Cinder - A Review
To all who are reading this,
It's been a while since we've had a book review, but after finishing this, it's really sparked my brain into gear!
Today, I introduce you to Cinder, the first book in The Lunar Chronicles series by American author, Marissa Meyer. Published in 2012, it is a fantasy novel aimed at the young adult market. Forget everything you thought you knew about fairy tales, because you're about to step into the pages of a whole new world!
There may be spoilers.
Blurb
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 desire's 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.
I had first seen this book in an issue of Writing Magazine a few years back and I remember being intrigued by the cover. It's forever been at the back of my mind since seeing it, and after learning it was a fairy tale re-imagining, I have to admit that my intrigue dipped. Some fairy tales can be really well done, and I have to say, when I finally picked this up from my local library and read it, I found myself thoroughly enjoying it!
The cover is quite simplistic at first, but when you look back at it closely, it holds a lot of detail. The shine of the slipper is very glossy and stands out bright red against the deep blues and shadow effect. Cinder's leg is incredibly pale - unnaturally so, but this is clever. Inside of the leg we can see complex wiring, bolts and ball joints. Without reading the blurb, and just seeing the cover, we might be able to guess that she's some sort of robot.
The novel follows Linh Cinder as she tries to live through her ordinary life of family, coping with being a cyborg (a being with human and robotic parts), and responsibility. In fact, she is the sole worker of the family, bringing in money by working as a full-service mechanic at a weekly market in New Beijing. However, she gets the shock of her life when handsome Prince Kai arrives asking for help with his malfunctioning android. Promising to look it over, their meeting is cut short when an outbreak of plague, also known as letumosis, occurs at the market. And it isn't just the bakery owner to fall ill with the disease, but Cinder's own stepsister, Peony. When Cinder is volunteered for a cyborg draft to test for the disease and ways to cure it, her life takes an unexpected tumble, brining her in contact with Kai and the feared Lunar Queen Levana.
Cinder faces so much more turmoil in her teenage years than most girls ever would in the present day. Working to put ends meet on the table, trying to complete all the tasks her step-mother puts in front of her, and cope with all the new information that her central unit is trying to process. Her cyborg nature does take over at times, such as reminding her that too much adrenaline is coursing through her system. Of course, she doesn't like to speak about it too much with strangers and she would never dare show her arms or legs to Kai.
There is a burgeoning romance on the horizon. Kai seems much more normal around Cinder - less like a prince, and more like a street kid. His flirtatious attitude is certainly cute, especially when he stops the elevator and calls to her in front of medical researchers: "Come to the ball with me." Something that all the girls in New Beijing would kill for, and Cinder still refuses. For her pride, even though she is growing to care for him. He is certainly smitten with her at said ball. I'm interested to see where the romance goes in the rest of the series!
The science-fiction backgrounding in the novel is a really interesting concept, as I don't read much of that genre. The idea of androids and cyborgs in day to day lives is quite exciting, and whilst I know that we are all slaves to technology (whether it be computers, phones or tablets), this is something completely different. I would like to know more about New Beijing and how Earth is imagined within the series. And of course, the Lunar society is an incredibly intriguing one - a moon colony with different rules and powers over ordinary humans.
In fact, some of the characters and the setting reminds me of the manga and anime, Sailor Moon.
Meyer uses segments with quotes from the fairy tale to align the readers thought processes. For example, we know that in "Book One" we will meet characters and see their actions through the line, While her sisters were given beautiful dresses and fine slippers, Cinderella had only a filthy smock and wooden shoes.
There's so much more that I want to say on this book, but I really don't want to give too much away. It is a read that captured my imagination and my heart. Cinder is such a lovely character that we are rooting for her from the moment she starts loosening the screws in her ankle, to the moment she decides what she is going to do with her future and the new information that she now wields like a weapon.
Cinder's story continues in Scarlet (2013), Cress (2014) and Winter (due for release this year - 2015). Meyer also released Fairest: The Lunar Chronicles: Levana's Story (2015), a prequel to the series.
You can find Marissa Meyer on the Internet in the following places:
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon
Website
Yours, with eternal ink,
Zoe
---
Currently reading: Asking For It by Louise O'Neill
It's been a while since we've had a book review, but after finishing this, it's really sparked my brain into gear!
Today, I introduce you to Cinder, the first book in The Lunar Chronicles series by American author, Marissa Meyer. Published in 2012, it is a fantasy novel aimed at the young adult market. Forget everything you thought you knew about fairy tales, because you're about to step into the pages of a whole new world!
There may be spoilers.
Blurb 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 desire's 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.
I had first seen this book in an issue of Writing Magazine a few years back and I remember being intrigued by the cover. It's forever been at the back of my mind since seeing it, and after learning it was a fairy tale re-imagining, I have to admit that my intrigue dipped. Some fairy tales can be really well done, and I have to say, when I finally picked this up from my local library and read it, I found myself thoroughly enjoying it!
The cover is quite simplistic at first, but when you look back at it closely, it holds a lot of detail. The shine of the slipper is very glossy and stands out bright red against the deep blues and shadow effect. Cinder's leg is incredibly pale - unnaturally so, but this is clever. Inside of the leg we can see complex wiring, bolts and ball joints. Without reading the blurb, and just seeing the cover, we might be able to guess that she's some sort of robot.
The novel follows Linh Cinder as she tries to live through her ordinary life of family, coping with being a cyborg (a being with human and robotic parts), and responsibility. In fact, she is the sole worker of the family, bringing in money by working as a full-service mechanic at a weekly market in New Beijing. However, she gets the shock of her life when handsome Prince Kai arrives asking for help with his malfunctioning android. Promising to look it over, their meeting is cut short when an outbreak of plague, also known as letumosis, occurs at the market. And it isn't just the bakery owner to fall ill with the disease, but Cinder's own stepsister, Peony. When Cinder is volunteered for a cyborg draft to test for the disease and ways to cure it, her life takes an unexpected tumble, brining her in contact with Kai and the feared Lunar Queen Levana.
Cinder faces so much more turmoil in her teenage years than most girls ever would in the present day. Working to put ends meet on the table, trying to complete all the tasks her step-mother puts in front of her, and cope with all the new information that her central unit is trying to process. Her cyborg nature does take over at times, such as reminding her that too much adrenaline is coursing through her system. Of course, she doesn't like to speak about it too much with strangers and she would never dare show her arms or legs to Kai.
There is a burgeoning romance on the horizon. Kai seems much more normal around Cinder - less like a prince, and more like a street kid. His flirtatious attitude is certainly cute, especially when he stops the elevator and calls to her in front of medical researchers: "Come to the ball with me." Something that all the girls in New Beijing would kill for, and Cinder still refuses. For her pride, even though she is growing to care for him. He is certainly smitten with her at said ball. I'm interested to see where the romance goes in the rest of the series!
The science-fiction backgrounding in the novel is a really interesting concept, as I don't read much of that genre. The idea of androids and cyborgs in day to day lives is quite exciting, and whilst I know that we are all slaves to technology (whether it be computers, phones or tablets), this is something completely different. I would like to know more about New Beijing and how Earth is imagined within the series. And of course, the Lunar society is an incredibly intriguing one - a moon colony with different rules and powers over ordinary humans.
In fact, some of the characters and the setting reminds me of the manga and anime, Sailor Moon.
Meyer uses segments with quotes from the fairy tale to align the readers thought processes. For example, we know that in "Book One" we will meet characters and see their actions through the line, While her sisters were given beautiful dresses and fine slippers, Cinderella had only a filthy smock and wooden shoes.
There's so much more that I want to say on this book, but I really don't want to give too much away. It is a read that captured my imagination and my heart. Cinder is such a lovely character that we are rooting for her from the moment she starts loosening the screws in her ankle, to the moment she decides what she is going to do with her future and the new information that she now wields like a weapon.
Cinder's story continues in Scarlet (2013), Cress (2014) and Winter (due for release this year - 2015). Meyer also released Fairest: The Lunar Chronicles: Levana's Story (2015), a prequel to the series.
You can find Marissa Meyer on the Internet in the following places:
Amazon
Website
Yours, with eternal ink,
Zoe
---
Currently reading: Asking For It by Louise O'Neill
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