Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1)
by Marissa Meyer

Publishing Date: January 3rd 2012
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

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. . . .

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.

My Review:
I must admit, I was a little bit sceptical before I started reading this book with it being a Cinderella retelling and all, but I was so wrong. For once, I like admitting being wrong because this book suprised me, but in a good way. It is a Cinderella retelling in a way, but it is also a lot different. For me, the only things that Cinder and Cinderella have in common is a name and Prince Charming, and maybe a few other little things.

Cinder is a cyborg and an orphan. She lives in New Bejing with her stepmother Adri, who treats her like a servant, and her two stepsisters, Peony and Pearl. I liked Cinder, she was a good character. Not one of my favorites, but I liked her. She was strong and smart, she made good choices and she didn't annoy me, on contrary, she made me laugh my ass off quite a few times. And speaking of laughing, Cinder had an android, Iko who was hillarious. I hope we get to see more Iko in the next books.

Then we have prince Kai. I love that we got a few chapters from Kai's POV. It helped us understand him better and the things he was dealing with, like Lunars, his father being sick and him being the Crown Prince of The Eastern Commonwealth.

We also have the bad guys. The Lunars. Well, not every Lunar is bad, but with them being under influence of the Evil Queen Levana, we don't get to see their good side.

What I really like in Cinder is that we have tons of questions about everything, but Meyer keeps us guessing things and she is revealing piece by piece and leaving it to us to put them together. Of course, some things are clear as a day and we have to wait until the end for Cinder to find out about them, but it is probably why I decided to give this book 5 stars. There is always something happening and something that surprises me.

I would recommend this book to all dystopia and Cinderella fans because this two mixed together is pure awesome.

My Rating: