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."
Warning: May contain spoilers. Continue at your own risk
I had started reading Cinder a while ago and it sounded very intriguing. A book about aliens, robots and cyborgs? Yes please! But I got destracted by other books so I put it down for a while. The other weekend I decided to pick it up again, because I hate just having partly read book lying around. And god I am glad I did! Some might think that a story with that many different themes is overwhelming but it was actually very easy to understand and didn't become too confusing. Meyer's idea to take on a new twist of a fairytale is an idea that is very underrated. I have always been a big fan of classic to modern adaptions, so I was so excited.
The setting of this book is in the future, years after the fourth world war in New Beijing. I haven't read many books set in Asian countries so it was a nice change. This new world wasn't really explained until around the middle of the book. But there was still quite a bit that wasn't really elaborated on, like the lunars and their world, but in sure all of that will be explained in the next book. Another things that really appealed to me was the whole there-is-a-deadly-plague-killings-everyone thing. I love stories that are about a large amount of the population dying or being on the brink of extinction (but I would not love that in real life that's for sure). Letumosis, the illness with no cure, spread by the lunars. I just think that this aspect of the book was really well set up.
Cinder (aka Cinderella) has a very strong and powerful personality, a heroine. This character trait that is very popular in book these days. (Side Note: I heard that when Marissa Meyer was writing the character of Cinder she imagined her to look like Shay Mitchell from Pretty Little Liars which I found really cool.) I liked her calm and collected demeanor and the emotions she felt even though everyone else thinks because she is cyborg she can't feel at all. When Cinder found out she was a lunar I just felt so bad for her! Her life already sucked and now she finds out she is one of the most hated species in the universe! She is also forced to put up with strife from her "evil stepmother" Adri, who had despised her since the day her husband brought her home. Adri's immense hatred for Cinder made me connect with Cinder's character that bit more, it was easy to feel sorry for her. It wasn't just her stepmother that was mistreating of Cinder, the whole story showed the prejudice towards all cyborgs in this new world. It showed an obvious social standing between the humans and the automatons, and not to get too deep on you guys, but I think it reflected from society today and our own social standings. I think it was nice how one of the "evil stepsisters" was actually nice. I thought that Peony was such a good character, fun and bubbly. It was really upsetting when she was taken away to the quarantines after catching letumosis and later died. The other stepsister was so annoying that her existence wasn't even needed, Pearl was probably the most forgettable character to me. The other most annyoing character was the lunar queen Levana. The way Meyer created antisipated before the queens arrival actually made me nervous. I was scared of Levana! Most lunars have the power to control their bio magnetic energy surrounding them (a scientific version of magic) to control other people. They can also create glamours to make themselves seem beautiful. I thought that just added to the creepiness factor of these lunars. The whole time I was worried about her catching Cinder, since she is a lunar and a cyborg, it literally put me at the edge of my seat.
Now to my favourite characters (besides Cinder). Kai I thought was just so sweet. I loved the duel point of view between Cinder and Kai and the little crush they had on each other . It was nice to see how the book wasn't all about them being in love or being all consumed with their relationship. There interactions were just a few flirty remarks and some serious conversation about the lunar and the plague. I admit towards the end I was a bit annoyed with him for judging cinder so harshly for being both lunar and a cyborg, but it was obvious be still cared about her. Dr Erland was just such a funny character to me! I also imagined him to have a Russian or German accent for some apparent reason, which is probably why. Even though we aren't introduced to him in the kindest light, he turns out to really care about Cinder and helps her more then she realizes at first. Though at the end I thought for a while that his passion was only driven from his desire for revenge against Queen Levana, it also seemed that he saw Cinder as his daughter who would have been the same ago as Cinder if the queen had not killed her.
I have to admit that I saw most of the plot twists coming, Cinder being the princess and Levana wanting to take over the earth, but they still got me suprised, excited and screaming "I KNEW IT!!"
Over all the gave this book a 4.5/5
I'm so pumped to read Scarlet now
