are not all evil, contrary to what people thought in the medieval times. I kind of went on a rant to some of my bookish friends about that, but oh well, I got over it as soon as I found out that Scarlet (a character in the second installment) has red hair, and she’s a good guy!
I took a risk reading this book. When I first heard about it, I was weary. I put it on my TBR list but it wasn’t something I was going to be reading right away. Cinderella retellings are SO popular and with it being so science fiction-y, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. Even though two of my favorite shows ever are Sci-fi (Warehouse 13 and Eureka). I cannot stress to you how much I LOVED this book!! You should definitely at the very least give it a try. I’m so glad I did and now I’m going to go straight and read Scarlet and dive back into the wonderful world Marissa built!
Memorable Quotes:
“Cinder jerked, her head smacking the underside of the table. She shoved back from the desk, her scowl landing first on a lifeless android that sat squat on her worktable and then on the man behind it. She was met with startled copper-brown eyes and black hair that hung past his ears and lips that every girl in the country had admired a thousand times.” Pg. 6
“Instead of answering, the prince bent down, craning his neck so that she had no choice but to meet his eyes, and dashed a grin at her. Her heart winced.” Pg. 8
“’Then my only mistake was in waiting too long to be rid of you,’ Adri said, running the washcloth between her fingers. ‘Believe me, Cinder. You are a sacrifice I will never regret.’” Pg. 67
“It has been five years since you became a part of this household, Cinder. Five years since Garan left you to me. I still don’t know what made him do it, don’t know why he felt obligated to travel to Europe, of all places, to find some…mutant to take care of. He never explained it to me. Perhaps he would have someday. But I never wanted you. You know that.” Pg. 64
“’Yeah, well.’ Cinder pinched her metal fingers with the pliers’ nose. ‘We all have our weaknesses.’
‘I know,’ said Iko. ‘Mine is shoes.’” Pg. 193
About the Author: (From her website)
One of my first spoken words was “story” (right along with “bath” and “cookie”), my favorite toy as an infant was a soft, squishable book, and I’ve wanted to be a writer since I first realized such a job existed.When I was fourteen my best friend introduced me to anime and fanfiction—over the years I would complete over forty Sailor Moon fanfics under the penname Alicia Blade. Those so inclined can still find my first stories at fanfiction.net. Writing fanfic turned out to be awesome fun and brought me in contact with an amazing group of fanfiction readers and writers. As Alicia Blade, I also had a novelette, “The Phantom of Linkshire Manor,” published in the gothic romance anthology Bound in Skin (CatsCurious Press, 2007).When I was sixteen I worked at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Tacoma, Washington, affectionately termed “The Spag.” (Random factoid: This is also the restaurant where my parents met some 25 years before.) I attended Pacific Lutheran University where I sorted mail that came to the dorm, carted tables and chairs around campus, and took writing classes, eventually earning a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and Children’s Literature. Knowing I wanted a career in books, I would also go on to receive a Master’s degree in Publishing from Pace University (which you can learn more about here). After graduation, I worked as an editor in Seattle for a while before becoming a freelance typesetter and proofreader.Then, day of days, someone thought it would be a good idea to give me a book deal, so I became a full-time writer. CINDER is my first novel, though I have an adorable collection of unfinished ones lying around too.I now live with my husband and our three cats (Calexandria Josephine, Stormus Enormous, and Blackland Rockwell III), who go in and out, in and out, about eight hundred times a day. My favorite non-bookish things include Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, re-watching episodes of Firefly, and playing all manners of dress-up.
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