BOOK REVIEW: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

BOOK REVIEW: Cinder by Marissa Meyer.

Feiwel & Friends
January 2012
Paperback, £5.99
Reviewed by Aly Locatelli

5.5/10

“Even in the Future the Story Begins with Once Upon a Time.”

Welcome to New Beijing, where a deadly plague is sweeping through the city, mercilessly taking new victims every day. The terrifying enemy, the lunar people, spy on them from above. Cyborgs and humans coexist, but cyborgs do not have the same rights as humans do, and are treated as the lowest form of beings possible, like slaves. Cinder, a gifted mechanic, works in the market fixing broken androids, her paycheck immediately going into her stepmother’s pocket, a woman who has loathed Cinder since her adoptive father died. One day, prince Kai comes to her for help — his android is broken, and he doesn’t know how to fix it. Unbeknownst to them, this one interaction will change their lives forever.

He was the fantasy of every girl in the country. He was so far out of realm, her world, that she should have stopped thinking about him the second the door had closed. Should stop thinking about him immediately. Should never think about him again, except maybe as a client – and her prince.
And yet, the memory of his fingers against her skin refused to fade.

Cinder, like every book, has its pros and cons. It started off strong: a brilliant spin on the Cinderella fairytale, funny, witty characters, and a plot with great twists.

The main problem was how the characters didn’t quite mesh well together. On their own, I found myself liking prince Kai and Cinder, but together, they were awkward, the conversations stilted, and there was hardly any chemistry to even see romance on the horizon. Cinderella is about true love, and so Cinder really needed chemistry between the two main characters for it to work. 

Kai cleared his throat. Stood straighter. “I assume you are going to the ball?”
“I-I don’t know. I mean, no. No, I’m sorry, I’m not going to the ball.”
Kai drew back, confused. “Oh well… but… maybe you would change your mind? Because I am, you know.”
“The prince.”
“Not bragging,” he said quickly. “Just a fact.”

Another con was how there was hardly any world-building or descriptions. Right off the bat, the reader is told about hovers, androids and cyborgs, but not how they came to be or what they look like, the Lunars and the growing animosity between the Earthens and them, but not how the Lunars came to live on the moon and how they became an enemy to the Earthens; the Fourth World War, but not why it happened. By the time the book wraps up, the reader is left with more questions than answers, and it gives the book the feeling of being incomplete, especially since Scarlet, the second book in the series, concentrates on a different set of characters.

However, it was fast paced and enjoyable and a very quick read.

(Book 1 of The Lunar Chronicles.)

Category: Book Reviews, Other Reviews