{Review} Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Title: Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Series: Lunar Chronicles, #1
Release Date: January 3rd, 2012
Pages: 387 (ebook)
Source: Bought
Rating: ★★★★★

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, the 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.

Thoughts: I had an absolute blast reading this book.

I have to praise the book for its originality. I mean, a cyborg Cinderella in a dystopian world? You gotta give Marissa Meyer props for coming up with that. I personally loved the world she built, and I don't usually critique world building because I'm not really pro at it.

This is a Cinderella retelling, a.k.a. a fairy tale retelling, so I expected insta-love, since all the fairy tale retelling books I've read have it. Well, besides Beastly, I guess. But I was happy when there was none. The plot was very predictable, though, but it didn't bother me at all because I was busy having too much fun reading.

Now let's talk characters. Cinder was an awesome protagonist. She can't cry or blush, and that helps. Like, she literally can't do both of those things. She wasn't programmed to. I also love that she's so strong and determined. There was no fairy godmother here to help her go to the ball. She did shit herself and refused to back down.

Prince Kai. Even mentioning his name makes me swoon. I don't know what it is about him. He isn't that different from most heroes in YA, but something about him just makes me all swoony and fluttery inside and stuff. <3 

There were chapters where it's from his POV, which was nice. Don't get too excited, though. This book is wholly in third person, which by the way, I was actually thankful for. I always prefer first person, but I don't think that would've suited this book.

The side characters I also loved. There was this one scene─I don't know if this is a spoiler or not─where Cinder gets a comm from a girl who I recognized immediately as the Rapunzel in this story. She didn't mention her name, but I'm assuming it's Cress. :D See the blurb for the third book, Cress, over at Goodreads. You'll understand.

And holy crap, I had a friggin' blast reading this book. I always love books that are fun to read and never make it seem like a chore to finish it.  I'm only angry at this book because the ending left me begging for more. And the blurbs for the rest of the books in the series don't help, because they make it seem like this series will be a ride filled with awesomeness. The fact that I have to wait til next year to read the sequel kills me. :c

I strongly recommend this book to you if you want an awesome dystopian fairy tale retelling with great characters. And you might even have as much fun reading it as I did. :]

Careful, though. There is a cliffhanger, and the sequel comes out next year. ._. I suggest you read it when the sequel is closer to its release, if you don't think you'd have the patience. I don't, but I wasn't prepared for that cliffhanger.