Review: CINDER by Marissa Meyer

TITLE: Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, Book 1)
AUTHOR: Marissa Meyer
AUTHOR WEBSITEwww.MarissaMeyer.com

GENRE: Young Adult, Fantacy, Sci-Fi, Romance
PUBLISHED:  January 3rd 2012 by Feiwel & Friends

MY RATING: 5
FIND ON: Amazon


SYNOPSIS: 

(Courtesy of Goodreads-No Spoilers!)

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.


REVIEW:


Truly, I am surprised that this was a FABULOUS read. I saw this book so many times at the bookstore and didn’t buy it. Then I was talking about it to a friend saying that I was “considering” reading it. Well, she sent it to me for my birthday. I went on a road trip and read this thing like I had a gun to my head and all I could think was, “Why didn’t I read this sooner?”

I am not a big fan of futuristic sci-fi but seriously, I fell in love. The plot is only minimally predictable, because of the overarching theme of Cinderella (she meets a prince, of course) but it doesn’t subtract from the fun and interesting characters.

The characters are truly what carry this story. Cinder is kind, caring and feels inferior to everyone she meets without being depressing or dark. This is a journey of self-discovery for her and it does not disappoint. Kai is cool and informal for a prince. Her step-mother and step-sister are perfectly hate-able. Her silly little side kick android, Iko, is my favorite throughout the whole series.

RATING:


I am rating this book at 5: Excellent and Worth Every Minute. I’ve already recommended it to a friend, who read it in two days. My daughter (who is currently 14) has read it (and all the books in the series.) I think this will join my favorites list and I can’t say I don’t care for sci-fi. I do, I LOVE this book and the whole series.





RECOMMENDATIONS:


There is nothing inappropriate in this book (yay!) and I would totally let my pre-teen and teen read it. (And she did!)

More books by Marissa Meyer:

The Lunar Chronicles

Book 1: CINDER
Book 2: SCARLET
Book 3: CRESS
Novella: FAIREST (Back-story on Levana the Evil Queen)
Book 4: WINTER