Cinder Book Review

By: Carolyn Deas (@carolyndeas)

Thanks to my new job at a middle school, I have the opportunity to read more books than I ever dreamed. It was easy for me to make friends with the librarian (and the kids that would rather be there than in my class). The first suggestion I got from my new friend was the Lunar Chronicles.

When she started explaining it to me, I wasn’t convinced it would be something I’d like. I mean, Cinderella, but she’s a cyborg?

What?

But because I love fairy tales, I gave it a chance.

Oh. Em. Goodness.

I was floored by this book.

*Some Spoilers Ahead*

Cinder, a cyborg living with a woman that was forced to take her in after Cinder’s adopted father dies, is the top mechanic in her city and she’s only a teenager. The plague is taking many of the citizens in New Beijing, including her younger step sister. Thinking that it’s Cinder’s fault, her stepmother gives her away to the medics for testing in order to find a cure. While under quarantine, she finds that she can’t get the disease.

But that’s not all she learns.

She’s not just a cyborg. She’s a Lunar cyborg. She’s not a person of earth, and Lunars are not legally allowed to live on Earth. Since she can’t remember her life before she was 11 years old, she never suspects a thing.

Levana, the queen of Luna which is the country on the moon, is trying to buddy up to the new Emperor of New Beijing, Kai, after his father dies of the plague. In Levana’s attempt to create a partnership with Luna and Earth, Cinder figures out what her true plot is. She wants to marry Kai, kill him, and then take over Earth.

Can Cinder save the world?

The way that the author, Marissa Meyer, uses the nuances of the original story and shadows them in her series is just wonderful. Are you a fan of the show “Once Upon a Time”? This book reminded me a lot of that series because it’s not just Cinderella’s story, but readers also get glimpses of Red Riding Hood’s story (hers is the second book of the series, “Scarlet”) as well as Rapunzel’s (but she goes by Cress and is the center of the third book by the same name).

admin
via The Nerd Machine

http://www.thenerdmachine.com/cinder-book-review/