I have two words for you: Cyborg Cinderella. Honestly, with a premise like that, do you really need any more incentive to rush out and buy yourself a copy ASAP?

Cinder is a novel I've had my eye on for some time (thanks to goodreads!) but I can safely say that even by the end of the first page the story had completely surpassed my expectations. Marissa Meyer's debut novel, the first installment in a series of four, tells the story of Linh Cinder, an orphaned cyborg girl and talented mechanic living in the city of New Beijing with her stepmother and two stepsisters. As a cyborg, she is a second-class citizen and her life is in the hands of her bitter, unloving stepmother. She dreams of escaping the plague-ridden Eastern Commonwealth and travelling to Europe with her younger stepsister, Peony and their android friend, Iko. But all her plans begin to change when the charming Prince Kai shows up in disguise at her market booth one day...

I love a good fairytale and Cinder is perhaps the most imaginative re-telling of this particular story I've come across so far. The futuristic Firefly-esque Eastern setting is gorgeously imaginative and so richly written. I found myself able to envision the marketplace of New Beijing with such perfect clarity that when I looked up after hours of reading I was disorientated to find myself still sitting in my own room in drizzly England. Without giving away too much of the plot, I will say that the story itself was completely original and Meyer slips in a few nods here and there to the original fairytale rather than hinging the entire plot around a story that's already been told countless times.

Cinder herself is a wonderful heroine; ambitious and snarky and uncomfortable in her own body (wires and all). But she's accepting of her limitations even as she strives to find new ways to overcome them and she's exactly the kind of character I root for in YA fiction. Prince Kai was far more than just a love interest - the love story is actually a minor (but wonderfully sweet) sub-plot and Kai has his own problems to deal with, like trying to run a country and ward off the advances of the beautiful but sinister Luna Queen. Even Cinder's stepmother was a sympathetic, well-rounded character.

The story ends on a cliffhanger, so I'm anxious to read on! The next three books in the series will bring Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White into the mix and I'm so excited to see what sci-fi twists Meyer has planned for each of these stories! Is it 2013 yet?