Rating: 4.5 stars
Synopsis: 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 centre 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: I finally got around to picking up this book and I'm so glad that I did. I've only heard good things about this series and they're all true! I loved this book and I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the series - especially since the final book in the series Winter has just come out.
This is Cinderella as you've never seen her before. Cinder is a cyborg and, in order to pay her way, she must work at the market as a mechanic. What I loved about Cinder is that she's so strong and feisty. She's not a pushover or a half-soaked character, she sticks to her guns and doesn't back down from them. She gives as good as she gets, despite being looked down on in society because she's a cyborg. I love a confident heroine and Cinder definitely didn't disappoint.
In the same way, Kai was also a relatively strong and confident character, who didn't let his advisers or Queens from other planets tell him what to do. I was upset at the very end when he rejected Cinder because of who she was (why? Seriously - you were doing so well Kai, why did you have to ruin it at the end?) but I'm confident he'll rectify his mistake at the end of the series, (he better anyway)!
I loved Marissa's take on the classic Cinderella story. Setting it in a futuristic world gave her a lot of scope to tweak the story slightly. For example, the introduction of the plague that is killing citizens off left, right and centre was a really interesting addition to the tale. It gave all the characters something to fight for, Cinder was fighting to save her sister, Kai his father and the legacy he had left behind him...all the characters had someone to fight for and to motivate them in tough times because of the plague which made it really interesting. Talking of Cinder's sisters, I loved the idea that Cinder had one sister she could talk to. Yes the step mother was as awful as ever, as was the older sister but Peony captured my heart from the very beginning and I loved that Marissa gave Cinder one sister who loved her whole heartedly and would do anything for her.
The world was amazing. The futuristic setting of New Beijing intrigued me when I first heard about this book because I wasn't sure it would work. I love a good fairy tale retelling but this seemed a little bit out there. BUT, Marissa really made it work and the world complemented the story beautifully. The futuristic tech, the idea of cyborgs being a part of the world's population but that they were looked down on and were even being sacrificed in order to try and find a cure for the plague. The world was just beautiful and I can't wait to get back to it and find out more about it, now that we're moving away from New Beijing.
The only reason this book didn't get the whole five stars is because I guessed the major plot point fairly early on the novel, so it wasn't really a surprise when it was revealed. That really didn't spoil the book for me though. I loved this book and, now that Winter (the final book in the series) has been released I can now marathon the entire series and I can't wait. Exercise? Who needs to exercise when there are series like this that need reading??
Image from Goodreads - no Copyright Intended
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