Book Review :: Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

A forbidden romance. A deadly plague. Earth's fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a cyborg. She's reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's sudden illness. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen - and a dangerous temptation.

Cinder is caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal. Now she must uncover secrets about her mysterious past in order to protect Earth's future.

This is not the fairytale you remember. But it's one you won't forget.

Last updated on 19 January 2022

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Did Cinder by Marissa Meyer live up to the hype?

I love fairy tales. A lot. So when I come across a good retelling of a fairytale, then I am all in. Cinder, by Marissa Meyer is a take on the fairy tale of Cinderella. It was hyped up but so many people I know, so I had to give it a read. And for the most part, it was okay. Let me explain.

The main character is, surprise surprise, Cinder. She lives with her guardian and her guardian’s two children, though only gets along with one step sister and despises the other. Sounding like the Cinderella story already, eh? Just wait.

“Even in the Future the Story Begins with Once Upon a Time.”

Cinder lives on Earth, in a place called New Beijing. New Beijing is part of the Eastern Commonwealth, and is run by an Emperor. Earth currently has a plague spreading through the countries, people dying from it every day. The Emperor has the plague is very sick; his son, Kai, is his heir.

There are people called Lunars, who live on the moon, and who supposedly bought the plague to Earth years before. The Lunars have special powers…sort of. They have the ability to manipulate bio-electricity which means that they can put up a glamour and make people see and believe anything they want them to. So that’s the main gist of the world that Cinder lives in.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the most important part: Cinder is a cyborg.

There are humans, there are androids (think 3CPO and R2D2 from Star Wars), and then there are cyborgs. Cyborgs used to be human, but because of various things (for example Cinder was in a fire), body parts have been replaced with mechanical parts (now we’re thinking Darth Vadar like).

“Vanity is a factor, but it is more a question of control. It is easier to trick others into perceiving you as beautiful if you can convince yourself you are beautiful. But mirrors have an uncanny way of telling the truth.”

The story follows Cinder as she works with her android assistant, Iko, in a little stall in the market as a mechanic, and then as she meets Dr. Erland when she sent to the medical lab. She meets Prince Kai, of course, the love interest and as their friendship grows, so does the need to find a cure for the plague, the issues around the Lunar Queen coming to Earth and of course, the royal ball. Because no Cinderella-like story would be complete without some pretty dresses and some mechanical feet.

My thoughts on Cinder

Despite the interesting concept and twist on the classic girl-covered-in-ashes story, it wasn’t as good as I had hoped.

Perhaps this is because there are 3 more books to follow, but I’m a firm believer in books standing alone in good-ness even if they are a part of a trilogy or saga. The writing style was fine; it was easy to follow with the right amount of description to dialogue ratio (which, if you’ve been here a little while, you know is a big thing for me), and the characters differed in personalities and charm (or lack-there-of).

It was a little slow going around the middle, after the interesting ‘welcome to this new world full of androids and cyborgs’ sort of beginning, and at the end, there was a ‘shock’ revealing of a certain something (I say ‘shock’ in quotation marks because I saw it coming), and then it set it up for the next book.

I’ve given it a 3.5 out of 5 because I did enjoy the concept, but I do think it could have been better. I may read the next one when it comes out, but it won’t be a huge deal if I never actually get round to it. Oh, and I hated the font. It was very…robot-like. Which actually fits with the book, but it was just annoying to read.