Book of the Week #43 "Cinder"

Cinder

by Marissa Meyer

In futuristic New Beijing, there lives a cyborg who is the best mechanic in the city. Her name is Linh Cinder, and at the age of eleven, she was adopted by a man and his wife, who had two daughters of their own. Shortly after adopting Cinder, Linh Garan passed from the plague that now runs rampant, and Cinder is now slave to her step-mother, Linh Adri, and step-sisters, Linh Pearl and Linh Peony. She works on droids in a booth at the market to earn money for the household, her best friend, Iko, at her side, who is a droid that wants more than anything to be human. Amidst the plague that continues to claim lives, Prince Kai, son of the Emperor of the Easter Commonwealth, stops by Cinder's booth in hopes that she can fix the droid that has been his assistant most of his life. Expecting a male mechanic, Prince Kai is pleasantly surprised to find a pretty girl working on droids, who keeps her metal cyborg hand hidden beneath her gloves. The two come to know each other and Prince Kai invites Cinder to the ball. Knowing that cyborgs are despised creatures, and afraid of what might happen if anyone finds out, she declines. Yet when someone close to her succumbs to the plague and she is told to warn Prince Kai about Queen Levana's unsavory plans, Cinder must put herself at risk for the better of the world.

I have to admit, I really didn't take these books seriously when I first saw them. I thought they looked too much like the paranormal romance novels that pop up every day it seems, which admittedly is not my cup of tea. But once I actually took the time to find out what they were about, I became more interested. And then I noticed a lot of people whose opinions I respect raving about them. So when my library finally got the whole series in at once, I snatched up all four. And I'm glad I did. These books are really good. It's like Star Wars meets classic fairytales. So neat, right? Cinder's story is based off of Cinderella. Cinder is a very strong character. She's been through so much in her life that your heart really goes out to her, but she isn't the type to throw a pity party. She deals with everything that life throws at her, even if she isn't terribly graceful in the process. She's quite a sarcastic girl and I admire her wit. But without realizing it, she falls in love Prince Kai, yet she tries to hide it. Reading what she thinks of Prince Kai softens her and takes a bit of the edge off of her sarcasm. It really helps to round her out. And I love her friend Iko. She's so sweet and makes you laugh.

This series is jam packed with action, so it really keeps you on your toes and seems to go super-fast. But that's not the only reason you get sucked into these books; new twists pop up all the time. The ending of Cinder totally caught me by surprise. I'm not going to give it away, but I will say that you won't see it coming.

Cinder is a great start to The Lunar Chronicles, a series that fans of fast-paced, action filled Y/A will surely enjoy.

I give this book a 4 out of 5.