Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Jan 02, 2014 Vanessa Gayle ⚔️ Fangirl Faction rated it it was amazing

Shelves: wish-list-physical, this-book-slays, fantasy, abuse-or-past-abuse, all-the-rage-and-worth-it, books-i-will-never-recover-from, feeeeels, young-adult-read, be-still-my-beating-heart, book-hangover

08/04/2022: Reread on audiobook!

I can't believe that I never left a review the first time that I read this. This book was abso-freaking-lutely fantastic! It was mesmerizing from the very first page. I was totally engrossed in the story. I love Meyer's writing style and her storytelling is fantastic. I loved the plot twists and the interesting way that the author orchestrated this unique retelling of Cinderella. The parallels were really exciting to see unfold. I loved the science fiction adaptat ...more

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Apr 01, 2012 D.G. rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, young-adult, reviewed, audiobook, retellings

Review of audiobook version narrated by Rebecca Soler.

Cinder is the first part of a bigger story arc that as far I understand, will span 4 books based on different fairy tales. Although Cinder’s story mostly follows “Cinderella”, the book is also intertwined with “Snow White” and that conflict is not resolved here. So if you don’t like cliffhangers, then I suggest you wait until all the books are published.

Putting Cinderella & Snow White in a science fiction setting was very clever and one of th Review of audiobook version narrated by Rebecca Soler.

Cinder is the first part of a bigger story arc that as far I understand, will span 4 books based on different fairy tales. Although Cinder’s story mostly follows “Cinderella”, the book is also intertwined with “Snow White” and that conflict is not resolved here. So if you don’t like cliffhangers, then I suggest you wait until all the books are published.

Putting Cinderella & Snow White in a science fiction setting was very clever and one of the things I enjoyed most about the book. Unlike most fairy tales though, the prince does more than kiss the girl at the end. Kai was one of the sweetest love interests I’ve seen in YA recently; he was cute, nice, responsible and caring. You could tell how much he wanted to do the right thing and how much the burdens of his role weighted on him.

Cinder, on the other hand, wasn’t that interesting but I think that was because she was more constrained on having to follow Cinderella’s fate. There was a lot ‘woe is me’ and bad treatment from the step-mother/step-sister that she just took on the chin.

Ms. Meyer used political unrest between nations to bridge the two fairy tales but they didn’t make much sense. :( Why were the Lunars so much powerful than Earthans when they didn’t have the same technology and couldn’t have the same population as Earth? (Surface Area in the Moon is around the size of Africa). Whatever advantages they got after their evolution were easily counter-maneuvered (don’t get close to them, use things with reflective surfaces and have the androids fight them) so acting like the Lunar Queen was Hitler seemed slightly ridiculous. And strategically, it didn’t make any sense for Kai to take her shit. She was in his country with only a few people defending her so it would have been really easy to put a bullet in her head, which is what Heads of State do with people who threaten their country (see Osama Bin Laden.) Also, the pandemic sub-plot was really weak and it depended on Earthans forgetting all the advances in Epidemiology of the last century.

The narration was adequate but too deliberate - I had it at 2x during 70% of the book. She did voices and accents well though but I think she really needs to speed up her pace.

At this point I don’t feel like continuing the series but I’m sure when the next book comes out, I’ll change my mind. The sci-fi plus fairy tale angle is too novel to pass up. ...more

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Jul 05, 2012 Carrie rated it really liked it

Shelves: library, science-fiction, young-adult, 1st-in-a-series, teen, fairytale-like, aliens, hardcover, red-shoe, cyborg

Rating 3.5/4

I love the cover of this book, I am after all a sucker for red shoes. It is a very look at me, pick me up and read me cover. Well atleast that's what it says to me.

So I picked it up and read it, well first I had to request it to be sent from another library as mine had "lost" it's copy. Meaning someone enjoyed the book and didn't want to share it.

On to the book itself.

I don't know if others agree with me or if I'm in the minority as I have yet to pay much attention to the other rev ...more

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Dec 15, 2013 Martha rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy, science-fiction, 2015

I really enjoyed this book. Finding a young adult book that is so entertaining is a wonderful treat. I give it 4.5 stars only because I saw the twist coming a mile off. Still it was a great story & imaginative retelling of one of the best fairy tales.

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Jun 25, 2012 Marla rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, retelling, paranormal, recommend-frankie, science-fiction, chick-lit, award-winner, challenged, series, fantasy

3.5 stars. Buddy Read and Group Read. I enjoyed this retelling, but retellings are not really my thing and I found it too predictable. I am looking forward to the next books in the series, but due to the cliffhangers, I will wait until at least the third book is out.

Likes:
* Iko was an excellent sidekick! Iko arrived with Cinder.
* Peony was sweet
* Cinder is a spunky, talented mechanic with secrets she doesn't even know about herself
* Lunar Queen Levana and her ambassador, head thaumaturge, Mistre ...more

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Jun 06, 2012 Chris rated it really liked it

Shelves: asia, fiction, middle-grades, young-adult, youth, scifi-fantasy-paranormal, series

Cinder the cyborg lives in New Beijing. She remembers nothing before her 11th birthday when something happened that caused doctors to turn her into something part human and part machine. She was adopted by a man she didn't know and brought into a home where she was far less than welcome by the man's wife. When the man dies of letumosis, the blue plague sweeping the globe, Cinder is forced into a life servitude. She earns all the money for the family as a mechanic fixing androids and anything els Cinder the cyborg lives in New Beijing. She remembers nothing before her 11th birthday when something happened that caused doctors to turn her into something part human and part machine. She was adopted by a man she didn't know and brought into a home where she was far less than welcome by the man's wife. When the man dies of letumosis, the blue plague sweeping the globe, Cinder is forced into a life servitude. She earns all the money for the family as a mechanic fixing androids and anything else mechanical.

Meanwhile, there is trouble in the empire. For years it has been under threat from the "Lunars"--a group of people who have lived on the moon for so long they are considered a separate race. Now the emperor is dying of the plague and the queen of the Lunars is demanding to marry the heir to the throne, Prince Kai. Considering she's known to kill off all potential threats, including reportedly the young girl who was supposed to be her heir, it's not a match made in heaven. Kai is a major heart throb. The object of posters and dolls and every girl's dream. His adoring fans, including Cinders two stepsisters, are all hoping to catch his eye at the upcoming ball.

There are two ways you can approach this book. You can either poke many holes in some of the structure of the futureworld Meyer has built, or you can just sit back and enjoy the ride. First the hole poking:

It doesn't make a lot of sense that cyborgs are treated like slaves. Clearly their mechanical parts have saved them from certain death. These people must have had some value as human beings to make them worth saving. Why treat them so badly now?

And then there is the plague. It seems much more of a convenient plot device than any real threat. You don't need to be an immunologist to know some of the things Cinder does should be spreading this plague far and wide.

Finally, Prince Kai, our Prince Charming, does act anywhere near what a "real" prince might act like.

But forget all of that and just sit back and enjoy the ride, because I still really enjoyed this book and will be eagerly waiting for the sequel. Cinder is a lot closer to Katniss Everdeen than Cinderella. Both she and Kai are totally likable. In fact, Kai pretty much had me at hello. I also loved Cinder's sidekick, Iko, even if it is almost impossible not to picture her as R2D2. And I liked the fact that Meyer chose to make one of the stepsisters nice and kind.

It was fun to see the way Meyer wove in the "prince is having a ball" storyline while adding a whole different dimension with the threat from the Lunars. There's lots of stuff here that will make for a pretty good movie, too. ...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Kim DeCina rated it really liked it

I absolutely loved this book. It had a combination of unique worldbuilding, interesting and diverse characters, and a great plot (I'm a sucker for fairytale retellings, but this does it even better than most.) I was having trouble sleeping the night before I completed it so I wound up tearing through the last 8 chapters until the wee hours of the morning, because the finale was so good at keeping me riveted that I had no idea what was coming next. My one complaint, keeping it at 4 stars instead ...more

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Dec 29, 2011 Sue rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio-books, sci-fi, dystopian, series, young-adult, asia, re-telling

March 2015: raising my review to 4 stars after listening again. This is a great series.

April 2013: 3.5 stars. This is the beginning of a trilogy and there was a lot of groundwork to lay down so I felt that it started a little slow. However, once the story got going I felt that it had promise and became interesting. Cinder is a cyborg in a society that disdains them and thus she is an outcast. She has a mean stepmother, two stepsisters, and becomes acquainted with the prince when he's incognito a ...more

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Dec 30, 2017 TheReadingKnitter/ Kasey rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, library, 2017

Overall this book was pretty good. I remember adding it to my tbr list many years ago because I thought it was supposed to be like a modernized Cinderella story (she’s my favorite princess) but it has lots more in it then that. Onto the next book!

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