Author: Marissa Meyer
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #1
Genres: Sci-Fi, Dystopian
Publication/Year: Feiwel & Friends • 2012
Page Numbers: 280
Synopsis from Goodreads:
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.My Rating: ★★★★★
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.
Quote(s) I Like:
"Prince Kai! Check my fan, I think I'm overheating." - Iko
"Oh, now you want to talk. I was under the impression you didn't care too much about the opinions of your guinea pigs." - Cinder
"I have a plan. My plan is to not marry her. Diplomacy be damned. There. End of discussion." - Prince Kai
"Absolutely not. Having a mental breakdown is not on my list of things to do today." - Iko
My Thoughts:
Cinder is a marvelous take of the classic fairy-tale Cinderella. Marissa Meyer has taken a classic and added a twist with a dose of dystopian, sci-fi, cyborgs and secrets. Not sure what took me so long in starting this series, but I'm glad I have.
Cinder follows young Cinder and her journey as a cyborg living in New Beijing during the plague under the care of her cold hearted stepmother Adri. Along with her stepmother she lives with Iko, the family's android, and her two stepsisters Pearl (oldest and mean) and Peony (youngest and sweet).
Cinder has to learn to deal with the many struggles that come her way, but the few things she has to look forward to are: working as the best female and young mechanic in New Beijing, her fun baby sister Peony and her best friend Iko.
Being the best mechanic she gets to come in contact with Prince Kai. Prince Kai came to her for help with his android Nansi. In the midst of getting help and talking with Cinder, Prince Kai has to deal with his father Emperor Rikan being sick with the plague, letumosis, and dying slowly. To top it all off he has to deal with Queen Levana of the Lunars.
Queen Levana is an evil, ugly person from the moon or Luna. She has developed a cure for the plague, but she only plans to give more if Prince Kai marries her to make an alliance. Her goal: become empress, kill Kai and wage war with Earth.
To help with efforts to finding a cure for the plague, Dr. Erland develops the cyborg draft but his only goal, as well as Prince Kai's: find the missing Princess Selene so she can become Queen and have Levana "overthrown". He does find her, but keeps from telling her until its close to being too late.
During the time Emperor Rikan dies, Levana decides to visit to try and convince Kai to marry her to save his people because the main ingredient in the cure is from Luna sadly. In the midst of her being on earth, Levana sees Cinder and becomes irritable about it.
In the end, we find out who Princess Selene is and can only hope for the best.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and can't wait to move on to Scarlet. The mix of romance, action, drama and suspense just makes this story marvelous in so many ways.
Have you read this book?